Oundle Science - 2019. by Oundle School and Laxton Junior School

OUNDLE SCIENCE 2019

Introduction The Science Essay Prize is an opportunity for Oundelians of all ages to follow their own intellectual curiosity within any area of the sciences. Pupils are challenged to write an essay on an area of science they find fascinating with dozens of pupils of entering every year by writing wonderful essays about enormously varied topics such as the search for immortality, quantum computing, and optogenetics. Pupils receive no direct help from their teachers, other than a nudge towards something they might find interesting, and complete the essays entirely in their own time. These are prizes to win, such as being published in this short magazine and some vouchers, but I believe that most enter because they just want to know more about the world around them, and find the pursuit and communication of knowledge reward of itself. Mr O Peck, Head of Science

Cover image: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Serenityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by Imogen Peckett, (U6 K) 2

Oundle Science 2019

Science Prize Essay Winners 2018 First and Second Form Developments in Adaptive Technology and Science for the Blind and Visually Impaired India Jubb (Sco 2nd) ��4

Third Form Multiple Sclerosis – What’s Happening Now? Will Barbour (L 3rd) ��6

Fourth and Fifth Form Proton Beam Therapy: Cancer Treatment Transformed Poppi Settas (L 5th) ��9

Sixth Form The Benefits of Asteroids: The Solar System’s Untapped Resource EvanBall (G L6th) ��12

Olympiad and Challenge Competitions Biology, Chemistry and Physics ��18

Oundle Science 2019

Developments in Adaptive Technology and Science for the Blind and Visually Impaired India Jubb (Sco 2nd) As a visually impaired person myself, I use adaptive technology every day. But there are many new developments and old technologies designed for blind and visually impaired people, and I would like to know more about them. Getting about and using public transport is a major challenge for blind and partially sighted people. Guide dogs help a lot, of course, but they can’t read maps and they’re not great at knowing when the ‘Green Man’ is showing at pelican crossings. Also, many blind people don’t use guide dogs at all. So, how does a blind person find a pelican or zebra crossing and use it safely? It begins at ground level. You may have noticed paving slabs, often red or yellow, with raised bumps on them, but had you realised that they’re always used at road crossing points? They’re called ‘tactile paving’ because you can feel the bumps through your shoes. Crossing the road, there is often more tactile paving or metal studs to make it easier to walk straight across the road. On many pelican crossings, there is a beeping noise when the green man is showing. There’s also something else, which you’re very unlikely to have noticed unless you have been told about it. On the bottom of the yellow box where you press the button and the WAIT sign lights up, there is a little metal cone which rotates when the green man is lit. It’s called a ‘tactile cone’ and it’s particularly useful for blind people who are also hearing-impaired. Next time you’re waiting at a pelican crossing, check underneath the box! On London buses, the button which you press to ask the driver to stop has the letter S in Braille on it. More and more underground trains have recorded announcements before each stop, telling you which stop is next and which side of the train the doors will open on, which is very helpful information for blind or visually impaired people. Most London buses have announcements of their destination and current stop now, too. Transport for London is trying to improve! Braille technology, speech functions on computers and mobiles, and screen reading technology have developed a lot. A blind person who is a fluent reader of Braille can go much further than previously with the use of Braille computers, and even Braille printers (although they’re extremely expensive because they emboss the paper rather than using ink). My friend Dr Louise Byles, who is completely blind, has a laptop which has a Braille keyboard which she uses for taking notes. 4

She uses speech technology, which is a voice activated programme which converts her spoken words into text, for writing longer documents because it is quicker. She prefers to use Braille if she has the time, though, because she finds it easier to work with text than with sound as she finds it more convenient to visualise the whole document and it’s also easier to move text around. When Louise is doing a presentation for her work, she will use Braille notes in the way that a sighted person would use written notes. Children at schools for the blind, such as New College Worcester, are taught to read Braille and to use Perkins Braille machines to type from a very early age, and I think that this is very important because it fosters independence and teaches children to spell. Partially sighted children with degenerative conditions are often taught to touchtype on a standard QWERTY keyboard, because once you’ve learned you don’t need to look at the keys so it’s a skill which they will still be able to use when they lose their sight. Smart phones, tablets, and smart watches are extremely useful to the blind and visually impaired community. They all enable users to enlarge the fonts of their messages, and there is usually some kind of voice over technology available which tells users which icon they’re pressing, what they’re typing, and reads texts and emails. Apple is leading the field in this. All Apple products are accessible to blind and partially sighted users straight out of the box at no extra cost, because VoiceOver and speech functions are already installed and just have to be turned on in Settings. This is unlike other platforms, where voice technology has to be bought separately and installed, and is often expensive. Sport is an area where blind and partially sighted people often struggle because so many ball sports require handeye coordination, 3D vision, and depth perception. Some sports, especially swimming, have developed ways to help. In swimming, races at official ASA galas are started by a light and a buzzer. Coaches also use whistles a lot to tell their swimmers what to do, because of the noise levels in a swimming pool. In Paralympic competition, there are ‘tappers’ at the end of each lane, who tap the swimmers on the head to tell them that they’re getting near the wall. Not exactly high-tech, but it’s effective! Board diving is probably the worst sport for a visually impaired person to try because you can’t wear goggles for safety reasons. As my consultant Oundle Science 2019

said when I told her I had taken it up ‘It’s the only sport we simply can’t help you with!’ Football is a popular sport for blind athletes, because it’s played with a ball which makes a noise and because you don’t have to try to catch or hit the ball. In official Paralympic football, the goalie is the only person on the team who isn’t completely blind, and who doesn’t wear an eyemask. At Rio 2016 Paralympics, all the medals had a special feature designed for blind and visually impaired athletes: Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals each sound a different note when shaken. Most of these inventions have little use outside the blind and visually impaired communities, but there is one I haven’t mentioned yet which is better known for its cosmetic use than for its original purpose. Botulinum Toxin was pioneered by Alan B. Scott in the 1970s for the treatment of strabismus (also called squint). This is when the muscles on one side of the eye are stronger than on the other, causing the eye to turn inward (convergent) or outward (divergent). An injection of botulinum toxin, which is the most powerful toxin and nerve agent in nature, into the medial rectus muscle temporarily paralyses the muscle so that eye movement becomes parallel. In the world of ophthalmology, botulinum toxin is always referred to either by its full name, or simply as ‘toxin’, but it’s better known elsewhere by its other name; Botox.

Oundle Science 2019

Researching this essay, I have found that adaptive technology for blind and visually impaired people is developing fast. The development of smart phones and VoiceOver technology in particular was a great breakthrough, because it enables blind and partially sighted people to communicate so much more easily. I hope that further developments will mean that it’s easier for blind people to find paid employment, because at present the levels of unemployment in the community are very high. This is a terrible waste of a powerful resource for society, and very bad for the mental health of the people concerned. When intelligent, capable people are enabled to contribute to society in spite of their disability, everyone wins.

