In Week 5, the Year 8 teams visited the Gravity Discovery Centre in Gingin. The objective of the excursion was to re-enact Galileo’s famous Tower of Pisa experiment, which asked the question, “Does a heavier object fall faster than a lighter one?”
Team Phillips were challenged with drizzle and cross-winds and had to brave the elements whilst clambering to the top of the slippery 12-storey tower.
Team Schlueter, of course, experienced glorious sunshine! Students spent a full day exploring important concepts of Physics including gravity, curved space and waves.
Besides climbing the tower, students were shown a model of the speed of sound by watching a wire cable vibrate with a wave travelling 87 m in 0.9 seconds! They viewed articles in a gallery highlighting the beginning and ending of the Universe, with dinosaurs, asteroids and mass extinction events somewhere in the middle. They had a look at the tunnel that contains a massive laser capable of measuring the forces of black holes many light years away. They learnt about the plight of native flora due to dieback disease and saw rare wasps mimicking orchids.
It is always a positive experience to get outside and away from the regular routine of classwork and have a fieldwork activities focusing on Science!