Young scientists and teachers from Sherborne Girls School in Dorset celebrated National Science and Engineering Week with an experiment to find out if it is possible to walk on custard.
Katy Smith, Head of Physics, who led her team of students in the experiment as part of the British Science Association’s Demo Day, said: “Unlike water, custard is a non-Newtonian liquid, so in theory, we knew that it was possible to walk on a swimming pool of custard. Although we substituted custard for 30kg of cornflour mixed with water, and a swimming pool for a paddling pool, the same principles still applied. All the girls were great sports and showed the theory really does stand up to scrutiny.
“The idea of Demo Day was to get students across the UK involved in a wave of inspiring science demonstrations, and the girls wanted to try something that was fun but also had a practical application and serious science behind it.”
Jenny Dwyer, headmistress of Sherborne Girls, said: “Science is a very popular subject at Sherborne Girls and projects such as these are great for inspiring girls to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and maths in the future.”
In addition to the custard experiment, the Demo Day also included ‘Start the Day With a Bang!’ and the ‘Eureka Great Egg Race’. The girls also presented on topics ranging from solar panels to sound insulation, and from water purification to automated engineering processes.
