Students studying at Cardiff Sixth Form College Cambridge have the unique opportunity to take part in The Cambridge Edge. This is a world-class super curricular offer, designed to enable our students to tap into the vibrant academic and technological life here in Cambridge and provides opportunities for students to work with the University of Cambridge and leading local businesses in the vicinity.
“My project is ‘To investigate the feasibility of building an algae fuel cell that generates sufficient electricity to charge a phone’.
I’ve been fortunate enough to make contact with the Biochemistry department of the University of Cambridge and have the guidance of a postdoctoral researcher focused on bio photovoltaic cells(BPVs). From the knowledge I gained from many academic papers, the chemistry department at CSFC and the assistance of the members of the Biochemistry department, I was able to come up with a simple set up that produced 0.32mV on its first trial.
However, due to increased levels of resistance and subsequently very low levels of current on my previous set-up I’ve decided to change my set up and the Biochemistry department of the University of Cambridge has been kind enough to support me with one of their prototypes of an educational tool kit of a BPV to try and build at home.”
Fusor Project- Cesare,The Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusor (IECF) is a device capable of achieving fusion at a domestic level without requiring a multi-million-pound reactor.
It uses electric fields around a negatively charged inner grid to accelerate ions, reach fusion conditions, and confine the plasma inside a vacuum. Deuterium (and Tritium, if possible), which are hydrogen isotopes 2H and 3H, respectively, act as the fuel of the fusion reaction by being introduced into the chamber.
This process is also possible due to the properties of quantum principles, particularly quantum tunnelling, which means not all particles require high amounts of energy to collide and fuse.
Ibrahim from Nigeria tells us about his project researching the use of superconducting magnets and their possible use In maglev trains.
COMPUTER SCIENCE ENGINEERING PHYSICS ENGINEERING SUSTAINABILITY
As part of the Dukes Sustainability Week, six aspiring engineers from Cardiff Sixth Form College Cambridge will be attending the TEDI Year 12 Summer Workshop. During this workshop our students will learn how their creative problem solving can make a big impact on the future of our planet. Previous workshops have seen students build remote model vehicles and scooters from recycled newspaper.
In this week’s Crossing the Road Guest speaker Dr Katerina Artavanis-Tsakonas from the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, gave a presentation on how parasites have adapted intricate mechanisms of avoiding host immune responses, limiting tissue damage, and modulating their immediate surrounding to support their presence.
CHEMISTRY ENGINEERING LECTURE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
What to do about plastics? Professor Jonathan Cullen’s talk draws from five years of research at Cambridge, aimed at understanding the GHG impact of plastics across the full lifecycle (production, use and disposal) and exploring all possible options for mitigating the carbon impacts of plastics production.
COMPUTER SCIENCE ENRICHMENT WEEK TRIPJoin the expert lead workshops on Data Representation. In this interactive workshop you will discover how data representation has developed throughout history. Explore Binary, hexadecimal and Von Neumann architecture then work through some real-life coding problems. Or join us for AI & Robotics – Debate the Ethical implications of AI programming and barriers to inclusive legislation. For others try Hands-On-Hardware – choose between building virtual circus or disposing of a bomb using VR headsets. You will also have the chance to explore the National Museum of Computing which houses the largest collection of functional historic computers in the world, including a rebuilt Colossus, the world’s first electronic computer and the WITCH, the world’s oldest working digital computer.
Imperial College NASA Space Design CompetitionCSFC Cambridge students attended The UK Space Design Competition (UKSDC). This multidisciplinary space-themed competition took students 80 years into the future and challenged them to design a crewed space settlement within our solar system. The competition gave students a taste of the vast potential offered by future study of STEM subjects, through a fun an engaging career simulation.
Women In STEMMEDICINE NEUROLOGY PHYSICS
To Celebrate International Woman’s Day, we welcome guest speakers Irene Abril Cabezas, Hatice Ozkan and Dr Paula Heister to our college to hear about their contributions to Physics, Neurology and Medicine.