Sources: tfl.gov.uk guidedogs.org.uk paralympic.org newcollegeworcester.co.uk Molly Burke on YouTube I am also very grateful to Dr Louise Byles and Mrs Rebecca Moore for their help with this essay

Multiple Sclerosis – What’s Happening Now? Will Barbour (L 3rd) MS or Multiple sclerosis affects the brain and the nervous system. MS is a neurological condition. It occurs due to the nervous system being broken down by a faulty immune system. The neurons in the body are protected by myelin (a fatty protein). When the faulty immune system starts attacking the myelin, it can cause the electrical impulses that pass through the nerve to be disrupted or even stopped. These electrical impulses are the signals that go to and from your brain and they link it to the rest of the body. If an impulse cannot reach a muscle, that muscle will not know what to do. MS causes you to be paralysed because as the damage increases all of your body will be disconnected from your brain through your nervous system.

Relapsing Remitting MS is the most common type of MS with 85% of people diagnosed having this type. This form of MS causes the patient to have sudden flares (or relapses) of symptoms which could cause them to collapse. These relapses will only last 24 hours at the most but are then followed by periods of full or almost complete recovery (or remits). The remits can last from a few days to weeks or months. On average people that suffer with this type of MS have around 2 attacks a year.

“Sclerosis” means the damaging or scarring of small parts of the tissue, (myelin in this case). It’s called “Multiple Sclerosis” because scarring can happen in many parts of the body. This is why many people can have different symptoms and be affected differently by the same condition. In the UK alone at least 100,000 people have MS. MS is a degenerative condition. MS is not contagious so cannot be caught from someone with MS. Women are around 3 times more likely to develop MS compared to men. MS is usually diagnosed when people are 20 to 30 years old; however people can be diagnosed at older and younger ages.

Between 10 to 15% of people diagnosed with MS will have Primary Progressive MS. If someone has this type of MS their physical ability will always degenerate from diagnosis. It is very rare for people with this type of MS to have remits and the patient will not recover. People may find that they have times when their disability is level and not increasing.

Diagram showing distorted messages in the neuron affected by MS MS can be divided in to 3 main types, they are: Relapsing Remitting MS, Primary Progressive MS, and Secondary Progressive MS, but that doesn’t mean that everyone’s MS is the same. Many people may have the same type of MS but suffer from very different symptoms. This is one reason why MS is so hard to diagnose and treat. 6

Oundle Science 2019

When people are diagnosed with Secondary Progressive MS their MS will change over time. Secondary Progressive MS will start by showing symptoms like relapsing and remitting MS but over time it will change to be more like primary progressive MS. This means that their physical ability and independence will decrease over time. It is possible that people could be diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting MS but in fact have Secondary Progressive MS. 4

The condition MS has been recognised for 150 years but yet we are unsure how to treat it or even what the causes for it are. It is believed that the causes could be genetics.

Cladribine is a nucleoside analogue which means it can block the DNA replicating itself in a certain way. When the DNA replicates in this way, it would allow faulty B and T lymphocytes (white blood cell) to be made. The B and T lymphocytes that have become problematic (part of the faulty immune system) are thought to be the cells that attack the myelin that protects the neuron. By reducing the damage to the neurons it is hoped that the symptoms and the severity of MS will decrease. When drugs destroy your immune system it leaves a danger that you will not be able to fight very common viruses, for example a cold. This why Cladribine is taken in two courses, with a period of no medication in between, so that the damage to the immune system is reduced as much as possible, and it gives the immune system a chance to recover.

Cladribine molecule 5

Genetics are not the pure reason for developing MS because we know MS is not inherited but some genes are more likely to develop MS than others. It is currently thought that there are other factors that can trigger MS e.g.: • Infection - can damage the immune system • A lack of sun light - would mean less vitamin D • S moking - can cause lung damage that damages the immune system • S olvents - Long periods of time exposed to solvents (Paint and glue solvents) • Obesity - can help develop MS according to several studies. Generally treatment for MS is unpredictable and long lasting but there are always researchers looking in to new ways of improving MS treatments. One of the latest treatments for relapsing remitting MS is called Mavenclad the main drug it contains is called Cladribine. Cladribine works towards reducing the number of relapses. Cladribine is being used in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. Cladribine has been found to reduce relapses in patient’s MS by 58% compared to the placebo (no treatment). This is a promising sign. Oundle Science 2019

Diagram of Lymphocytes attacking Myelin6. In conclusion MS is a degenerative disease and is not contagious. Until recently there were no effective treatments for MS but there is now hope for those people who are diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS. With more research every day we can hope that soon all MS could possibly have a cure. My Aunt has relapsing remitting MS, she is on the new Cladribine treatment and it has now been 9 months since her last relapse which is very encouraging. It is the longest time she has gone between symptoms.

References: https://www.mssociety.org.uk/about-ms https://www.mssociety.org.uk/research https://www.mssociety.org.uk/research/latest-research https://www.mstrust.org.uk/about-ms/what-ms/ms-facts https://www.mstrust.org.uk/about-ms/what-ms/types-ms https://www.mstrust.org.uk/about-ms/what-ms/causes-ms 1. h ttp://www.closerlookatstemcells.org/stem-cells-and-medicine/multiplesclerosis 2.

https://www.mstrust.org.uk/about-ms/what-ms/types-ms

https://www.mstrust.org.uk/a-z/mavenclad-cladribrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cladribine https://frontend.roche.com/content/releases/ latest/30stories.msBreakingTheRulesEN.html http://www.closerlookatstemcells.org/stem-cells-andmedicine/multiple-sclerosis “A guide to treatment with Zinbryta” by Biogen (April 2017) 5.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cladribine

ttps://frontend.roche.com/content/releases/latest/30stories. h msBreakingTheRulesEN.html

