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Department Reviews

PHYSICS

This was another fast paced, fun-filled year in the Physics department, packed full of activity days, fascinating field trips, playing and experimenting with new equipment and the introduction of IB and the new A-level!

In September we took all of the UC5 physicists to Brockworth Enterprise School for this year’s Institute of Physics lecture “Rock guitar in 11 dimensions”. Dr Mark Lewney wowed the audience with information about the physics of vibrations and string theory. It was loud, entertaining and full of music and jokes. We found out about the human voice and why you hear a “crack” with whips. We were asked to think in extra dimensions, imagining what it would be like to have shapes move through our three dimensions of space.

This year’s SFC1 physicists worked for 8 weeks in the autumn term on Saturday mornings towards the SciCast competition. The students had to present a scientific topic to a mixed audience of scientists and non-scientists using the medium of video; these can now be viewed on the SciCast website.

In October, several SFC physicists took part in Navy Day. They were joined in the Sports Hall by sixth form students from six local schools to compete in an engineering challenge set by the Royal Navy. Students worked in teams of six to design and construct a tower, a bridge and a shelter out of nothing but nuts, bolts and paper tubes. The shelter had to be large enough to hold 4 of the group. Pupils commented that one of the most important things about the Navy Day was the teamwork involved. All were placed in teams with people they had never met before. It was really interesting for pupils to see at firsthand how physics can be applied on a practical level.

This year we have had two exceptional speakers visit to talk to SFC1s. In November Professor Playfer from the University of Edinburgh (and soon heading off to Geneva) came to talk to the students about the work at CERN and in particular the LHC. David Lussey, the inventor of quantum tunnelling composite, a new smart material, showed students the uses of this material in a wide range of products already on the market. The SFC1 students then used this talk as the basis of their Unit 3 case study.

As part of CLC’c Cbay auctions the physics department offered an evening’s star gazing. This took place late one night on Field in May. With seven students we were anticipating some cloud but as the evening progressed the clouds cleared and we had some lovely shots of the moon and of Saturn, where we could see by eye the rings and two of the moons. We were not there to take detailed pictures but a few of the students snapped some shots with their camera phones and these were more than pleasing. The evening was made extra fun with a host of physics space based sweets.

“The Universe – yours to discover” is the Cotswold Astronomical Society’s tagline for 2009, the International Year of Astronomy, celebrating 400 years since Galileo first used an astronomical telescope to study the night sky. To celebrate this we took interested SFCs to one of the talks at Cheltenham College in March. “My Life in Astronomy” was delivered by Callum Potter, the society co-ordinator. Through Callum’s recollections of his own experiences, we were helped to realise what it means to be an astronomer, and were shown some amazing photographs of the universe taken from telescopes similar to College’s own.

Establishing links with other departments, including RS, Drama, ICT, English and Classics, as well as the other Science disciplines, has enabled Physics to be taught in new and often surprising contexts! This year saw the return of the ever popular “three men on a sofa”. Sitting down were Mr Davies (RS) Mr Kent (Biology) and Mr Pothecary and a lively debate ensued around the topics of the start of the Universe and life and the relationship between the bible, religion and science. This, as usual, drew a big crowd of SFCs late one Monday evening. STARLAB, the physics department’s inflatable planetarium has been used a number of times this year. LC2s enjoyed a Saturday activity during which they created their own constellations and then were able to try and spot them in STARLAB, while Dr Ralph told the classical stories about the constellations. We also ran exciting boarder and day girl taster day sessions, where prospective students were able to spend some time star gazing. In June 13 primary school children from Whaddon made planispheres with Dr Ralph and visited STARLAB in conjunction with the Classics department to hear stories about the constellations.

In science and engineering week the physics department delivered a high brow prayers on the fundamental particles and their families. Possibly the subject matter was a little difficult to start the morning off with but we are never afraid to tackle a difficult subject!

On the afternoon of the May Bank holiday open day Mrs Kaye organised a boat building activity for the Y6 students who will join College in September 2009. The students were given the task of designing, making and testing their boats. Girls had an opportunity to meet other ‘freshers’ and friendships were made as the girls designed their vessels. A great time was had by all!

In project week Mrs Kaye organised and ran a whole day with the LC2s where they designed and built their own bridges and glass houses inspired by their trip to The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. This formed part of a cross curricular week and tied in with the Art workshop lead by Kate Downie, Scotland’s leading industrial artist.

In the British Physics Olympiad, a national competition to find the country’s best physics students, three students won Bronze medals with one student achieving a commendation.

There has been great enthusiasm this year about the physics department’s new slow motion camera capable of taking video at 210, 420 or even 1000 frames per second. Recently acquired, it has already been used for videoing car safety features by some UC4 students and amazing footage of a bursting water balloon.

On a Saturday morning in the summer term the LC1s had great fun making silent movies. The year group assembled in LH and, when suitably grouped, were given just a title and set going. Every member of the group had a specific role from Actor to Producer and in only three hours the teams had made the videos, edited them and we were able to watch them on the big screen.

This year we entered two teams of sixth formers for the EDT Engineering Education Scheme (England). One team worked with the Royal Navy and produced a water oil mixture tester. Their prototype was heavily influenced by their visit to a RN aircraft carrier and a fascinating visit to the engine room. The second group worked with TRL L-3 communications based in Tewkesbury. They produced an emergency beacon system and spent time looking at both the software and the hardware side of the project. Both groups really enjoyed the three day residential at UWE, Bristol, where they were able to use the excellent facilities of the engineering department and of course their expertise. The students’ hard work and ingenuity resulted in their qualifying for BA Gold CREST awards.

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