On Wednesday the 12th of September, a group of four Year 7 Halswell students; Ben Dufaur, Haasini Mantena, Khylle Dinio and Danielle Mitchell went to the Christ College Science Competition. The competition consisted of three Science areas, Biology, Physics and Chemistry. 

Three Schools compete against each other in each subject, trying to get the most points to beat the rival school. In Biology we had to look at pond water under a microscope. The School who found the most living organisms won. During this part of the competition you can learn about so many critters that are invisible to the naked eye. Some we didn't know existed.

In Physics, we had to figure out the mass of a plastosein fish, using weights, stands and rubber bands instead of scales. We would measure how far the rubber band would stretch for different weights. Then our team had to make a line graph with the data we had gathered. We then measured the rubber bands stretch on the fish, and figured how much it weighed. The fish weighed 712 grams.

During Chemistry, we had to figure out what chemicals had which symbol, and mix unknown chemicals and powders to find out which substance was which. The chemicals had letters from A-J. We had a booklet with descriptions of the chemicals and their reactive nature so had to test then identify which substance matched. 

One of the most important parts of the Science Competition was realising how important Science is. Science is everywhere, from the breakfast you eat, to the bed that you sleep in. People don't realise science in their everyday lives, because we're so focused on other things. Science is everywhere, and it's more important than you think.

Ben Dufaur