Oundle Science 2019

Proton Beam Therapy: Cancer Treatment Transformed Popi Settas (L 5th) In 2007 I was diagnosed with an optic nerve glioma. I was four years old. A glioma is a benign brain tumour which causes damage to surrounding tissues by compressing them and destroying their function. My left optic nerve was being strangled and I was gradually losing vision in that eye. I underwent two types of chemotherapy for nearly two years before I was deemed to be in remission in 2009. In 2016 I was again losing vision and experiencing pain in my left eye. My brain scan showed that the glioma had grown in size and I would need treatment again. The prospect of going through chemotherapy again was one I wholeheartedly rejected. I had no fond memories of all the needles, medicines, tubes and blood transfusions I had been subject to as a small child. Children under 8 years old are not routinely offered photon (or conventional) radiation treatment due to the increased risk of side-effects on a young, growing brain. Children over 8 years old are only offered photon radiation treatment as a last resort, once all other treatments, like chemotherapy, have failed. Proton beam therapy was and still is not available to children in the UK. My parents, who are both health professionals, had to do their own research and contact some proton beam therapy centres overseas to arrange for my treatment; on Valentine’s day 2017 we moved our family to Heidelberg in Germany for six weeks of highly intensive Proton Beam therapy. My treatments lasted for one hour a day, six days a week, and was almost needle free. The biggest imposition was wearing a tightly moulded fibreglass mask onto which laser sights are beamed for absolute precision during the treatment; well that and being fed into a huge white machine which looks like a spaceship. An astonishingly small amount was known, and still is known about proton beam therapy in the UK. In fact, until a few short months ago, it was significantly far behind putting this evidently effective treatment to use. As recently as April 2018, the first patient was given proton beam therapy in the UK, at the new Rutherford Cancer Centre in Newport, South Wales. Within the next three years, there are expected to be at least 6 proton beam centres in the country, at locations such as Liverpool, Reading and London. One in Bomarsund, Northumberland is due to be opened and in use later this year. Further research reveals that the government has committed

Oundle Science 2019

£250 million solely to the matter of developing high energy proton beam therapy in the U.K. I was surprised to learn that it has in actuality, been in use for at least 20 years, and there are centres scattered all over America, in Switzerland and Germany. Although there is no lack of evidence (from overseas centres in places such as Germany and the US) to support the efficacy of this treatment, it seems as though Britain has been in denial about its obvious superiority over conventional radiotherapy in the case of solid tumours. The history of proton beam therapy began as early as 1919, when New-Zealand born Ernest Rutherford converted nitrogen into oxygen through the use of alpha particles. When firing these alpha particles at nitrogen gas, he observed that hydrogen nuclei were emitted. Rutherford gave the hydrogen nucleus the name “proton” which is Greek for “first”. Rutherford’s strong foundation of the atomic structure, and in particular the proton provided a basis for nuclear science and therefore its eventual application to medicine. 27 year old physics professor, Ernest O. Lawrence arrived at the University of California’s Berkeley campus in 1928, eager to break the seldom-crossed barriers between the sciences. The promise of access to the University’s Chemistry Department played a role in his success as a researcher. Having been inspired by a paper from the Norwegian engineer Rolf Wideroe, he developed a particle accelerator, with a distinctive circular shape, it was referred to by Lawrence as his ‘proton merry-go-round’ before receiving its current name. The accelerating chamber of this first ‘cyclotron’ measured five inches in diameter and was able to boost hydrogen ions to an energy of 80,000 volts. Despite being composed of a kitchen chair and wire clothes rack, it proved Lawrence’s point: that boosting a particles’ energy before casting them at an object is in fact the most efficient method by which to break apart atomic nuclei. By August 1931, a ‘Radiation Laboratory’ was created on the University campus. Soon physicists and chemists became dedicated to the pursuit of nuclear science which led to the 60 inch cyclotron, described by those who saw it as a ‘truly colossal machine’. Use of this cutting-edge contraption in experiments allowed Glenn Seaborg to earn the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951 which he shared with Edwin McMillan for their discovery of 10 transuranium elements, including plutonium, americium, curium, einsteinium, and seaborgium (named after the man himself). Seaborg was also a pioneer in nuclear medicine, one of the first of his kind, discovering numerous 9

isotopes of elements with important applications in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, one of these notable discoveries was iodine-131, which is still used to treat thyroid disease to this day, as well as also being used now to treat thyroid cancer. Having won his own Nobel Prize in 1939 for the invention of the original cyclotron, Ernest and his brother Dr John Lawrence, Director of the University’s Medical Physics Laboratory, collaborated in studying the medical and biological applications of the cyclotron. Ernest himself even became a consultant to the Institute of Cancer Research at Columbia University. An ambitious man, he had plans for a larger model of the cyclotron; with a magnet weighing 4000 tons, requiring a building 160 feet wide and the best part of 100 feet tall to house it, construction of the whopping 184 inch cyclotron (officially a synchrocyclotron) was completed in 1946. Sadly, in August of 1958 at the age of just 57, Lawrence died of chronic colitis, but not before making his permanent mark on the worlds of both physics and chemistry. A pioneer in nuclear science with an interest in medicine, Lawrence’s research laid the groundwork for proton beam therapy as it would allow protons to be accelerated to very high speeds. Most people that I have spoken to have little or no knowledge of proton beam therapy. Neither had I until a bit over a year ago. Of course, having had a first-hand experience of the treatment from a patient’s perspective, I also found the science behind the concept incredibly interesting. Protons deposit energy differently than electrons do. Compared to a photon beam, a proton beam that is delivered with sufficient energies (or “modulated”) has a low “entrance dose” (the dose in front of the tumour), a high-dose “Bragg peak” region, which is designed to cover the entire tumour, and no “exit dose” beyond the tumour. In contrast, photon beams deposit most of their dose in tissues in front of the tumour, and continue to penetrate through the body after passing through the target area, potentially causing damage to other tissues.

Proton beams can be conformed (shaped in three dimensions) to fit the target area. A broad beam can be carefully shaped to the dimensions of the tumour, and so deliver most of the radiation to the targeted tumour mass, not to the surrounding normal tissue. But the beam can also be split into smaller individual beams of approximately 1mm in diameter and varying intensities and delivered to the target in a raster pattern, thereby minimising surrounding normal tissue exposure further. At high energies, protons are able to destroy the DNA of cancer cells. A two stage linear accelerator is used to initially propel the protons to about 10% of the speed of light. Then the protons are directed through a synchrotron, which, with the aid of powerful magnets, bends the proton beam into a circular path; over the course of about one million orbits, the protons are accelerated to about 75% of the speed of light. The beam is then directed to the beam delivery system, called “gantry”. Typically a gantry weighs around 600 tons, and can rotate 360 degrees with submillimetre precision. Coming out of the gantry at 75% of the speed of light, the proton beam can penetrate up to 30cm into the tissue, while deviating no more than 1mm from the target. In addition, the robot-based treatment table is adjustable in six ways. Combining these two movements enables an infinite number of beam entrance angles to be realized for the beam delivery. This means that the individual pencil beams are superimposed in the tumour and accumulate to deliver the total dose at this site only. Especially if the tumour has a complicated location in the proximity of highly radiationsensitive organs such as the intestines or the optic nerve, the burden on these organs can be minimized by selection of particularly favourable beam entrance angles. This is the typical layout of a proton beam therapy facility:

1. Ion sources: This is where beams of positively charged atoms – ions – are produced. To obtain prototns, hydrogen gas is used, while carbon dioxide is used for carbon ions.

