Two of our Y13 A-Level Physics students entered themselves in the Computational Challenge by The British Physics Olympiad and were awarded a Gold Award for their hard work.

Mark and Tom signed up for the challenge, which consisted of attending a series of 10 weekly online talks on Computational Physics given by Dr Andrew French of Winchester College. Each week there was an introduction to a physics model and a discussion of how one might analyse it computationally.  Between Easter and mid August, they then were given the opportunity to undertake the competition project. This was about developing one of the models, and judged by a short (2 minute) video on their project and results.

Mark and Tom both enjoy Computer Science alongside Physics and said of the project:
We enjoyed the challenge of solving the trajectory of projectiles, implementing the solution computationally, and integrating all of the tasks within a single application. It was a great opportunity to refine our coding abilities while learning new Physics concepts, such as Verlet integration, which enabled us to simulate motion more accurately by considering air resistance.

Mark and Tom worked together on their project and all tasks were completed to a high standard, with extension work including the construction of an app (i.e. programs with graphical user interfaces), significant development of the models and additional extension work.

We are very proud of their hard work and delighted to see it recognised through the achievement of a Gold Award!

#WeAreProudOfOurAchievements