The University of Leeds is pleased to announce a new science competition inviting KS3 students to explore the wonders of everyday fluid dynamics. Deadline for entries Tuesday 1 December 2020.

What is a fluid?

A fluid is a medium which can flow, such as a liquid or a gas, and Fluid Dynamics is the study of fluids in motion.  When a fluid is in motion, awesome things can happen. For example, in the photograph above, a NASA experiment shows how an aeroplane wingtips create trailing vortices which are made visible by the red smoke.

Scientists at the University of Leeds are currently investigating lots of fascinating Fluid Dynamics phenomena, from how the shape of the heart can change blood flow to how the flow in the Earth’s liquid mantle causes the magnetic poles to move.  The university’s researchers would like to invite you to explore Fluid Dynamics with them!

Students are invited to get creative and explore the beauty of Fluid Dynamics through experimentation or real-world observation by submitting a photograph/ series of photographs (up to 6)/ video (max 10 seconds) that showcases the Fluid Dynamics phenomena in action alongside a short description (200 words). We encourage students to work in small teams, max 4 students per team and all visual entries will be displayed in an online gallery.

The following prizes are available:

• 1st prize- £40 Amazon voucher p/student (max 4 students p/group)
• 2nd prize- £20 Amazon voucher p/student (max 4 students p/group)
• Runner up- £10 Amazon voucher p/student (max 4 students p/group)

Register your interest:

Register your school’s interest online. The Teacher’s Pack, containing further information on the competition, as well as a description of selected Fluid Dynamics experiments that can be performed in class, can be found at https://tinyurl.com/fluids-photo . To speak to the competition organisers please email fluid-dynamics@leeds.ac.uk 

• Deadline for entries – Tuesday 1 December 2020
• Entries must be submitted by a teacher on behalf of a group of students, maximum 4 per group, in year 7-9 in England and Wales, year 8-10 in Northern Ireland or S1-S3 in Scotland. Please include a teacher’s name, team name, students’ names, school name, year group and title of the work when submitting work. See Teacher’s Pack for guidelines on class or group management.
• Teachers should submit photos/videos/data-sharing links via a file sharing service, such as OneDrive. File sharing links should be emailed to fluid-dynamics@leeds.ac.uk with a cover letter containing information which will be outlined in the Teacher’s Pack.”
• Winners will be notified by Friday 8^th January 2021

• Subject Matter– Appropriate to the theme of fluid dynamics
• Creativity and exploration– Evidence of exploration outside of the supplied fluid dynamic experiments and real-world observations in Teacher’s Pack
• Impact– Detail and aesthetic of the final visualisation and scientific presentation: composition, wow factor etc
• Execution – Medium chosen appropriate to best visualise the fluid dynamic phenomena captured and organise scientific ideas
• Description – accompanying descriptive and scientific text clearly and accurately describes what was captured