Lower Sixth Talks

Physics Olympiad

This year nineteen budding Caterham students across fifth year and the sixth form put themselves forward to take part in the fiendishly difficult British Physics Olympiad Round One paper organised by the University of Oxford. With questions ranging from the physics of liquids being transported in accelerating railway trucks and vibrating drum skins to physics favourites probing the mechanics of pendulums and springs, the three-hour long experience was certainly very challenging. Nevertheless the group more than rose to the challenge, securing a total of seventeen medals! Ruby in Upper Sixth achieved a ‘Gold’, as did Thomas in Lower Sixth – an extremely impressive achievement considering the competition is aimed at those in their final year of studies and requires knowledge thereof. Achieving a ‘Gold’ ranks Ruby and Thomas among the top 16% of those 2300+ students across the country who took part. Special mention goes out to Helen in fifth year who secured a ‘Bronze’ medal! Think you might be able to answer a couple of questions from this year’s paper? Have a go for yourself: 1. A railway carriage for transporting liquids is carrying a viscous liquid and it is only half full.

The carriage is attached to an engine which pulls away with a constant acceleration, so that the fluid in the carriage forms a steady sloping surface. If the acceleration of the train is 0.84 m/s2, what is the angle of the liquid surface to the horizontal? 2. Water flows at a steady rate of 1.0 litre/min through a pipe in which there is an electrical heater connected to a 230 V supply. The rise in temperature of the water after passing through the heater is 60˚C. Calculate the resistance of the heater. Assume no heat loss to the surroundings.

Gold

Thomas Chang and Ruby Chan

Silver

William Pye, Alex Mylet, Kelly Hou and Cameron Hudson

Bronze

O-Teen Kwok, Ellen Cross, Anson Cheng, Nagim Ibragimov, Helen Yip, Josh Benjamin, Catherine Chao, Luke Yuan and Artem Streltsov

Biology Olympiad

Based on the A-level syllabus and built to push budding Biologists even further, the Biology Olympiad challenges students with an interest in biology to extend their talents. It consists of two 45-minute online multiple-choice papers, with questions ranging from the evolution of mammals and gel electrophoresis to the Krebs Cycle and the Hardy-Weinberg Principle. The 24 students who took part in the competition this year consist of the top Biologists of our Upper Sixth cohort and passionate scientists alike. There were a record-breaking 18 medals, with 3 bronzes, 7 silvers and 8 golds - the most gold medals a year group has ever achieved in the history of Caterham Biology. Our Gold medallists are amongst the top 8% of all candidates who took part in the Olympiad nationwide, commendations to Alex M in particular, who achieved gold without formally approaching most of the theories in a classroom environment as he is in Lower Sixth, and congratulations to the biologists who participated in the event for successfully completing.

Gold

Gleb Iagelskii, Ruby Chan, Rainis Cheng, Brandon Kim, Jason Cho, Michael Wong, Alex Mylet and Rosie Home

Silver

Isabelle Oliver, Bobby Benford, Fleur Masters, Perlie Tse, Ivan Liu, Ollie Van As and Mariella Atterbury

Bronze

Katie Tudor, Jeremy Chan and Sharon George-Kalu

Chemistry Olympiad

The UK Chemistry Olympiad is an opportunity for students to push themselves further and excel in the chemistry field. Run by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the immensely hard 2-hour paper include questions on the theme of: A platonic solid called cubane and its synthesis; E10 petrol and its combustion; nitrous oxides; equilibria in lateral flow tests; synthesis of the smallest Chinese knot; and some physical chemistry related to storing vaccines. All of which are based on, but beyond the scope of the A Level syllabus. This year, 30 students participated in the competition, achieving 24 medals in total. Achieving the Gold medal puts the 8 students amongst the top 9% of all candidates in the UK. Congratulations to Gleb, who has gotten the top score for 2 consecutive years, as well as to Alex, Luke and Kelly, who received the Gold medal despite being in the L6! The 6 Silver medallists, including Lisa who is a 5th year student, did very well and are ranked amongst the top 32% of all students. Getting a Bronze medal in this extremely discriminating exam is in itself a huge achievement, well done. It was great to see so many students from different year groups participate and show interest in Chemistry.

Gold

Gleb Iagelskii, Jason Cho, Alex Mylet, Ruby Chan, Brandon Kim, Maestro Yan, Luke Yuan and Kelly Hou

Silver

Rainis Cheng, Lisa Hu, Ella Bryn, Avery Chen, Michael Wong and Holly-Heather Cook

Bronze

Thomas Chang, Sophia Liu, Nigel Chan, Marcus Cheng, O-Teen Kwok, Sophie Hobbs, Joshua Ko, Elliot Major, Daniel Qi and Harry Jude

Nobel Prizes 2021

Inherited from the fortune and last will of Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prizes are among the most prominent awards one could receive for their contributions to scientific discovery, literature, or peace movements. For 2021, 13 individuals were awarded Nobel Prizes, of which 7 were from the scientific domain. Their work span from climate change to organocatalysts and sensory receptors, and remind us of the efforts researchers pay to push breakthroughs in science.

PHYSICS

Nobel Prize of Physics was awarded to three exceptional physicists by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems”. Syukuro Manabe studied the relationship between radiation and movement of air particles due to convection, while incorporating the contribution of the water cycle, showing that the increased atmospheric carbon dioxide caused an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature. Klaus Hasselmann created a model which reliably predicts climate change, taking into consideration of the chaotic nature of weather. He also developed ways to identify the impacts of natural phenomena and human activities on the climate. Both were awarded “for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming”. While the third winner, Giorgio Parisi, discovered patterns in disordered complex systems, making it possible to describe and understand seemingly random phenomena. He was awarded “for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales”.

CHEMISTRY

The Chemistry Prize was awarded to Benjamin List and David MacMillan “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis”. Catalysts are substances that increase the rate of chemical reactions and are regenerated when the reaction is complete. Before the development of asymmetric organocatalysis, there were just 2 types of catalysts, metals, and enzymes. The two laureates, independently of each other, discovered that small organic molecules can speed up the production of a compound, with one particular stereoisomer favoured. List thought that only a small number of amino acids in an enzyme participates in the catalytic reaction, hence an entire enzyme was unnecessary. He successfully showed that the amino acid proline could act as a catalyst in an aldol reaction as the nitrogen atom can act as an electron acceptor, while MacMillan demonstrated that the nitrogen atom in an iminium ion can speed up the Diels-Alder reaction, a reaction that forms rings of carbon atoms, with one stereoisomer being formed predominantly. Organocatalysis is very important to the molecular construction of drugs and pharmaceutical research, as only certain stereoisomers of a compound are biologically active.

PHYSIOLOGY or MEDICINE

David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian were the recipients of the Nobel Prize in this category. With the understanding that temperature and mechanical stimuli are converted into electrical impulses, they were eager to know how. Capsaicin is a compound found in chili peppers that causes the sensation of pain, Julius used it to identify the single gene that codes for the protein capable of reacting to capsaicin, and he later found out that this ion channel protein could respond to heat. The thermoreceptor TRPV1 was discovered. Patapoutian and his team discovered the gene whose silencing caused individual cells to be insensitive to mechanical stimuli. This mechanosensitive ion channel was later named Piezo1. He soon discovered a second gene that codes for a protein similar to Piezo1, and named it Piezo2, which was found to be highly expressed in sensory neurons, essential for the sense of touch. Both proteins are activated by the exertion of pressure on cell membranes and have been shown to regulate blood pressure. This knowledge enables the development of treatments for different disease conditions, such as chronic pain. The two were awarded “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch”.