School news

On Thursday 17 November, Mr Roberts took the Year 7 boys up to Highgate School for their annual Science Lectures. It was a surprising and exciting day!

The subject for the morning was Physics; “The Life and Research of Marie Curie”. This lecture outlined the early life of this pioneering lady, from her origins in Poland, to her outstanding research physics in Paris leading to the discovery of the element radioactive Radium. A very informative lecture which also gave insights into how the research was carried out using fairly primitive equipment which the Curies had to invent in order to make their discoveries!

The boys were fascinated with examples of luminescence and phosphorescence along with demonstrations of how radioactivity was detected and measured using the basic equipment. Wonderful for the boys to see a small phial of Radium being used as a radioactive source. We could never do that in the Lab!

After an excellent lunch in the Highgate School Canteen, the boys proceeded to the Great Hall where a memorable encounter awaited! On the table on the stage were rows of flasks with exotic chemicals of all kinds. Our lecturer – a somewhat eccentric wizened Chemistry professor in a Lab coat introduced himself in having a lifelong interest in FIRE! Then the fun really started.....

The subject of the lecture was “Combustion”, and all kinds of experiments were demonstrated; colourful, smoky and dazzling. Brilliant! The main theme was that the element Oxygen is required for combustion. Various reactions showed that the more Oxygen is available, the more complete combustion will be.

The afternoon session finished with a BANG! The lecturer showed Hydrogen burning from a burst balloon – but his final demonstration was of a balloon with a mixture of Hydrogen and Oxygen.... there was a tremendous explosion, which seemed as if it would shatter all the stained glass windows in the Hall, and all 200 invited children whooped in delight! Absolutely FANTASTIC!

What a day for the boys!