Through an Exscitec (https://www.exscitec.com) summer school, a group of eight 11-17 year-old pupils spent four exciting days working with Dr William Proud and Dr James Wilgeroth to develop, calibrate and use a shock tube.
Exscitec is an organization specialising in educational outreach. This summer it has organised a series of events in Imperial College London, to allow 11-17 year olds the opportunity to experience life at University. One of the projects was to develop, calibrate and use a Shock Tube, which they made from sections of (new) drainpipe, balloons and cardboard. The volume of balloon containing the driving gas, the volume of the tube and the cross-section of the tube were all varied. Output was measured using the swing of a pendulum made from cardboard and a small metal frame. The results showed that with this simple apparatus it was possible to achieve exit velocities of over 8 ms-1 (25 km per hr). The final day was devoted to presenting results both orally and on posters. Finally all students were presented with badges and certificates to recognise their achievements.
Dr. James Wilgeroth of The Royal British Legion Centre for Blast Injury Studies and Dr. Bill Proud of The Institute of Shock Physics at Imperial College London, supervised this project.