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Ivybridge Community College

Ivybridge Community College

Ivybridge Community College

Pyromania!

On Tuesday, 7 May, Ivybridge Community College hosted the “Ogden Physics Event”.  

Five schools in the South Devon area, Kingsbridge, Totnes, Plymouth, Brixham and Ivybridge each host an event for invited Year 10 students.

We were delighted to welcome Dr Roy Lowry from Plymouth University (current holder of the Guinness World Record for most firework rockets launched in 5 seconds – 55,000!).  This year the event teamed up with the Chemistry Department to concentrate on the Physics of Fire under the title ‘Pyromania’.  Earlier in the day Year 9 students were also fortunate to watch some fantastic demonstrations from Dr Lowry.

The Year 10 students watched the demonstrations and then were split into hands-on workshops dealing with Emission Spectra, Activation Energy, and Convection through exciting practical work.

Here is what Emily Slaughter, Ivybridge Community College Year 10 student,  said about her experience,  “During  my time in Year 10 I have been lucky enough to participate in several Ogden Physics events and learn about useful real life topics but in a cool, fun way.  However, the best event was the ‘Pyromania’ one at my own College.  Dr Roy Lowry showed us many experiments demonstrating how interesting fire is with a variety of mixtures, elements and compounds.

His best demonstration was easily the digestive biscuit experiment.  He placed an ordinary digestive in liquid oxygen at minus 183 degrees and set it alight.  It quickly went up in flames and burnt straight through metal gauze.

Another session involved methane gas, where we set methane bubbles alight and the flame rose to the ceiling with a strong heat.  It was really intriguing because we could get involved.  His last experiment was also great fun to watch; he used a Bunsen burner on a naked flame and sprayed different elements into it creating purple and green flames.

It was utterly amazing and a great experience.  I highly recommend participation in these awesome activities!”

If you are currently in Year 9 and reading this, you may recognise the description of            Dr Lowry’s talk, that was a sneak preview for you, keep an eye out next year for notices about Ogden events, and get involved!