The Year 9 Physics ‘Big Quiz’, which took place in the Great Hall of Birmingham University, an expansive room that boasts a wooden floor and the motto and crest of the University emblazoned in the roof, was an engaging and interactive event and one that I would gladly participate in again. The quiz had three multiple-choice sections where we had to choose a, b, c or d which each corresponded to an answer on the board, and  we also had three written answer rounds which total up to six rounds.  There were five regular rounds covering the main topic of Physics, and a specialist round concerning Nobel prize winners in Physics.  At the start of the day – around 10.15 – we had a word search to complete between our groups. Although we worked quickly and effectively, we only came second and therefore did not win the spot prizes (a hotwires set for each of the members in the winning team). After we had finished the wordsearch, there was a refreshment break where we were each handed a chocolate bar and a drink. There was also a short speech from Dr. David Evans about the quiz rules.  At 10.45, we completed rounds 1 to 3, with each round focusing on a different topic in Physics. After the first three rounds we had half an hour for lunch which was swiftly followed by a keynote lecture from Dr. David Evans who is one the UKs leading scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The lecture focused on telling us about how a man called Peter Higgs thought of the question: “What is mass?” Although most of us associate mass with weight, they are two very different things. The lecture informed us of this and told us how a hypothetical, invisible field resides over everything and when a particle passes through that field it creates a dip, the more mass the particle has got the more of a dip it has. Dr. Evans and his team are on a search for the Higgs’ Boson which would prove Peter Higgs’ theory correct, but so far their attempts have failed to discover anything and the hypothetical particle is still proving itself to be elusive.  After the lecture we completed three more rounds and the prize giving ceremony finally arrived. Although we did not come in the top 3 we still did considerably well when you take into account the fact that we came 13th out of over 90 schools. So, overall, it was a very enjoyable day and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is lucky enough to be offered a place.

Zeshan, Year 9