Science News

Farewell Year 12 Science Leaders

It is with a heavy heart that we say a very fond farewell to our Year 12 Science Leaders.  They have worked very hard in the past year, thinking up exciting new experiences, organising activities and leading the various experiments. They have done a wonderful job! In their farewell letter, one student wrote:

Dear Milly, Mietta, Tilda and Sally,

Thank you so much for brainstorming and putting into action such fun activities. My personal favourites were the slime, carving out oranges, and crystal making. You all led the group so well and made clear demonstrations. I am so grateful to have joined in on some science fun as I don’t study science.

Love you all! I hope you all become raging STEMinists.

We wish all our Science Leaders a very big Good Luck for the HSC and their wonderful new adventures after school.

Science Club Experiments

What do you do with expired COVID tests? Experiment on them!

Unfortunately, a number of COVID tests have started expiring, and it seemed wasteful to just throw them out. So, Science Club took care of the problem! We opened up the tests and took a peak inside to learn more about how they work. We also investigated the effects of various pHs on the accuracy of the tests. Students created acidic solutions of various concentrations and tested them. This demonstrated the importance of dipping the swab into the buffer solution to ensure the correct pH for the test.

We’ve also been enjoying some fun problem-solving using liquids of different densities. Students needed to test various combinations of the liquids to determine which was denser, then make a rainbow density column that required the densest at the bottom and the least dense at the top. Students practiced using their “hands of a surgeon” skills, where they had to pour the liquids extremely carefully without their hands shaking or jiggling.

Science Teacher
Mia Sharma