Young Scientist

Well we're just back a week after Christmas break and not much has been happening except the normal project work.
Last Friday all T.Y. and second year students took a trip to the RDS for the BT Young Scientist competition in which schools from all over the country competed. We arrived in town at about 10:30 and made our way into the arena.
While there, we walked around with our friends, looking at the different projects on display. Two groups from St. Wolstans were competing; one TY group and one 5th year group. Some of the stalls offered interactive demonstrations to show us how their project worked eg. there was one group controlling a robot. Overall the projects were very impressive; covering a vast range of scientific areas.
One project which I found particularly interesting was one which researched the deterioration of the blind spot with age. As this is a common problem which most people have to deal with at some point in their life, I thought it was very appropriate and topical.
Throughout the day, we saw various shows in the BT arena, such as: one which was presented by an Australian man and was about the different types of plants and dinosaurs which existed in the past and at present. Another performance which I found fascinating was a fire show demonstrated by two men. This involved creating fireworks, explosions and tornado's using a flame and different materials such as magnesium ribbon and iron filings.
All in all, I had a very enjoyable day looking at projects and talking with students from other schools around the country.