Physics Masterclass
Year 11 and 12 pupils explore subject
As a successful Lent Term draws to an end, Science Faculty Leader Mr Dave Robson recaps a busy week for Rydal Penrhos' budding physicists.
"Physics has been a real area of strength over the past few years with outstanding results and pupils going on to do some really interesting things. Twelve of the last thirteen A Level Physicists have gained A* grades (92%) compared to a National average of 22%.
"Several pupils have gone on the study Physics at competitive institutions such as Cambridge, Warwick, Durham and Imperial College, with a number going on to gain Masters or PhD’s following their Bachelor degrees.
"Cyd Cowley is currently working on a research project into Nuclear Fusion, the power source that could save the planet, and other pupils have worked in Formula 1 or other high tech industries.
"As part of the programme of pushing A Level pupils beyond the boundaries of the curriculum, the Year 12 A Level Physics group went to Manchester University on Monday for a Particle Physics Masterclass run by the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
"The day consisted of morning lectures looking at the development of particle physics and the contributions to the field by Manchester researchers from Rutherford’s alpha particle scattering experiment in the early 1900’s to the current work at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.
"A second lecture then focused on neutrinos and the role they might play in answering a number of the current big questions in physics, such as the asymmetry between matter and antimatter and the development of the standard model of particle physics.
"The afternoon was then spent touring the department, looking at some of the particle detector components that Manchester specialises in, observing some experiments in the nuclear physics lab and analysing some data from the LHC.
"This data concerned the decay of D mesons which have an interesting property whereby they can fluctuate between their matter and antimatter states. These fluctuations might give clues as to the asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the Universe.
"The A Level Physics groups, and a few interested Year 11 pupils, were then treated to a session with Imogen Camp (RPS 2003-19) on Thursday morning. Imogen completed her A levels in Rydal Penrhos in 2019 before going up to Cambridge to study Natural Sciences, specialising in Physics.
"She is currently completing her Masters in Physics and spoke to our current pupils about how to succeed at school examinations, how to make a strong application to Oxbridge, what a Natural Sciences or Physics degree will involve and a bit about her current Masters project.
“All in all another interesting and productive week in the Physics department.”
Thank you to Mr Robson and all our Science teachers for their continued dedication to their subject, which makes it a firm favourite among our children and young people.
