Senior School News

Cool Science:

Bed of Nails

This week in Year 11 Physics, students took part in exploring surface area, force and pressure.  Mr Nye demonstrated this using a bed of nails and asked students to lay down on it!

Rather than hearing screams of agony from the classroom, students were laughing and were curious to understand how the nails weren't going through them!! 

Ok, so how is this so??

Well. Think of a balloon.  When you pop a balloon with one nail, it pops easily.  This is because all of the pressure in concentrated on one point of the balloon.  

But when you place the balloon on the bed of nails, the pressure points are spread all across the surface of the balloon.

Just like the balloon, when a person lies on a bed of nails, their body is evenly distributed across the surface of the nails. 

Many nails = less pressure

Now you know the circus secret!

Glenn Morris and Belinda McGee also got involved and took part in the experiment!

School Captain Profile

As the end of the school year approaches, we begin to reflect on the extraordinary year we have had.  Leading our student body through these unprecedented times are our school captains.  In this edition of our College newsletter, we have interviewed our school leaders: Jess Ritchie & Ethan Jayamanna. 

JESS RITCHIE

1. What do you credit your good results to?

I think my good results just stem from trying my best in all that I do. Even if I don’t get a result I was hoping for, for a particular assessment, I just like knowing that I’ve done all that I can and given it my best shot.

2. What did you do for down time (hobbies, work, social)?

I often go skating or draw or listen to music to help clear my mind in my downtime. I also love hanging out with my little sister or just watching Netflix when I’m feeling lazy.

3. What are your goals for the future?

Next year I’m hoping to do a double degree at RMIT; a Bachelor of Applied Science (Aviation) and Bachelor of Business (Management). As aviation, generally speaking, is a field in which females are underrepresented, I hope to one day inspire other young women to get involved in aviation careers and other STEM industries.

4. What's the biggest thing you've taken out of this year?

The biggest thing I’ve learnt from the crazy year that was 2021 is that it is so important to be flexible and to take time out for myself in amongst all the chaos. This year has made me realise that sometimes there are things that are out of your control, and it’s all about how you deal with the things that you can control that matters.

ETHAN JAYAMANNA

1. What do you credit your good results to?

I would credit my results to making sure I have a deep understanding of how and why things work when learning something new. It helps with memorising information and often means I need to ask lots of questions or search things up myself.

2. What did you do for down time (hobbies, work, social)

I love playing music and sports. Over lockdown I mainly played piano and went for bike rides. I have to admit there was also a lot of Netflix and Disney+. Calling and playing online board games with friends was a great pastime too.

3. What are your goals for the future?

In the near future I'm hoping to get into the University of Melbourne to study biomedical engineering. Later on, I'm hoping to work in hospitals or labs to develop or maintain medical technology. There’s a lot of potential for start-ups and entrepreneurship in the industry which is also exciting. It's a combination of several fields that I'm interested in.

4. What's the biggest lesson you've taken out of this year?

That there's a bright side to everything and having a positive attitude is so important when things change in your life.

Speaking of life-changing events, I also learnt to put butter on the outside of toasties when putting them in the sandwich press for that delicious golden crunch.