Crash, Bang, Squelch!
Crash, Bang, Squelch! is the biggest single event of the CHaOS year, taking place as part of the Cambridge Science Festival. For Crash, Bang, Squelch! CHaOS has around 30 experiments in one place, for more than 2000 visitors to see during the day. In 2026, Crash, Bang, Squelch! is taking place on the 21st of March, and is open to the public from 10am-4pm. Like all CHaOS public events, Crash, Bang, Squelch! is absolutely free.
This year, we are kindly being hosted by the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. They will also be running their own hands-on experiments and talks, making this your one-stop shop for scientific fun!
See below for a map, or find the Chemistry Department on Google Maps here. For all activities, robotics workshops and talks, enter using the entrance opposite the Scott Polar Museum, off Lensfield Road.
Tickets
You can pre-book tickets to all Crash, Bang, Squelch! events, using the links below. You can also turn up on the day to try our hands-on experiments or come along to our fantastic talks. (The links open in a new tab)
HANDS-ON EXPERIMENTS: Click here to book tickets
AMAZING TALKS: Click here to book tickets
ROBOTICS WORKSHOPS: Click here to book tickets
Please scroll down to find out more about our events!
Hands-on Experiments
Come along to see lots of exciting hands-on science experiments! You can have go yourself and find out lots about why things work they way they do!
Our experiments will show you why hot air balloons stay up, what happens when you split water in half, how your lungs work, and much, much more…
Our hands-on experiments will be located in the IA (first-year) laboratory in the Chemistry Department. Enter using the entrance opposite the Scott Polar museum.
Talks
CHaOS student volunteers are running a series of talks filled with exciting demonstrations. You will find even more crashes, bangs, and squelches, and discover all sorts of weird and wonderful science!
Professors from the Chemistry Department are also running talks throughout the day.
| Time | Title | Speaker | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.15AM – 10.45AM | So On And So Forth: The hidden maths behind infinity | Charlie Harrison | Wolfson Lecture Theatre |
| 12.15AM – 12.45AM | Whatever floats your boat: The physics of floating | Peter Methley | Wolfson Lecture Theatre |
| 1.00PM – 1.30PM | Pulsars and Black Holes | Lucy Oswald | Pfizer Lecture Theatre |
| 1.45PM – 2.15PM | Nature’s Gladiators: How evolution shaped animal combat | Isaac Howell | Pfizer Lecture Theatre |
Robotics Workshops
CHaOS will also be running several workshops on robotics, with lots of hands-on design and programming. Absolutely no experience is required, we’ll teach you all the basics and you can start making our robots do all sorts of amazing things in no time at all. We strongly recommend that you pre-book tickets for robotics workshops, as these usually run out before the day of the event.
The robotics workshops will take place in the Cyber Café.
Please note that Crash, Bang, Squelch! is usually very popular – in 2026 we are offering pre-booking for timed tickets. Walk-in visits are also possible, but you may have to wait until the lab has enough capacity.
If you’re a student in Cambridge and are interested in helping out with Crash, Bang, Squelch!, then you might like to visit our Demonstrator information page.
All of our activities are now fully accessible. A map of the location is shown to the left.