Oundle Science 2019

2. Two-stage linear accelerator: Ions are accelerated in highfrequency structures to up to 10% of the speed of light. 3. Synchrotron: Six 60° magnets bend the ion beams into a circular path. Over the course of around one million orbits, the ions are accelerated to up to 75% of the speed of light. 4. Collimating system: Magnets guide and focus the beam in vacuum tubes. 5. Treatment room: The beam enters the treatment room through a window. The patient is positioned on a treatment table that is precisely adjusted by a computer-controlled robot. 6. Position control: With a digital x-ray system, images are created prior to irradiation. A computer program matches the images with those used for treatment planning to precisely adjust the patient. 7. The Gantry: The rotating beam delivery system enables the therapy beam to be directed toward the patient at the optimal angle. The gantry weighs 670 tons, of which 600 tons can be rotated with submillimetre precision. 8. Treatment room in the Gantry: This is where the beam exits the gantry beamline. Two rotating digital x-ray systems are used to optimize the patient position by image guidance prior to the irradiation.

radiotherapy. It is common knowledge that the two aforementioned cause an exhaustive list of gruelling short and long-term effects. I am unable to speak for others, but I myself experienced only tiredness and dry skin, hair loss at the site of the beam only, about a month after the fact. This is all that there can be expected, with the exception of possible nausea and headaches. The targeted nature of proton beam is what accounts for its lack of side-effects. The concentration of this high energy beam of protons and the accurate and calculated way in which it is applied mean that extremely little healthy tissue is affected. Protons were initially considered “fundamental” or “elementary” particles. Today we know that each proton is composed of 3 quarks. Protons help bind the nucleus of an atom together. They attract the negatively charged electrons and keep them in orbit around the nucleus. They fuel nuclear fusion reactions in stars, like our sun. They can be used in tumour treatment with great effect and one day they may even give us the answer of what happened moments after the Big Bang, through the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. But maybe most important of all… they always stay positive!!

Me with my mask after my last treatment Me on a treatment day

Bibliography:

The treatment has so far been successful in brain tumours, sarcomas, lung, liver, neck and prostate cancers. Clinical trials are currently underway to open up an opportunity for patients with breast, cervical and bladder cancers, as well as lymphoma to also receive proton beam. The number of individual treatment sessions required depends on the type and nature of the tumour involved, but to give a general number, I received 29. A small boy from London I met in Heidelberg had a more complex brain tumour and was receiving 32 treatments.

https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/scientists_rutherford. html. ‘Important Scientists – Ernest Rutherford’. 2009-2018.

I believe, as I am sure many others who have received this treatment do, that one of the things which makes it special is its incredible lack of side-effects compared to alternative cancer treatments like chemotherapy and conventional

https://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/Acceleratorfacility.117968.0.html?&L=1. ‘Accelerator facility’, UniversitätsKlinikum Heidelberg.

Oundle Science 2019

http://www.atomicarchive.com/Bios/Lawrence.shtml. ‘Ernest O. Lawrence (1901 – 1958)’. 1998-2015. http://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/early-years. html. ‘Ernest Lawrence’s cyclotron’, Lynn Yarris, Berkeley Lab Science Articles Archive. https://www.ft.com/content/7a15b9e2-3d89-11e8-b7e052972418fec4. “First cancer patient receives proton beam therapy in UK”, Clive Cookson. April 11, 2018

The Benefits of Asteroids The Solar System’s Untapped Resource Evan Ball (G L6th) When most people think of asteroids, they picture massive, barren rocks hurtling through space with no purpose except to possibly cause a mass extinction by colliding with Earth. However, asteroids are much more than just enlarged stones. They have the power to sustain humanity in space, add multiple quadrillions of $ to the world economy, and even help us understand more about our own planet. Asteroids are the untapped source that could revolutionize and accelerate not only the possibility of the presence of humanity in space, but also the world economy and our understanding of where we come from and why we exist. NASA estimates that all asteroid resources combined are worth approximately $700 quintillion – about $100billion per person on Earth. It is clear that humanity would benefit immeasurably from asteroids if we could use them effectively and with care. This essay will explore why asteroids have the power to be one of humanity’s greatest tools in achieving incredible goals, both academically and economically. On 4 January 2017, NASA approved a mission to the asteroid Psyche 16. But out of the 18,136 Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) that we know of, why was this one chosen for an $850 million mission lasting 3.5 years? th

Psyche 16 is a unique asteroid. It measures almost 210km across, which is approximately 1/60th the size of Earth. It is not the largest asteroid we know off – which is Ceres with a diameter of 946km – but it is the largest known M-type asteroid, or “metallic asteroid”, which make up about 8% of all known NEAs. Due to its unusually large size, Psyche is one of the most studied asteroids. Research facilities across the globe have been using radar albedo techniques to study this metallic curiosity. Radar albedo works by transmitting a radar

signal and measuring the resulting reflection. This technique can tell us what the surface and even the insides of a celestial body are made up of. Psyche has one of the highest radar albedos in the solar system: 0.42 ± 0.10 (AU). As seen in figure one, Psyche (with an asteroid number of 16) falls in the albedo range, shaded in pink, of asteroids mainly composed of iron and nickel. This composition is extremely useful as it can provide insights into the behaviour of Earth’s core. Our inner core, although having a diameter 10x larger than that of Psyche, is also believed to have an iron-nickel composition, based on the magnetic field of Earth. Some astronomers dub Psyche as the “naked planet core”, as it is believed that Psyche was once a planet but due to bombardment from other asteroids in the early days of our solar system the outer layers and crust broke away, leaving an exposed core. In reality, we already know more about Psyche than our own planet’s core. The Earth’s core reaches temperatures of 5,505°C, similar to the surface of the sun. This scorching temperature would melt any contemporary industrial instruments well before they got close enough to take measurements. To this day, the deepest manmade hole on Earth is the Kola Superdeep Borehole (near Murmansk, Russia). This only reaches a mere 0.192% of the way to the centre of the Earth, but even at this depth the temperature is more than 180°C. It is therefore no surprise that the centre of the Earth is practically unreachable and that an unmanned mission to Psyche – which is, as of 19th September 2018, over 525 million km away –is considered much more achievable than a plunge to the core. On board the spacecraft destined for Psyche will be a series of scientific instruments which will be used to investigate the age, composition and history of the asteroid. The main instruments on board will be mass and X-Ray spectrometers. These work by ionising a small sample from the surface and measuring the time the energised ion takes to travel a certain distance, or the wavelength of the wave-particle produced. This can then be used to find out what elements are present in the sample, as well as their constituent percentages. There will also be a magnometer, hoping to give a better understanding of the cause of Earth’s magnetic field.

