Senior Physics teams compete in "Physics fights", a cross between Physics investigations and debating!

Over the past few months, a team consisting Fiona Li, Shanika Yu and Oliver Fan prepared for, and competed in, the annual New Zealand Young Physicists' Tournament. 

Their job was to investigate lots of different physics phenomena, such as the 'Wilberforce Pendulum', the 'Hand helicopter' and the 'Irreversible Cartesian Diver', and prepare debate-style seminars explaining the phenomenon. They would present them in front of an opposing team, and a jury of engineers and science professors, who all would attempt pick the presentations to pieces. This was incredibly challenging, but the team improved over the course of the competition.

The team managed to win the South Island Regional Competition, and earn a place in the online New Zealand Nationals, where they placed third. The team members were glad to have participated in the tournament; they were challenged in so many different ways, and all of them were pushed out of their comfort zones. They learnt lots of new Physics and mathematics ideas, and improved their understanding of a range of others. Preparing for the tournament allowed the team to experience a realistic approach to scientific investigations at a depth beyond what is normally done in school.