2001 School Magazine

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International Young PhysicistsTournament Physics. When you think about it, what springs to mind? Weirdo scientists in lab coats and goggles in dark rooms conducting strange experiments. Well, we almost got there. From October 2000 until May this year, five Girls' Grammar students, Victoria Ling. Lindsay MCGrath, Rhiannon Mulherin, Tiffany Sproles and Genevieve Thornson, spent their time researching seventeen physics problems. Lindsay spent her holidays shaking a sand clockTiff spent her time pouring water out of a bottle; Rhiannon played with a water stream vacuum pump;Viki watched starch dry - which closely resembles watching paint dry; and Genevieve played with seiches in a giant fish tank. But why? Because physicsis COOL! Well maybe. We were doing all these weird things in preparation for the international Young Physicists Tournament held in Finland in May The teams that compete in the tournament are mainly European

with a team from the United States and us, the Australian team, being the only non-European teams. in fact, we were the only team from the Southern Hemisphere and the only all-girl team After a long plane night from Brisbane to Helsinki (via some great shopping in Kuala Lumpur) and with five rounds of physics fights ahead of us, we were rather stressed. But during the one spare, but freezing, day before the competition started, we still experienced all the wonderful tourist sites that Helsinki has to offer, including the monument to Sibelius After the Opening Ceremony, we were treated to a barbeque of salmon and a whole roast pig for dinner. Then we went back to the Eurohostel for a long night's sleep before the first round of competition That round brought us up against the Ukraine and United States in a heated fight, where Vikiwas told she was too aggressive and her nickname for the rest of the trip became 'Vicious Vikil

After yet another 'interesting' meal at the cafeteria of Tapiola Secondary School, we started our second round of the tournament. it was during this delightful afternoon that we learnt what the Slovakians and Finns had to offer, with a few marriage proposals along the wayl The second day of competition had only one round, so we could go on a nature walk and experience the outdoors of Finland. it was during this

afternoon that we learntjust how cold it was as the rain turned to ice as we sprinted through the wilderness to the buses. After having three days of very bad cafeteria food, Mr A and Dr S decided to go out to pick up some reindeer, although Viki, Lindsay and Genevieve gatecrashed their party

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Photo by Glen Bornes, courtesyof The Courier-Moil