Meet Ankit Rathore, who is making physics fun with his apartment laboratory

Meet Ankit Rathore, who is making physics fun with his apartment laboratory.

Ankit Rathore has a four-member audience at his 3BHK apartment in Bellandur, Bengaluru. He removes two small, red bar magnets and a box of iron filings from his drawer. The audience, all under 12, lean on the table in front of them, rapt with attention. After sprinkling the black iron dust on both magnets, Ankit brings the opposite poles close to each other. The filings try to latch on to each other like two trapeze artists swinging from opposite ends. They spread themselves like the petals of a fully bloomed flower when Ankit brings the like poles of the magnets closer. It is magnetism. But for the children mesmerised by the movement of the filings, it seems like magic.

“Science is not magic. It is supposed to feel that way, right?” asks Ankit. “It should evoke a sense of wonder. It should inculcate in children an attitude of curiosity. Sadly, our schools don’t teach science in this manner. It is all about memorising formulas and remembering laws.”

This unstimulating system of rote learning is what Ankit tries to change with children. As a first step, he converted one of his bedrooms in his apartment into a physics laboratory, where the magnet magic unfolded.

Physics was not Ankit’s first love. Despite having a mechanical engineering degree from IIT Bombay, Ankit wanted to pursue music. Hailing from a middle-class family in Ujjain, he did not have the financial backing or the contacts to get a breakthrough. He needed a day job to survive in Mumbai. A friend suggested teaching IIT-JEE aspirants. So, he joined as an instructor at a coaching centre. 

“That’s when I realised I had a thing for teaching. It came naturally to me. Though I did not give up on music, I enjoyed what I was doing.”

From 2015 to 2020, he taught JEE aspirants. Ankit also wanted to do something more than merely help them get the requisite marks and clear the exam. He wanted them to understand what they were learning theoretically. 

In 2020, when the pandemic forced him to return to Ujjain, he planned to start a YouTube channel. “The idea was to show them what they were learning.” So, he purchased equipment including a Galvanometer, Linear Air Track, and Wimhurst Machine worth a few lakhs. Apart from the money, he also invested many hours of his time making the videos for the channel. Unfortunately, it did not take off.