Barbara Justham, Head of Science, shares the results of the Dr Nicholas Patrick Science Challenge
"Space shuttle Endeavour touched down on Feb 21st having completed its mission, equipping the International Space Station with the Tranquility module and a 360º viewing capsule. On board was Dr Nicholas Patrick who had just completed over 18 hours of space walks – and announced the results of the Harrow Beijing Science Challenge from 200 miles above the Earth!
The mission was not without incident. There was a problem with the fan in Dr. Patrick’s space suit and he had to alter a spare one to fit him. On the second spacewalk there was an ammonia leak from one of the quick-connect valves and the gas floated straight towards Dr Patrick, which meant he had to complete a ‘bakeout’ and undergo a contamination test in
the air lock. He had to sleep in the air lock breathing pure oxygen before and after each space walk to reduce the possibility of decompression sickness. But the mission accomplished all its aims and Dr Patrick returns home having experienced another
331 hours and 6 minutes in space.
Day 8 was possibly the highlight for both him and us! Dr Patrick’s wake-up call was the Harrow school song, ’40 Years On’… and later in the day he emailed us the results for the Science Challenge. The certificates were presented by the Chair of Harrow School Governors,
Richard Compton, in assembly and I am pleased to announce them here:
Winners: Tristan Lancaster, and Fox Zhao & Bill Wa
ng
Highly Commended: Alice & William Cleeve
Commended: Phani Kethana, Claire Li, Lucy Zhang, Remy Shea, Carl Kolon, Jae Min Lee, Alistair Miles, Luna Liang, David Han
Many thanks to David Han for all his work putting this together."
The Run-up to the Dr Nicholas Patrick Science Challenge
On Thursday 4th February Harrow International School Beijing held the finals of the Dr Nicholas Patrick Science Challenge.
Dr. Nicholas Patrick is the first old Harrovian in space and visited us here in Beijing last year. He is due to return to Outer Space on Monday 8th February and will announce the winner of the Science Challenge in Outer Space!
Thursday morning dawned bright and sunny to the relief of the eleven Upper School students who had successfully completed the Dr Nicholas Patrick Challenge. The challenge was to create a craft that could carry an egg for 3 metres in the water. The six craft – powered by balloons, the wind, a toy motor, chemical reactions and propellers – featured catamaran twin hulls, a homemade remote control system, ultimate portability and poolside assembly, and cunning use of k’nex.
At the canal testing site the students attracted a crowd of curious locals, some of whom tried to help the students in making finishing touches to their designs. The students were very generous, applauding and encouraging each other, as every entry managed to travel – if not quite the full three metres!
Students commented on their experiences throughout the Challenge. Bill Wang and Fox Zhao in Year 13 really enjoyed working as a team to create their remote controlled boat from scratch (Bill researched and built the motherboard himself). Year 9 competitor Jaemin Lee found the most frustrating part of the project was when the Ayi threw away their almost completed vehicle thinking it was just empty fizzy drinks bottles, Carl Kolon added “I learnt that you should fully tape up baking soda packages before putting them in bags”. Happiest competitor was Phani Kethana (Year 8) who had made a sail boat (with a book to flap as a back-up power source if no wind) which was the simplest design and yet one of the most effective entrants.
The final result will be announced by Dr Nicholas Patrick from Outer Space!