Judging Panel: N Collins (Head of Dt), A Slyfield (Co-Leader), T Bhambra (Co-Leader), G Moss (Deputy), G Tunstall (Club Secretary)

Criteria: Structural integrity, aesthetics, average speed, poster design and car-cover

Firstly, I was personally very impressed by the collaborative nature of the two teams; it was a joy to watch you working and gelling so well as a team.

It was really quite tense towards the end and there was frantic activity during the last 15minutes or so.

Mrs Slyfield made the point and it was echoed - to construct a working 'coaster in around 3 hours without instructions is not easy. To that end, you were both winners.

Alas, for the challenge itself, there can be only one winning team.

Each of the judges cast their vote, free from influence or prejudice, and our decision was unanimous.

The winning Team is Team 1.

Special commendation to Team 2 for their poster.

Congratulations Team 1!

OK, I'll stop with the corny gags...

EmmTech arrived on time just after Break 2, patiently awaiting team allocation and commencement of task.

The two teams decided (10 members each), our able KS4 girls led the groups. Firstly, 2 pupils from each group led the design and manufacture of the roller car top. Thank you Mrs Collins for your support here.

It was interesting watching the teams work. Mrs Slyfield and I were greatly impressed with the delegatory work -- you quickly assessed strengths, past expeiences and skills and allocated tasks accordingly.

Annoyingly, George had reminded me that we were looking for average speed, not speed per se. We added structural integrity to the success criteria. I mean, would you want to ride a 'coaster that wobbled side-to-side? I thought not.

On to the actual 'coaster design. I would say that Team 1 went for a classical design, long straight, steady but steep rise, followed by a dramatic fall and, of course, a loop. I'm less convinced that you thought through the energy transfers - the conversion of Max PE to Max KE took place over a short distance, coupled with a long straight of relatively high friction meant that your car came to a stop pretty quickly.

Team 2 went for a more adventurous design, but structurally less sound, I believe.

George put on display a countdown from the last 5 minutes and there was a flurry of activity in the last 5 minutes.

Oh, I think next session, much more needs to be done on the poster front.

In the end, Mrs Slyfield and I decided that you should have an extra hour to finish these off, so next thursday will be the decider.

Only one team will win.

On the whole though, I enjoyed the process. I thought you worked well, but could have spent more time actually designing on paper, the 'coaster. See the pictures above.

A round of applause please for Mrs Slyfield - she had the room beautifully prepared for us.

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!

The Roller Coaster challenge is this Thursday, usual location P6 and after school.

That means that you will miss your usual P6 lesson and go directly to Mrs Slyfield's room at the start of P6 (after Break 2).

Make sure that you get there on-time. You will get further instructions on arrival.

This is a competition with a very special prize for the winning team, so start thinking about:

1. Fast Roller Coaster Design (energy transfer)

2. Aerodynamic Roller Coaster cars

3. Team-work (listening, contributing, etc..)

MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN AND GOOD LUCK!!

We are very fortunate indeed to have been given the opportunity to travel to Pangbourne and visit BP HQ for a day. We will hear from alternative fuel specialists and somebody who knows a great deal about racing solar cars. I am very much looking forward to this, since we all know just how challenging solar energy is to make effective.

Participation on this trip will be based on attendance; since we will be taking 18 students, those with the highest attendance will attend.

Mrs Slyfield and I are about to unveil the much awaited Roller Coaster challenge, details of which have been kept a secret due to the special prize on offer.

Let me give you all a hint though: if I gave you 1000 coaster pieces and asked you make me the fastest coaster possible (timed event using the same car) using ALL the pieces, what would it look like? what would energy transfer have to do with it? At what point would the aerodynamics of the coaster car have an effect? How could you streamline the car?

Hmmm... start thinking

We are very proud to announce our very new project: The Rocket Club.

EmmTech have agreed to split into two groups - half the club will continue to develop the solar cars and the other half will focus on rockets.

Mrs Slyfield is off to the University of Southampton this Saturday to learn about rocket cars and other rocket stuff. Thank you very much Mrs Slyfield for giving up your Saturday!

Let's begin with solar cars:

1. we agreed not to become bogged down with the incident and reflective sun angles since we are dealing with a lot more than one ray (even if your text book usually shows one ray)

2. we agreed that any form of reflection onto the solar panel would be a good thing

3. we agreed to trial water bottles - can you ensure that you bring one empty water bottle next Thursday?

4. we agreed to raise one end of the car - you need to design and make (in Dt) some sort of box which raises the axle beyond rubbing against the plastic.

The Rocket Lot made good progress since so much of the background work had already been done - thanks to George and Cal for the background stuff.