Oundle Science 2019

A mission to study an exposed, terrestrial core could have a huge beneficial impact on our understanding of our own planet. For example, we may be able to discover the causes of major and significant historic events such as the ice age. Not only will this enable us to make more accurate predictions about the destiny of our planet, but it will also help us in our search for exoplanets; If we know more about our planet in its early stages, we can use the conditions at these stages to help determine whether a planet will be able to sustain human life in the future. For example, we believe that during the Archean and Proterozoic periods there were relatively low concentrations of methane and oxygen in the atmosphere and the Earth absorbed far more infrared light than it does now. Therefore, we could use the conditions of earlier stages of Earth to aid our search, despite at first consideration being totally unsuitable for human life. Observing the core’s behaviour could also improve research into global warming - possibly the most talked about and crucial topic of the 21st century – by being able to predict the past and future states of Earth. But the mission to Psyche 16 has raised questions and queries far beyond the realm of academia and science. Most notably, the asteroid mining business. Based on the metal markets of January 2017, it was calculated that the total worth of Psyche 16 was $10 quintillion. To put this in perspective, this is 115,000 times larger the world economy of 2018! Obviously, we must be cautious in our approach to mining asteroids like Psyche (an extreme example). Having such a broad access to millions of tonnes of industrial and precious metals could cause the price of them to fall dramatically and crash the economy, bringing a different meaning to the term “asteroid impact”. This in turn could lead to more careless use of metals, resulting in a dangerous growth in industrialisation, which could destroy natural habitats and increase the rate of global warming. Also, the cost of bringing materials back to Earth, based on the price of brining moon rock back to Earth, could be as much as $300,000 per gram. Even with a heavy drop in price per gram due to the economies of scale, returning substances to Earth greatly decreases the profitability of industrial and even precious metals. But maybe we need to think about uses beyond our own humble planet. With the ever-growing popularity and funding towards building a colony on Mars, it makes logical sense to have a nearby resource for the needs of the settlers and their projects. It takes more energy to escape the first 300 kilometres from Earth than the next 300 million kilometres… and Mars is only approximately 55 million kilometres away from Earth. The energy required to escape a far-less massive asteroid would be infinitesimal compared to that from Earth, and it is estimated that it would lead to a 95% reduction Oundle Science 2019

in space exploration costs. This makes asteroids a much cheaper and more sustainable option for extra-terrestrial industrialisation. Metals would have a wide variety of uses for any proposed space colony. First of all, industrial metals, such as iron, could lead to cheap construction in space, and also removes the limitations of size. This could allow space colonies to develop rapidly, as well as allow the building of large deep-space spacecrafts that could carry 1000s of passengers. Secondly, Rare Earth Metals can manufacture structural and complex materials. For example, crystalline silicon is needed for the production of photovoltaic solar cells, which would be the main provider of electricity for a space colony. Clearly, shipping all these different metals from Earth would be impractical, and so the utilisation of M-type asteroids is essential to produce a self-sustaining space civilisation. However, asteroids can provide more than just metal for industry. What many consider to be the most important resource for mankind is water. In 2014, it cost roughly US$40,000 (£30,000) to launch a kilogram of stuff into space. On board the ISS, astronauts limit their use of water to only 11 litres per day, but still this costs $440,000 per day per astronaut. Even although launch prices have recently fallen and the use of recycling techniques creating potable water from urine and moisture in the air, the prices still remain “astronomical”. Sourcing water from space could dramatically lower the costs of space colonies and possible deep-space, manned missions. There are an estimated two trillion tonnes of water on asteroids. Whereas before we were looking for M-type asteroids for metals, to find water we must look for C-type asteroids, especially CI and CM chondrites. C-type asteroids make up roughly 75% of all NEAs, with chondrites making up roughly 8%. These asteroids are important as they are known to contain water and other organic compounds, such as amino acids and hydrocarbons. Water is even thought to constitute up to 22% of the mass of some chondrites. In most C-type asteroids, water is contained by being bound in hydrated minerals. Extracting the water from these minerals may require some optimized engineering, but it is definitely plausible. Water is a life source and necessary for humans and plants to survive. The ability to grow plants in space would, as demonstrated in the film The Martian (2015), allow prolonged stays in space as well as mark the first habitation of another planet. But water can do more than just hydrate and feed astronauts. The electrolysis of water can produce hydrogen and oxygen molecules. These can be used, via combustion, as a clean propellant and fuel for space craft.

This can enable cheap travel between extra-terrestrial bases. The oxygen produced from electrolysis may also be used for air both on board spacecraft and in future settlements, which is another obvious benefit. Aside from water, volatiles found on C-type asteroids hold the key to developing a proto-Earth environment in an extraterrestrial setting. Like water, methane could also be used to produce rocket propellant. Carbon dioxide, ammonium hydroxide and ammonia are all essential as fertilizers to create an agricultural growth rate able to fully sustain a population of significant size. In addition, sulphur dioxide is essential as a refrigerant, which would allow a wider breadth of scientific experiments to take place on another planet, as well as provide essential air conditioning. Clearly, if a space colony is to survive they will have to adapt and “live off the land”. This is not a new idea. In the 17th century, when Europeans settled in North America, they didn’t bring all the metal, water, wood etc. that they needed to start a colony. Instead, they used only the resources they found and scavenged. 400 years later and the USA is the world’s biggest economy and one of the leading political influencers. This happened with all colonial expeditions, and this is what the human habitation of Space will need. In the history of colonisation, only a few pursued the goal of getting rich from the mineral resources of unchartered territories at the start. Leading the charge this time around is Planetary Resources, a private company founded in January 2009 with the aim of “providing resources to fuel industry and sustain life in space”. They are working on the idea of increasing the efficiency of space colonisation through utilising asteroid resources. Already they have launched satellites like the Arkyd-6 to test the technology they will use later on to detect which asteroids are worth mining. Arkyd-6 contains an A6 instrument, which is a broadband imager measuring between 3 to 5 microns within the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This region is particularly sensitive to water, and can detect it in asteroids millions of miles away, even if it is only bound in hydrated crystals. The much more recent Arkyd-301 mission (launched on 12th January 2018) has used this instrument along with others to gather data by analysing asteroids and performing theoretical mining simulations to determine the quantity of water available on thousands of different asteroids. Obviously companies like Planetary Resources are not yet turning a profit due to the simple fact that they have not yet achieved their goal of mining asteroids. Despite this they have still received significant funding, with a surprisingly small country offering extremely large support. Luxembourg,

