News

17th Mar

CHS Students Compete for Physics Prize

Young scientists at Cheadle Hulme School gave lectures to parents before a panel of judges when they competed for a new School physics prize.

Competing to win The Peter Bullock Award – funded by Old Waconians and named after former CHS Physics Teacher Mr Peter Bullock, a teacher at the School for 43 years – 8 shortlisted students presented on an area of physics they had independently selected and researched.

First prize was awarded to Oscar Jones for his talk on ‘The Physics of Speakers’ during which he spoke about finding a complex balance in sound at rock concerts. As the winner he will be mentioned during CHS’s Annual Celebration at The Bridgewater Hall in September.

Robert Pearson came Second for his talk on ‘3D Printing Technology’ which explained how this exciting new phenomenon works.

Winning third prize for her lecture on ‘The Physics of Cake’ Phoebe Raine spoke about the science behind creating the perfect bake considering the physics of heat transfer as well as the complex chemical and biological reactions taking place inside the mixture.

The remaining 5 presentations were Highly Commended with all 8 competitors receiving a ‘Physics Geek’ t-shirt and certificate.

For the other lectures, Ellie Birtles-Clarke spoke about paradoxical quantum thought experiment ‘Schrodinger’s Cat’, Amy Dunning discussed ‘Transatlantic Cables’ and Francesca Sumpter gave a talk on ‘Dark Matter.’

In her talk ‘Medical Physics Imaging’, Ella Finigan explored the technology that allows humans to see inside the human body whilst James Walker discussed ‘The Physics of Communication.’

Each presentation impressed the Judging Panel which included Peter Bullock himself, plus CHS Physics Teachers Miss Kim Purchase and Mr John Smallwood.

Peter Bullock thanked all Old Waconians who contributed to the Award in front of an audience of parents, students and staff. He said: “It’s wonderful to witness that physics is thriving at CHS with such incredibly high standards of presentations on show. I look forward to returning year on year to hear more from CHS’s students.”

CHS Head of Physics, Mr Mike Winslow commented: “The evening has been a celebration of all the exciting modern developments in Physics. The presentations were a true credit to the extensive independent study undertaken by the students.”