Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96“According to published data, Sonic Spinball travels at 61 km/h over a track 450 metres long. Do you think that this is a maximum speed or an average speed?” A group of Year 11 students tackled this problem at Alton Towers during the October Half Term holiday. We made several measurements and averaged the data. There was some variation, but the evidence was clear: 61 km/h or 38 MPH was most certainly a maximum speed. The average speed was a far more sedate 23 MPH. Like good physicists we then went onto Sonic Spinball to check how sedate, or otherwise, it felt on the ride. The graph shows the measurements that Asim Poptani collected on Oblivion. The “g-force” fell to almost zero as the car plunged towards the ground between 15 and 17 seconds. The car reached the lowest part of the ride at 19 seconds, and braked at 24 seconds. The day was a great success. Queuing times were minimal and lots of time was spent on the rides once the Physics workbook had been completed. Dr Hayton and Dr Buttrick 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 0 10 20 30 40 Acceleration (g) Time (seconds) Acceleration measured on Oblivion Trip To The living rainforesT On the 25th November the whole of Year 8 visited the Living Rainforest in Newbury. When we arrived there we went around in groups and we had a look at the Rainforest after we went on a tour and I learnt a lot of interesting facts. It was very humid once you stepped into it but it made it more realistic, this made me feel more like I was actually in a Rainforest it was amazing. The rainforest was so fascinating because there were animals I had never seen before and plants I have never heard about but I actually saw them myself. As I walked around we were pointing out animals in our groups. We saw a sloth and also we saw an armadillo. I learnt that the armadillo can dig holes in seconds and that hole can get them to the other side of where they were. As well as the fact that it was a six string armadillo so it couldn’t roll up in a ball and he got his food from underneath the ground. As well as animals, we also learnt about the plants in the rainforest, for example, the banana tree. These trees have lines on their leaves so when the wind is strong it would tear the leaves instead of the whole plants falling down. There were poisonous plants in the rainforest as well; this was called a pitcher plant. It was called this because if a fly or bug landed on it, it would fall in since it has a slippery part on the side of it. One other part of the plants we learned about were the pointy ends on the leaves. These were called ‘drip tips’ because if water landed on the leaf then it would fall off the tip of it and it would look like a tear that is why it is called a drip tip. Overall it was an interesting experience and I had a lot of fun looking at all the animals and learning about them too. Thank you to the Geography Department for taking us on this fascinating experience; I really enjoyed it. Eliyan Wallbank (Year 8) leiCesTershire musiC suCCess physiCs aT alTon Towers We are very proud of one of our Year 7 Music Scholars, Dharma Muthalagappan, who performed in the Leicestershire Competitive Festival of Music and Dramatic Arts this term. He won two very impressive trophies: the Josephine Orringe cup, for his piano recital of two contrasting pieces; and a memorial trophy for the founder of the Leicester Music Festival - the Audrey Wilford Trophy. It is the first time this trophy has been presented and Dharma is therefore the first winner of this trophy. The trophy was awarded for his performance of Long Deng Dioa, an Oriental piece. 18 | The CovenTrian