Our Experience

by Tadhg and Cian

This year Mr O’Flynn’s 6th class went to the Young Scientist exhibition. Our experiment was on how the Titanic might have stayed afloat, our title was ICE BERG DEAD AHEAD!!! Our theory was that if the Titanic hit the iceberg head on it may have stayed afloat and distributed the energy of impact through the ship, or if it hadn’t it would have at least have stayed afloat for longer meaning that the Carpathia would have come to their aid. To prove our experiment we had a toilet roll, and if you tried to push the two sides together it would bend it easily, but try it on either end of the toilet roll it would be a different story. We had two shifts per day, the first one started at ten and the last one began at three. While we weren’t on the stand we could have a look at the other experiments. There was a commercial sector where you could win an iPod and win free prizes. There was a laser alley and if you ran through the fastest you could win a hundred euro voucher for Carphone Warehouse. All of us had a great day.

 


St Joseph’s Young Scientist Experience 

by Diarmuid and Hubert

The atmosphere was electric, literally. There were people of all shapes and sizes all aiming for the title of young scientist of the year, knowing that only one of them could be victorious. There were wacky and weird experiments and failed and flawless experiments. The journey started for Mr O’Flynn’s class on the 9th of January 2009. The class had to try and prove their theory that if the Titanic hit the ice berg head on, it could have stayed afloat. We had to top up on our knowledge of the Titanic. The book Titanic Tragedy was our main research. There were many interesting facts on the Titanic, some such as “the total weight of the ship was 46,000 tons!” 
The judges came on a Friday but fortunately for us we were ready for them. They were very impressed with us and seriously considered us as contenders. There were extremely interesting projects but the most interesting thing there was the people, we met a ships captain, an engineer and a jumbo jet pilot. There were also relatives of Titanic could have been passengers. We didn’t win the prize on the Friday but we still had high hopes, maybe we would be more successful on Saturday.

It was an early start for most of the boys in Josephs but they didn’t mind. The idea of a second chance at winning the prize was unmissable. We were not the winners on Saturday but we did not leave with nothing, Sean Lowney and Diarmuid Gallagher emerged victorious on the laser challenge. We made friends with some people there and learned a lot. It really was a great experience. Thank you to Mr O’Flynn for giving us the chance to show our scientific knowledge.

 

St Joseph's BT Young Scientist Mr. O’Flynn’s     

Written by Seán Q.

We went to the RDS on Friday 9th and Saturday the 10th. My first shift was at 10 o’clock which was the first shift. The atmosphere was incredible. At around 10:30 people began to flood the RDS. At first we watched to see if people were interested in our stand and after we realised that they were we prepared to approach and tell the people of our project. At first we were nervous but after a short period of time our confidence rose up and we spoke to anyone who approach the stand about our theory. Later the judge arrived and we spoke to her about our theory and showed her the experiment. Our theory was that the Titanic could have stayed afloat if it had hit the iceberg head on rather than turning towards port which it did and received holes all along the side off the ship. The water tight compartments were closed as 8000 litres of water was pouring into the ship every minute. Unfortunately the water tight compartments weren’t high enough to hold all the water and the water flowed over the water tight compartments and into the next and the next and so on. We believe that if the Titanic hit the iceberg head on it would have dissipated the energy of the impact down the sides of the ship possibly killing 200 third class on impact though that would be a far less number than the 1565 that died. On those two days the girls wouldn’t leave us alone (big surprise!). Later when our shift was over I went and viewed many of the other projects and shows on such as magic with maths, robot wars, the globe of death and titan the robot. There were also compositions such as the hazard house the laser alley. It was a great experience and a fantastic day.            

 

B.T Young Scientist Exhibition

Report By: Luke B.

  On the 9th and the 10th Mr. O’Flynn’s class attended the Young Scientist Exhibition. Our class’s experiment was on how the Titanic could have stayed afloat, we believe that if the Titanic had hit the iceberg head on it could have survived or if not it could have taken longer to sink allowing the Carpathia  to come to there aid and rescue everyone on board. We began at 10.00 on Friday the 9th. The wall that was behind us was full of our work on icebergs and facts on the Titanic also it had a copy of the newspaper from the day it sank. We had all done a lot of work including writing two essays and reading a book on the Titanic over the Christmas holidays. Unfortunately we did not win but we still enjoyed ourselves. The exhibition was great fun it had great activities such as the laser room (a game where you had to dodge lasers), a tornado simulator which was activated by sensors and the competitions which were games like find all the dangers in the ‘Hazard House’ and guess the smell of the mystery food. There were shows there as well; they were ‘Titan the Robot’, ‘Magic with Maths’, ‘Robot Wars’ and ‘The Globe of Death’. The best thing was the projects. There were projects about which were better girls or boys and projects about making energy from water or other uses and lots of others. The Young Scientists Exhibition was a great experience and the whole class thoroughly enjoyed. I will want to go back next year to see it all again.                    

 

 

BT Young Scientist Exhibition 09

 by Harry G.

I went to the BT Young Scientist Exhibition on the 9th of January 2009. My experience at the Young Scientist Exhibition was great. Our experiment was our own theory on the Titanic. Our theory was if the Titanic had hit the iceberg head on it still would of sank but it would take much longer to sink giving the Carpathian ship a longer time to get their. If it had hit the iceberg head on it would only make a gash in the front of the ship. In the real incident it made a 100 metre gash on the side of the ship. It was taking on 4 tonnes of water a second which caused it to sink. While it was sinking it snapped in half. The bottom half sank and the top half bobbled on top of the water for about 5 minutes. That was our theory on the Titanic. We named it “Iceberg Dead Ahead.” There were lots of other interesting experiments which I had a look at. I saw some of my friends who I hadn’t seen for ages. I also received some little prizes like pens and key rings. The overall winner was two boys with a cow milking experiment. They received 5,000 euro to share and a trip to Los Angeles. So overall I had a great time at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition.   

 

BT Young Scientist 

by Daragh B.

Our theory is that the Titanic could have survived. If it hit the iceberg head on it would have distributed the weight back through the ship and would have made a dent in the bough. The ship would have stayed a float long enough for the Carpathian to rescue them. 
It was built in Belfast were the workers were getting paid poorly; the experienced workers were getting paid two pounds per week. The inexperienced workers were getting paid one pound per week. It set sail on its maiden voyage from Liverpool on the tenth of April 1912. When it hit the iceberg on the fifteenth of April 1912 it let in four tonnes of water per second. In an hour it let in fifty thousand tonnes. The ship sank under two miles of water, going at twenty miles per hour. While the other half bobbed on top of the water for ten minutes. There were many mysteries like there was a safe full of binoculars which Fredrick Fleet could not open at the time. The Titanic sent distress signals but the Carpathian mistook them for fireworks. There was a boat four miles of the Titanic but it was illegally fishing. 

(The winners): The winners received a 5,000 euro to share and a trip to Los Angelus to represent Ireland in the young scientist. 

(Our trip): There were many experiments and shows. Conor and I went to the terrible robot wars but we went to the thrilling ball of death