Our STEM Club spend all day at Sheffield University. The visit was planned to test the wind turbines they made during Professor Fairclough’s visit earlier in the month. They began by getting their turbines set up to the correct height so they were in the middle of the tunnel. Each group then tested their turbine up to wind speeds of 10 m/s – only to discover that some oscillated too much for speeds that high.
Later in the day they all had a bespoke tour of the Chemistry Department during which they visited lecture theatres and undergraduate teaching labs. They also got to see a NMR spectrometer in operation that was analysing a biodegradable teabag glue!
In the afternoon Professor Fairclough took them all over to the Diamond Building where he had arranged a special activity. All students were given the chance to operate their own computer controlled wind tunnel.
