The Annual Science and Engineering Challenge

On Tuesday, 24 Year 10 students competed in the annual Science and Engineering Challenge, hosted by UTAS and the University of Newcastle. The students worked in groups of 2-4, completing one or two activities to earn points for Fahan. The activities undertaken included building a bridge, designing and testing a Mars rover, making a turbine, distributing electricity to a ‘city’, designing fingers for a ‘bionic’ hand, creating an earthquake proof tower, designing a high-speed rail network for a city and designing efficient codes to send messages along fibre optic rods using only pulses of coloured light. The girls worked efficiently in their teams and enjoyed the challenges. The day culminated in an exciting bridge test. The Fahan bridge was not only the strongest, withstanding the famous ‘Bridge Buster’ weight, but it was also the lightest, earning important points for our team. Fahan also won the ‘Stringways’ challenge and as a result, won the Tas Water Award – great work girls! In the end, Fahan placed third out of the seven schools, just pipped at the post by Calvin Christian School (1st) and Hutchins (2nd).