Fluids Photo competition for Schools – the winners!

PhD researchers Emily Butler and Yatin Darbar from the CDT in Fluid Dynamics invited school children of all ages around the country to capture the breadth and beauty of the fluid dynamics they see all around them for a chance to win some great prizes!  This year students were asked to submit a photograph, a series of photographs, or a video related to the theme of “fluids in nature”. This theme could be explored by capturing something from the natural world or even recreating a natural process with an at home experiment. An impressive range of topics that included, wind, water, rivers and beaches were submitted. All the submissions were judged, and prizes awarded to the top three entries.

The top entries were:

First Place: Wind by Zahra Asghar (Year 8) from King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls. (Series of photographs)

This entry explored the effect the wind has on trees causing them to deform over time and even shield other trees from the effects of the wind. Accompanying Zahra’s photos were some great diagrams and a clear explanation of the fluid dynamics going on that really impressed the judges which liked how “the entrant has clearly thought out of the box and presented a unique explanation of the fluid dynamics behind the photographs”.

Second Place: Waves breaking on the beach by Vaughan Griffiths (Year 4) from All Saints Church of England Primary School (Video)

This entry was inspired by a trip to The Solent where Vaughn captured incoming waves growing in height before toppling over and leaving what he described as a “turbulent soup of froth and foam” caused by the waves breaking on the shore.  The judges loved this description of the aftermath of the breaking wave and how well written the description was describing each part of the waves evolution.  The use of slow motion video in the entry was something all the judges thought really enhanced the visual impact.

Third Place: Building a Dam by Oliver Zhou (Year 2) from Moortown Primary School (Video)

Incredibly Oliver built his own dam on a brook to prevent his toy boat being washed downstream. His entry detailed how his damn was built by experimenting with different combinations and arrangements of stones, dam shapes and even using his water wheels to measure how fast the water was flowing around it! The judges were in awe with such an “impressive and creative” investigation of fluid dynamics from such a young entrant.

We look forward to hosting the competition next year with new theme for entrants to explore the diversity of fluid dynamics!