On your bike

SEPnet Olympic Physics competition at the University of Southampton

On Wednesday 14th December Exeter School took part in the regional heat of the SEPnet Olympic Physics competition, held at the University of Southampton.

The theme for our heat was the Physics of Cycling. After arriving at the university our two teams were given an informative introductory lecture on the importance of aerodynamic drag.

They were then treated to a tour of Physics and Engineering departments. This included spending some time looking at a project using a standard bike along with ultra-light materials to recreate a previously successful human powered flight. We were then taken to their impressive wind tunnel complex. Here some pupils (and staff…) had the chance to ride Chris Hoy’s gold-medal-winning bike design inside the tunnel.

Our teams then completed a series of tasks in the gym – using what they had learnt, they investigated how far they could cycle on 20 calories under different conditions. Each team then produced a presentation on their findings.

Both teams produced excellent presentations, including complex calculations and in-depth analyses of their experiments.

Our team of Ben Stokes, Luke Stitson, Felix Stephenson, Nat Newman, Joe Allen and Miles Harris won the heat. They have a place in the national final, to take place at an Olympic Venue in London in March 2012.

Congratulations also to Exeter School's British Physics Olympiad 2011 competitors Chris Clay (Top Gold, i.e. in the top 3% of entries), Freddie Ashford (Gold - top 9%), James Rampersad (Silver - top 15%), Cameron Starling (Bronze II - top 39%), and Gaby Smallwood and Tom Pearson (Commendations). This year over 1,600 candidates participated across the UK.

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