a small but rich country with a population 2.5 times that of Peterborough, has been providing monetary support to Planetary Resources, making its launches possible. According to CrunchBase (a website that monitors start-up investments), Luxembourg’s national bank awarded Planetary Resources a grant of €25m to assist in its aim to launch an asteroid prospecting mission. In more recent news, on 12th September 2018, Luxembourg announced a €100m fund to invest in space technology start-ups, as well as announcing the formation of their own space agency. Hoping to become a hub of space industry they established a €200m line of credit for startups willing to move their headquarters to Luxembourg. If money wasn’t enough, new start-ups may also be drawn to Luxembourg as they now allow private companies to own any resources that they collect off of celestial bodies in space, a controversial matter which many governments debate and ban. This is a huge step towards the possibility of asteroid mining. The aggressive line of action of Luxembourg may lead to one tiny nation having almost complete control of the sky! Looking beyond space colonisation, the benefits described above have a wide range of uses for other fields. One of these is space exploration. Asteroids could provide a potential “service station” for space craft on deep space missions, providing the potential for manned missions to go further than those which need to carry all their resources with them from start to finish. By setting up bases around and on C-type asteroids, these spacecraft refuelling stations could increase humanity’s reach into the solar system. Another benefit is space tourism. Companies worldwide are investing into the new “designer” holiday destination for the rich and famous. In the US, Virgin Galactic dominates the industry with successful supersonic tests of their VSS Unity, whereas over in Japan, the Japanese Shimizu Corp., an engineering and construction firm, has developed a plan for an orbiting hotel with 64 rooms and a mass of 6000 tonnes, which they pledge to have aloft by 2020. Space tourism is quickly coming to fruition and, in a few years, we might have potentially thousands of people orbiting the Earth or even on the moon for their summer holiday. Using resources from asteroids to supply these cruise-ship like hotels makes sense financially and logically. Asteroids can also expand our knowledge of space. As discussed earlier with Psyche 16, asteroids are relics of time, holding untold stories waiting to be discovered. Analysing asteroids may help us progress deeper into the secrets we are still nowhere near to discovering, such as some of physics more puzzling and debated questions, like what causes gravity and the reasons behind quantum mechanics. By having the opportunity to study celestial bodies with varied compositions, speeds, orbits and rotations, we can test our Oundle Science 2019

theories in different environments, which would lead to a better understanding of the reality we live in. We may also be able to discover if in the beginning of the solar system the building blocks of life (e.g. Adenine, Thymine) were present, perhaps answering the age-old question that has puzzled scientists for decades: the source of life. OSIRIS-Rex, an asteroid sample return mission launched by NASA on 8th September 2016, will return samples from the carbon-rich asteroid Bennu. When returned to Earth in 2023 these samples will be studied to help us delve deeper into the past of our solar system and hopefully answer some of these questions. On the topic of understanding more about our universe, interstellar asteroids may provide us with information about other star systems. In October 2017, an unexpected event rocked the world of astronomy as, for the first time, an interstellar asteroid was detected passing through our solar system. ‘Oumuamua, which is Hawaiian for “to reach out”, was first detected on 19th October 2017, but, after its slingshot around the sun, quickly faded from sight in January 2018. However, in the short period of time before it hurtled away at a speed of 95,000 kilometres per hour, we still got a good idea about this exceptional phenomenon. If you had to sum up the findings in one word, it would be “strange”: ‘Oumuamua is not like anything we have seen

Oundle Science 2019

before. Firstly, astronomers across the world have observed that ‘Oumuamua’s brightness dims by a factor of 10 every 7.3 hours, telling us that it spins. Although this is common with many asteroids in our solar system, what really makes ‘Oumuamua stand out is that this data tells us that it is highly elongated (as shown in figure 2): its length is roughly 400meters, and its width is estimated to be only a 1/10th of that. No asteroid in our solar system that we have observed has such extreme dimensions. Not only are its dimensions strange, but also the fact that it seems to be accelerating away from the sun. This is highly unusual, but some astronomers have put it down to the fact that ‘Oumuamua might be partly propelled by the loss of water vapour and other gases, but at levels that would not be detected by instruments. The strangeness of ‘Oumuamua has the ability to tell us of the star system it once fled. Already we can tell from its highly elongated shape that it most likely came from a contact binary start system (one with two stars that orbit around a common barycentre), or that it was the result of a violent event (such as a stellar explosion) which caused it to be ejected from its star system. The presence of ‘Oumuamua excites us with a tangible, macroscopic object that has travelled in interstellar space. This could provide us with clues about how other solar systems were formed, what the interstellar environment looks like and it could even answer the ancient question about whether our solar system is special in any way. Initiative for Interstellar Studies have published a paper suggesting hypothetical missions

to ‘Oumuamua, under the name of Project Lyra. This is no easy feat, with the speed of ‘Oumuamua being almost twice that of Voyager 1, the fastest deep space craft we have ever built. If launched, the spacecraft would reach ‘Oumuamua in 5-33years and rendezvous far past Saturn. This would make communications and the use of solar power increasingly difficult, adding to the struggle of designing a spacecraft. However, according to the initiative, this moment is a once in a lifetime opportunity and is too good to be missed. But others hold a more optimistic view, saying that an interstellar visit may occur every year, we just haven’t noticed it before now. If this is the case, studying ‘Oumuamua will give us the ability to plan a more detailed observation of interstellar asteroids in the future, and these resources may be the secret to discovering more about the situation beyond our own humble star. This essay has so far covered the possible benefits after asteroids have been harvested for information and goods. But to quote Arthur Ashe, a 20th century American athlete with a philosophical passion, “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” In order to achieve mastery of the skies, we will, without a shadow of a doubt, have to have international co-operation and investment. Some sources believe the cost of starting an asteroid mining program will be upwards of $100 billion. The gargantuan scale of this project means that it will need the backing of multiple private companies and countries, despite Luxembourg’s best efforts. This would create an international co-operative with a joint mission. By forcing countries to work together in a world currently dominated by trade wars, civil wars and nuclear threats, it seems that asteroids may even have the benefits of bestowing a more peaceful political world on Earth. To conclude, asteroids provide a wealth of resources: knowledge, money, power and even peace. The rise of global warming and overpopulation show us that our mighty planet is struggling to sustain us. We are living in an age on the verge of yet another industrial revolution. Asteroids are the oil of the 21st century; they have the ability to revolutionize society and cause a major economic, intellectual and technological boom. Asteroids could one day be a vast new source of scarce material (including living space), but only if the financial and technological obstacles can be overcome. If we want success, we must look to the skies.

