This is a photograph of a splash that formed after a drop of water fell into a water reservoir. When a drop falls from a certain height into a container of calm water it displaces the surface water and invaginates to a certain depth, forming concentric waves. Given sufficient impact velocity, the drop then recoils and evaginates from the pool of water and creates the standing inverted water droplet seen in this photograph. The standing water drop is the result of Newton’s Third Law (action/reaction) and the cohesion tension properties of water. The initial height from which the drop is released determines the height of the subsequent recoil.

Irina Gorbounova
St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, Thornhill, Ontario
1st Prize ( High School Individual Category )

There are many different kinds of electromagnetic waves. Only a small amount can be seen with the human eye. This is called visible light. With special equipment other types of electromagnetic waves can be seen. In this case, infrared rays are being seen. They are similar to visible light, but cannot be seen by the human eye, as they have longer wavelengths than the eye can perceive. Some are reflected, some are absorbed and some are transmitted. In this case, the amount of heat absorption is seen. Objects being seen as blue are the coolest and the objects being seen as white, are the warmest. Clearly, this demonstrates that some electromagnetic waves that can’t be seen with the naked eye can be detected if the right instruments are used.

Supriya Thukral
Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School, Waterloo, ON
Second Prize ( High School Individual Category )

This image was taken during the lab component of an Undergraduate course in optics. My lab partner and I are measuring the attenuation, or loss of light to absorption and leakage, in a half-kilometer spool of commercial optical fiber used for communications. A Helium-Neon laser, focused down to a point with a 10x objective lens borrowed from a student microscope, provides illumination. A photometer measures how much light reaches the other end of the fiber. The method used to 'fill' the fiber with light is very important; poor alignment can result in excessive loss of light. Here, the laser is deliberately misaligned, causing the whole cable to glow bright red.

Alastair Dunlap-Smith
Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick
First Prize ( Open Category )

In this photograph a droplet of water is caught as it plunges into the water and creates an ongoing pattern of waves. The droplet of water was dropped with enough energy that it was able to rebound and send the droplet back up. This disturbance triggered the movement of the water. The droplet of water acts as a disturbance; as soon as it hits the water it causes the water to spread out in an ongoing pattern of waves, consisting of crests and troughs. Crests move in succession and are separated by roughs, which also move in succession. The elevated waves are known as crests and the areas of depression are the troughs. This creates the alternating pattern of crests and troughs. The light displays a reflection of the bowl onto the spherical shape of the water droplet. This picture represents a quite simple yet an astonishing aspect of physics; the intricate motion of water waves are caused by a single disturbance. The model of the camera used was a Canon PowerShot A95. The dimensions of the photograph are 2592 by 1944 and this photograph was taken on December 1, 2006 at 8:41 p.m. This picture was taken with a flash and was taken using the micro function, which allows the camera to capture details with accuracy and precision.

Saadia Malik
Emery Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario
Honourable Mention ( High School Individual Category )

When we see light with the naked eye, we only see one color. However, if we were to diffract this light, we would see what is called a diffracted spectrum. In this photo we see a prime example of this effect by diffraction grating. Diffraction grating splits and diffracts light into several components, in this case the spectrum. In this photo, we see sunlight streaming through a window to light a high school hallway. By placing diffraction grating glasses in front of the camera lens, the sunlight was diffracted and displayed beautiful spectra.

Tehmeena Chaudhry
Emery Collegiate Institute, North York, ON
Honourable Mention ( High School Class Category )

A 7.2 megapixels, Sony Cyber-shot camera was used to capture the interference pattern. Two electrical toothbrushes were used to create waves in the water. Both of the brushes in this photo had the same speed and thus the same frequency. This photograph shows how waves produced from two sources interact to produce wave patterns. Interaction of waves results in superposition of waves. According to this principle, when a crest meets another crest it creates a supercrest and when a trough meets another trough it creates a supertrough. This is known as constructive interference and produces a resultant wave of greater amplitude. Interaction between a crest and trough produces a node, resulting in a wave of lower amplitude which is known as destructive interference. The reflection of the toothbrushes can also be seen along with the wave patterns in this photo.

Brahmdeep Saini
Emery Collegiate Institute, North York, ON
Third Prize ( High School Class )

A rusted bridge bisects a barren field. It is both a symbol of mankind’s mastery of the laws governing our physical universe, and at the same time, a sobering reminder that nothing lasts forever. People have been perfecting the engineering of bridges since the early days of Neolithic tree trunk overpasses (simple beam bridges) through the stone arch bridges invented by the ancient Greeks, to the modern day wrought iron and steel mega structures (cantilever, cable-stayed, and truss bridges).

