AFTER the recent spell of cold weather, fifth form pupils at Mount House School have been investigating heat transfer, looking into the processes of conduction, convection and radiation.

Using night lights and bunsen burners, the children have been toasting bread, frying and boiling eggs, using only the principles of physics to cook the food.

It has to be said that the majority of the toast was truly 'well-done', resembling small pieces of charcoal!

Their next task was to design some insulation suitable for the recent arctic-like conditions, in the 'Ski Boot challenge', using a range of modern and everyday materials. In a closely-fought competition, two teams of successful designers managed to maintain a temperature within the boot of almost 40 degrees after 30 minutes.

The two winning teams were Ralph Lopes, Oscar Norris and Alex McNair-Scott, and Brodie Summerfield, William Partington and William Stone, though all who took part should be congratulated for their high levels of teamwork and cooperation.