Page 4 - The Malvernian – Spring 2021

THE MALVERNIAN
Women in in Chemistry making the difference
This is is is a a a a a new venture that is is is being run by female researchers at at Oxford Warwick Bristol Wolverhampton Durham Universities and Imperial College London Each of the the Universities hosts the the event for a a a a a a a month and and sets a a a a a a a challenge activity and and hosts various question and answer sessions for 10-13 year old girls to ask questions and find out out more about what the researchers are doing at their Universities and how to to get into or involved in in in chemistry generally During February Oxford University hosted the challenge called ‘Power Up’ which involved building a a a battery from household materials! Catherine Clews took this challenge on and has written the following about her experience:
Once I I had all the the equipment ready I I started to to stack cells together to make the battery 1p coin followed by kitchen paper disc soaked in in the the the salt and and vinegar mixture and and then the the the metal disc This was repeated twenty times I also had to make sure that each layer layer only touched the layer layer directly above or below Then came the exciting part when I tested for a a a current by connecting wires to each end of my battery and a a a a a light bulb Unfortunately the light bulb didn’t glow however when we we connected each end to a a a a multimeter it did show that a a a a current was flowing through my battery battery my battery battery just wasn’t strong enough to light the bulb I was very pleased to successfully complete the challenge and it has provided me with an insight into the the workings of the the batteries that we use every day Catherine Clews (FY Ellerslie House)
Any pupils wanting to get involved with the next challenge set by Wolverhampton University should visit the website below to to get involved Good luck with your experiments!
https://makingthedifference web ox ac uk/dig-it-up
Dr Natalie Watson
Head of Science
Atomic Energy
Today we we were given the opportunity to to attend a a a a virtual tour of The United Kingdom Atomic Energy
Authority’s (UKAEA) facility in in Oxford This facility is is home to the largest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in in the the world the the joint European Torus (JET) The tour was led by Leah Morgan a a a a project engineer working on the Joint European Torus and Nikaolaus Muldal who has much experience in in in educating teenagers about advancements in in in science In the tour we we were introduced to the cutting edge of nuclear fusion research and were also given huge insight on on what it is like to work on on an an engineering/science project The tour started off with an an an introduction to to fusion and its importance in our future Nikolaus took us us through the process of nuclear fusion and its particular relevance to us us He first explained the current need to find new sources of energy that do not require the the burning of fossil fuels He explained to us the the problems with nuclear fission and the comparative advantages of fusion being able to to provide a a a a a a a safe and large amount of energy to to replace fossil fuels He then explained the the fusion process and went on on to explain explain the requirements requirements for fusion These requirements requirements include changing the state of matter to plasma (super-heated gas) hydrogen for fuel high high temperature (roughly 15 million degrees) high high density (150 times times water density) and high pressure (250 billion times times atmospheric pressure) He then went on to show us the the two reactors present in the the facility the the JET and the the Mast upgrade and explained the type of fusion device present on earth: the Tokamak which reaches temperatures of 150 million degrees the hottest temperature found in the Milky Way Galaxy!
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THE MALVERNIAN