Rowan, Karen. “5 Reasons to Care About Asteroids.” Space. com. 11/06/2010. https://www.space.com Griggs, Brandon. “How asteroids can help us reach Mars.” CNN. 19/10/2015. https://edition.cnn.com Atkinson, Nancy. “Human Mission to an Asteroid. Why should NASA go?” Universe Today. 23/08/2011. https://www. universetoday.com “NASA’s Asteroid Initiative Benefits from Rich Histroy.” NASA. 10/04/2010. https://www.nasa.gov Aziz, John. “How asteroid mining could add trillions to the world economy.” The Week. 25/06/2015. http://theweek.com Saletta, Morgan and Orrman-Rossiter, Kevin. “All of humanity should share in the space mining boom.” Phys.org. 18/04/2016. https://phys.org Chandran, Nyshka and Jegarajah, Sri. “Governments should collaborate on space mining for humanity’s benefit.” CNBC. 09/11/2016. https://www.cnbc.com Chapman, Harris and Others. “The benefits of hard bodies”. Astrobiology Magazine. 10/02/2003. https://www.astrobio. net Planetary Resources. https://www.planetaryresources.com. (05/09/2018) Oduntan, Gbenga. “Who owns space?” Science Alert. 27/11/2015. https://www.sciencealert.com “NEO Basics.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. https://www. jpl.nasa.gov (12/09/2018) “Psyche 16.” NASA Solar System Exploration. 05/12/2017. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov Lant, Karla. “NASA Is Fast-Tracking Plans to Explore a Metal Asteroid Worth $10,000 Quadrillion.” Futurism. 28/05/2017. https://futurism.com Space Resources. https://spaceresources.public.lu/en.html. (14/09/2018) Calderon, Justin. “The tiny nation leading a new space race.” BBC Future. 16/07/2018. http://www.bbc.com/future Atkinson, Nancy. “What are asteroids made of?” Universe Today. 12/09/2015. https://www.universetoday.com “Psyche. Mission to a metal world.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov (19/09/2018) Ross, Shane. “Near-Earth Asteroid Mining.” 14/12/2001 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/ download?doi=10.1.1.614.9343&rep=rep1&type=pdf Virgin Galactic. https://www.virgingalactic.com. (23/09/2018) “Water Recycling.” NASA. 13/10/2014. https://www.nasa.gov

Bibliography Shepard, Michael. Asteroids. Relics of Ancient Time. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015 Burbine, Thomas. Asteroids. Astronomical and Geological Bodies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017

“What are ‘rare earths’ used for?” BBC. 13/03/2012. https:// www.bbc.co.uk/news “Luxembourg’s mining ambition out of this world.” Mining Journal. 12/09/2018. https://www.mining-journal.com Pfeifer, Sylvia. “Luxembourg launches €100m fund to back

Oundle Science 2019

space technology start-ups.” Financial Times. 12/09/2018. https://www.ft.com

“Project Lyra – A Mission to ‘Oumuamua,” Initiative for Interstellar Studies. https://i4is.org (01/10/2018)

Marks, Paul. “Who owns asteroids or the moon?” New Scientist. 30/05/2012. https://www.newscientist.com

Steigerwald, Bill. “New NASA Mission to Help Us Learn How to Mine Asteroids.” NASA. 07/08/2017. https://www.nasa.gov

Aron, Jacob. “Alien-hunting equation revamped for mining asteroids.” New Scientist. 04/12/2013. https://www. newscientist.com

Ackerman, Evan. “How we could explore that interstellar asteroid.” IEEE Spectrum. 29/11/2017. https://spectrum.ieee. org

“Oumuamua.” NASA Solar System Exploration. 28/06/2018. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov

Discography

Davis, Nicola. “Scientists solve mystery of interstellar object ‘Oumuamua.” The Guardian. 27/06/2018. https://www. theguardian.com/uk Davis, Phil. “5 things we know – and 5 we don’t – about ‘Oumuamua.” EarthSky.15/07/2018. http://earthsky.org Clark, Stuart. “Interstellar visitor ’Oumuamua probably came from a two-star system.” The Guardian. 19/03/2018. https:// www.theguardian.com/uk

Oundle Science 2019

Butler, Ed. “Interplanetary Business.” BBC World Service: Business Daily. Radio Audio, 05/01/2018. https://www.bbc. co.uk/programmes/w3csw841 Meech, Karen. “The story of ‘Oumuamua, the first visitor from another star system.” TED video. April 2018. 1. Planetary Resources. https://www.planetaryresources.com. (05/09/2018)

Olympiad and Challenge Competitions Biology Olympiad

Chemistry Olympiad

Four members from each of the Upper Sixth and Lower sixth received medals this year in the Royal Society of Biology’s British Biology Olympiad which challenges Sixth Form students to expand and extend their talents considerably beyond the demands of the A Level Biology examination specification. Thomas Riegels who received his second gold was in the top 7% of all participants this year.

Thomas Reigels (S U6th)

Gold

Marcus Fforde (S U6th)

Silver

Giorgio Alberto Meanti (Ldr U6th)

Silver

Cariad-sher Austin (L L6th)

Bronze

Ruzhang Fu (C L6th)

Bronze

The Chemistry Olympiad is the leading chemistry competition for pupils in secondary education across the UK. Run annually, the Olympiad is an opportunity for pupils to ‘pit their wits’ against challenging chemistry problems that are either linked to material they may have studied or derived from information provided within the paper. This helps develop creative thinking and allows application of existing knowledge to unfamiliar and novel contexts. To achieve success, pupils need to think both deeply about their subject as well as laterally to the problems set. To achieve any level of award is a great achievement. Once again, the School has had great success with three Upper sixth pupils (two currently holding places to read Chemistry at Oxford, and the third to read Chemistry at Manchester) scoring Gold Awards. Equally impressive, when considering that they sat the paper a year early, four Lower 6th pupils managed to achieve a Silver Award.

Timothy Leung (C L6th)

Bronze

Georgie Smith (D U6th)

Bronze

Winners of the Chemistry Olympiad

Ralph Yardley (B L6th)

Bronze

Winners of the Biology Olympiad

Biology Challenge The Royal Society of Biology’s Challenge 2019 competition had 47,183 entrants from 527 schools worldwide this year. Aimed at third and fourth Form pupils there were some very impressive performances by the younger age group this year which shows that this competition rewards those whose general knowledge of Biology has been enhanced by wider reading, watching natural history programmes and taking notice of biological items in the news. 181 lupils were awarded certificates and it is great to see that so many of our pupils are genuinely aware of our natural flora and fauna beyond the demands of any examination specification.

Winners of the Biology Challenge

Marcus Fforde (S U6th)

Gold

George Gibson (Ldr U6th)

Gold

Tom Wise (G U6th)

Gold

Evan Ball (G L6th)

Silver

Brian Cheng (C U6th)

Silver

Danila Frolkin (StA U6th)

Silver

Gordon Lin (C U6th)

Silver

Wil Parker Jennings (Ldr L6th)

Silver

Sonya Paramonva (D L6th)

Silver

Thomas Riegels (S U6th)

Silver

Marie Shen (N L6th)

Silver

Poppy Buckley (S L6th)

Bronze

Jamie Sherrard (S U6th)

Bronze

Solomon Unwins (G U6th)

Bronze

William Bowker (StA 4th)

Gold

Robert Brettle (B 4th)

Gold

Physics Olympiad

Arthur Burgess (G 4th)

Gold

Tom Calveley (L 4th)

Gold

Thomas Caskey (L 4th)

Gold

Adley Chan (S 4th)

Gold

Henry Gardiner (StA 4th)

Gold

Amelie Holtby (Sn 4th)

Gold

Thomas Liddy (G 3rd)

Gold

The GCSE Challenge paper is a single, one-hour paper that is suitable for Year 11 pupils. The paper includes challenging multiple-choice and short answer sections that aim to stretch and challenge students’ knowledge and understanding of basic physical principles. Only 5% of pupils who attempted the incredibly difficult GCSE Challenge paper achieved a gold award this year (112/2200) with only an additional 250 pupils nationally achieving a silver award.

