Science Week Success

National Science Week in the High School was a busy and stimulating time. Each lunch, students attended different activities to encourage their scientific thinking as well as to help them enjoy the wonders of Science.

To start the week off with a bang, students completed the Mentos and Coke experiment, including hypothesising about which brand of fizzy drink would form the tallest geyser. Some students were quite surprised by the results, and all were impressed by the sheer height of the eruption.

This was followed by the infamous Exploding Watermelon experiment, starring Boggus and Gregory (two watermelons that were decorated by Mrs Sharma’s Y8 class). Prior to the experiments, students analysed a graph that showed the results of other schools’ exploded watermelon experiments. Students used this data to estimate the number of rubber bands required to burst Boggus and Gregory.

The day of the experiment dawned bright and sunny (after many days of rain) so the watermelons were exploded on the front lawn, with the help of approximately 250 students. Students worked in pairs to place rubber bands over the watermelon’s middle, until it finally imploded and then exploded. Boggus required 152 rubber bands while Gregory required 113. Huge congratulations go to Taylor Mavrakis and Fig Wright who estimated the correct number of rubber bands needed to explode both watermelons! Congratulations also go to Christine Chen and Julia Piazza for guessing Gregory’s rubber band capacity and Evannah Georgas, Olivia Hickey and Anna Cutbush for predicting Boggus’.

On the Thursday, students had a “fire” day. They watched an experiment that formed molten metal and learnt how to hold fire in their bare hands. Students also embraced the theme of National Science Week this year, which was “Glass – More than Meets the Eye”. Students decorated glass rods and sealed the glass ends in the Bunsen Burner to make beautifully personalised stirring rods.

Lastly, interested students completed a rat dissection. All the Science teachers were mightily impressed by the precision and care taken during the dissection. The students who completed the dissection are to be commended for their attention to detail and delicate scalpel work.

Overall, it was an amazing week full of fun, excitement, and of course, excellent Science! A big thank you goes to all members of the Science Department for making this such a great week!

Mia Sharma
Science Teacher