Third Year Pupils Celebrate Success in National Physics Competition

Five of our Third Year pupils are celebrating success in a national physics competition hosted by the University of Leeds.

The science competition invited KS3 students to get creative and explore the beauty of fluid dynamics. Our Third Year physics pupils have been exploring fluids and how they transfer heat energy, and the competition was an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge.

Nila Baskar, Isra Ali, Sophie Jewitt and Apsara Naguleswaran placed first with their experiments of gelatine bubbles, milk and skittles, disk droplets, lime splash, floating flower and spider’s web. The judges commented that their entry was ‘a stunning set of images’ showing ‘so many important processes… fantastic demonstrations, great work!’ All four girls received a £40 Amazon gift voucher.

Ameen Khunda came second with the judges remarking his imploding can experiment as ‘a creative experiment… well executed and a fantastic description of the fluid processes, excellent!’ Ameen received a £20 Amazon gift voucher.

Nila said: “I feel very proud to have won the competition alongside Isra, Sophie and Apsara. We have spent a lot of time learning about fluid dynamics in our lessons, so it was a lot of fun to put our knowledge to the test with the chance of winning a prize.”

Mr Ian Burns, Head of Physics at Yarm School, said: “Nila, Isra, Sophie, Apsara and Ameen should all be very proud of themselves for placing first and second in the competition.

It’s wonderful to see the pupils applying the knowledge and skills they have learned in their lessons and participating in extracurricular activities and challenges.”

Dr Hannah Kreczak, Competition Coordinator said: “The competition was organised by current and former PhD students at the University of Leeds, whose research projects are all within the area of fluid dynamics from understanding how landslides form and move, to how electrically conductive gas behaves in thermonuclear fusion devices.

The organisers and I were thrilled with the exploration and creativity undertaken by the pupils from Yarm School. As a student, I had to wait until university to learn about fluid dynamics in depth so it is wonderful to hear that the pupils enjoyed engaging with the subject with their teacher Ian Burns – they really have a flair for scientific investigation.”