Benjamin Marshall (StA 4th)

Gold

Jimmy Milne (Ldr 4th)

Gold

Oliver Stanton (StA 3rd)

Gold

Theo Turner (Sc 3rd)

Gold

Ben Webber (F 4th)

Gold

Gabriel Woodhull (G 4th)

Gold

Winners of the Physics Olympiad Tom Aubury (L 5th)

Gold

Jack Campbell (F 5th)

Gold

Yue Hin Cheung (L 5th)

Silver

Edward Day (G 5th)

Silver

Matthew Dunn (B 5th)

Silver Oundle Science 2019

Vanya Robertson (S 5th)

Silver

Maiara Wang (N 5th)

Silver

Vincent Yung (F 5th)

Silver

Giovannni Bernardi (G 5th)

Bronze

one (Hawking, Galileo or Newton for example). Some general knowledge and everyday interest in Physics would be an advantage. Pupils’ scores will be used to offer selected pupils a place on a one-day workshop in the Department of Physics, University of Oxford.

Ned Chatterton (S 5th)

Bronze

Winners of the Fourth Form Challenge

Bobby Choi (Ldr 5th)

Bronze

Peter Gilbey (B 5th)

Bronze

Jerry Li (F 5th)

Bronze

Yasawal Naveed (L 5th)

Bronze

Rohan Scott (Sc 5th)

Bronze

Georgia Short (L 5th)

Bronze

Ed Stanton (StA 5th)

Bronze

Robert Brettle (B 4th)

Gold

Arthur Burgess (G 4th)

Gold

Thomas Caskey (L 4th)

Gold

Andrei Divnogortcev (C 4th)

Gold

Alexander Dyer (F 4th)

Gold

Paul D’Souza (Sc 4th)

Gold

Henry Gardiner (StA 4th)

Gold

Isabelle Horrocks-Taylor (L 4th)

Gold

Thomas Kan (B 4th)

Gold

The AS Challenge is an exciting opportunity for pupils to stretch their lateral thinking skills and apply fundamental physical principles to novel situations. The AS Challenge is a single, one-hour paper that provides an excellent tool to assess and challenge pupils’s ability to work at Key Stage 5 and beyond. Out of the 3500 pupils who sat the paper this year, which include many of the best Lower sixth physics pupil in the country, only 135 achieved a gold award and only an additional 292 achieved a silver award.

Tyan Lee (N 4th)

Gold

Theodore Mellor (B 4th)

Gold

Benjamin Rogers (S 4th)

Gold

Robert Tombs (Sc 4th)

Gold

Inge Turk (Sn 4th)

Gold

Shenhyang Wang (C 4th)

Gold

Kent Waugh (StA 4th)

Gold

Winners of the Physics AS challenge

Haowen Shen (F 4th)

Silver

Amelie Holtby (Sn 4th)

Silver

Emily Gurney (D 4th)

Silver

Flora Mardon (L 4th)

Silver

Lydia Larsen (K 4th)

Silver

William Robertson (Ldr 4th)

Silver

Thomas Calveley (L 4th)

Silver

Matthew Harris (Sc 4th)

Silver

Katrina Leck (Sn 4th)

Silver

Stephen Ogunmwonyi (B 4th)

Silver

Jasper Orlebar (L 4th)

Silver

Thomas Pemrick (G 4th)

Silver

Charmaine Chu (W 4th)

Bronze

George Davies (Ldr 4th)

Bronze

Tamunodukoye Eradiri (N 4th)

Bronze

Wang Hoi Hsu (StA 4th)

Bronze

Benjamin Marshall (StA 4th)

Bronze

Masao Matsuura (StA 4th)

Bronze

Pui Yui (N 4th)

Bronze

Finn Riddell (B 4th)

Bronze

British Physics AS Challenge

Sonya Paramonova (D L6th)

Gold

George Crawley (L L6th)

Silver

Louis de Gale (G L6th)

Silver

Lakshand Mohanthas (Sc L6th)

Silver

Clement Tong ( Ldr L6th)

Silver

Ken Zhao (StA L6th)

Silver

Evan Ball (G L6th)

Bronze

Edmund Burgess (G L6th)

Bronze

Natalie Gaunt (Sn L6th)

Bronze

Mark Lui (Ldr L6th)

Bronze

William Parker Jennings (Ldr L6th)

Bronze

Bowie Zhang (S L6th)

Bronze

Jeffrey Yung (Sc L6th)

Bronze

Physics Fourth Form Challenge The competition consists of two, 25-minute online tests sat continuously. The competition is designed to engage and challenge pupils of all abilities by offering them a range of problems to solve. Although most of the questions are based around the current GCSE curriculum, pupils will be able to gain more marks if they have a general knowledge in Physics as well as taking a keen interest in practical work in lessons. The key aim is that pupils enjoy taking part and are encouraged to do more Physics. They do not need to cover technical topics outside the syllabus, but they might be shown some pictures of famous Physics and asked to identify

Oundle Science 2019

Oundle School is situated in the quintessentially English market town of Oundle, about 90 miles north of London, with pupils taking their place within this community, not isolated from it. Oundle has long been associated with the very best of modern independent education, especially boarding education. It is a place where people matter and where the pupils are at the heart of all that we do and every decision we make. The School’s history dates back to 1556, when Sir William Laxton, Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers and Lord Mayor of London, endowed and re‑founded the original Oundle Grammar School, of which he was a former pupil. Our pupil-centred education recognises Oundelians’ natural curiosity and ability. A love of scholarship – the Life of Learning – is an aspiration for every one of our pupils and staff and the education we provide aims to develop in our pupils the skills, attitudes and habits of mind that will sustain them throughout a long life, enabling them to flourish both at School and beyond. The challenges our pupils will face in the world beyond School will require of them adaptability and emotional intelligence, as well as the best academic qualifications of which they are capable. We take seriously our responsibility to our pupils so that they can emerge as decent, open-minded adults: ambitious about what they can go on to achieve and contribute, but never arrogant.

Oundle School The Great Hall, New Street Oundle, Peterborough PE8 4GH Tel 01832 277122 www.oundleschool.org.uk