As soon as you stepped into the DIFFER building, you could feel it: science is everywhere, whether it’s a donut, a brightly lit plasma tube or a racing magnet. It was the scenery of the open day we organised on 3 October 2026 during the Dutch Science Weekend. No less than 850 visitors met DIFFER’s scientists and technicians whom they could ask all sorts of questions about science for future energy.
How does energy actually work? Why do we want to recreate the sun’s heat (and even much hotter temperatures) here on Earth? What about the current and future energy grid? Why do we need complex computer models? These are just a few of the questions that visitors were able to get answered during our open day. Besides exploring how DIFFER works on science for future energy, visitors discovered how science and technology influence their daily lives.
Elephant toothpaste
During a stunning show, Mad Science professor Betty Confetti immersed the children into chemistry by learning them the difference between chemical and physical reactions, and by creating bangs and huge amounts of blue-coloured elephant toothpaste. What could be a more fitting snack after attending such a spectacle than a doughnut? Children were able to decorate their very own ‘fusion reactor’ to have a tasty break. But not for too long, because DIFFER experts were waiting for them to learn them programming, race with magnets, show DIFFER’s research facilities in the labs, explain the role of hydrogen in the energy transitions, and much more.
Joost Ketelaars, Occupational Health, Safety & Environmental Advisor at DIFFER, shared his enthusiasm for chemical elements on the open day: “The aim of our booth ‘The Periodic Table - Chemistry’s Building Blocks’ was to showcase the chemical elements and their applications in everyday life. It was nice to introduce people to things they’ve actually been familiar with for years, albeit in a different way. I was rather surprised to see children absolutely thrilled at being allowed to hold ‘real tungsten’. To encourage extra engagement, we made a short quiz about the elements. The winners have now collected their prizes: a glass model of the periodic table.”
Unbelievable
For Tijs Wijkamp, postdoctoral researcher at DIFFER, the open day was the perfect occasion to get children fascinated by physics: “There was a lot of interest in DIFFER’s new plasma tube, where you can play Harry Potter with a little magnet and make the plasma spin in circles. One of the children (about 8 - 10 years old) was quietly listening to my explanation for a few minutes, and then said: 'I don’t believe it, I think it just has a TV screen in it.' What followed were a few intriguing minutes in which I convinced the little boy that this ‘magic’ really was just physics.”
It was quite a diverse crowd, the public that visited DIFFER’s open day: ranging from interested families with children to former DIFFER employees specialised in nuclear fusion. Wijkamp: “Sometimes, I found myself asking the children questions that were actually a bit too advanced for them. However, on several occasions, they surprised me by simply giving the correct answer (or at least making an impressive attempt at one) after briefly furrowing their brows. I had an absolute blast chatting away until I’d lost my voice after five hours.”
About the Dutch Science Weekend
The Dutch Science Weekend (Weekend van de Wetenschap) is an annual, nationwide event for children and adults featuring science and technology. It is organised by NEMO Science Museum on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. During Science Weekend, visitors set out to find answers to questions both big and small, and discover how science and technology influence our daily lives. More than 300 organisations across the Netherlands participate.
Author: Rianne van Hoek
Click on the picture below to get an impression of our open day:
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