A Wave of Physics at Madley

In September 10 Year 11 Science students and their teacher went to the BT Earth Station at Madley. The day was spent, along with the BBC, ITN, CNN and others seeing how Physics covered as part of both GCSE and BTEC Science are used everyday. This formed part of their 30th anniversary celebrations.

The establishment uses the physics of waves to collect and disseminate television, radio, mobile phone and government communications both nationally and internationally and is made up of a number of large satellite dishes.

Students were not only able to climb one of the dishes but also see how they are controlled. We were also able to broadcast live via the satellite back to earth and adjust the quality of the received image. Finally students were allowed into the control room of the centre to see how TV images beamed live from around the world are coordinated for TV companies.

The students all had a tremendous day out that was not only great fun but a fabulous learning opportunity.