This example of a truss bridge crosses the Don River in North Toronto. Truss bridges are typically made of numerous connected straight elements, capable of withstanding stress from both tension and compression. The myriad aesthetically pleasing triangles actually dissipate vertical forces laterally, and increase the bridge’s structural integrity. “Statics” is the branch of physics which concerns itself with the analysis of the bridge structure and function. Made from a frame of reinforced steal beams and concrete, this bridge was designed to last about 75 years. As seen in the photograph, numerous rusty patches evince the toll of time and weather on this soon-to-be-retired structure.

Deanna Garson
Northern Secondary School, Toronto, ON
Honourable Mention ( High School Class Category )

The photograph shows the trajectories that an electron beam follows when it moves through a uniform magnetic field. The tube contains a small amount of mercury gas that is used to make the electron beam visible. Electrons are accelerated by a potential difference applied between two plates and they collide with the gas atoms emitting a characteristic green light. When the velocity of the charged particles is perpendicular to the uniform magnetic field, they experience a magnetic force that makes them move in a circular path (left side). However, if the direction of the velocity of the beam is at some arbitrary angle, the charged particles describe a helix (right side).

Sergio Andrés Joya
Vanier College, Montreal, Quebec
Third Prize ( High School Individual Category )

These photographs depict the molecular diffusion of blue food dye in a glass of water over a time period of 2 minutes. The food dye then took the role of the higher concentrated fluid, while the water was the fluid with the lower concentration. As can be seen, the higher concentrated fluid gradually spread out over the whole water, mixing until the water becomes a solid greenish colour. When the water reaches that point, the two fluids have reached equilibrium. Yet total equilibrium can only be reached if there is no net force acting on the particles. These pictures show one external force: gravity. This is why most of the dye first sinks to the bottom and then resumes diffusing from there.

Tia Ishii
John Abbott College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, QC
Honourable Mention ( High School Individual Category )

This is an image of a physics tow, which is both diverted and inverted on concave and convex mirrors, respectively. A Canon camera, with power shot of SD 400, and 5.0 mega pixels was used to take this image. The main concept portrayed in this image is that it explains the images produced by both concave and convex lenses. When considering the concave lens (the vertical lens in the image) the rays go through the lens and diverge, meaning spread out, which makes the image bigger than the actual object. As for convex lens (the lens under the actual object), when rays pass through the lens, the rays become converged; meaning become focused, which makes the image smaller than its actual size. From this, we know that a concave mirror produces an image right side up and larger than the actual size, whereas a convex mirror produces an image right side up and smaller than the actual size. This concept is fully illustrated in the corresponding photo, where it becomes difficult to distinguish between the actual toy and the produced image by the mirrors, thereby creating a colourful maze analogy!

Krupal Kavathia
Emergy Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario
Second Prize ( High School Individual Category )

This is a picture of a Non-Newtonian Fluid (made of cornstarch and water) placed on a speaker vibrating at a particular frequency which disturbs the surface of the fluid. A Non-Newtonian Fluid is a fluid that does not have a constant viscosity when disturbed. When it is left alone it takes on the appearance of a liquid. However, when a stressing force (push and/or pull) acts upon the substance, it reverts to a more solid form. A mixture of cornstarch and water is a suspension; the particles of cornstarch are mixed in with the water but remain solid. The water is squeezed out from the space between the cornstarch particles when there is abrupt movement. As a result, the friction between these particles increases radically. The percussive movements of the speaker generate disturbance through the Non-Newtonian Fluid which acts as a medium. The waves travel through the medium and create the finger-like protrusions and cause the mixture to reverberate.

Nick Richards and Jonathan To
St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, Thornhill, ON
Second Prize ( High School Class Category )

This image was captured around 8am on July 22, 2009, in Wuhan, China, Hubei Province. The crescent shape is the presence of the moon covering the sun in a total solar eclipse. This beautiful and natural phenomenon occurs because the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth and therefore, the moon partially or completely covers the sun resulting in a crescent shape. This particular solar eclipse only lasted for a maximum of 6 minutes and 39 seconds, and solar eclipses are relatively short in length. This image was captured after the total solar eclipse had occurred and the moon had already begun to move away from the sun. The Sun in this photograph is a reflection captured in a bowl of black ink. To view the solar eclipse, protection of the eyes is needed because the sun’s rays are still damaging to the naked eye. There are many ways to view the eclipse such as, through x-ray film. Photographic film, or a bowl of black ink

Yipeng Ge
Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School, Waterloo, ON
First Prize ( High School Individual Category )

In this picture, a flask of water and bubbles is held up to the sun. This picture shows the phenomenon of the dispersion of light, as can be seen near the edges of the flask where the small bubbles act like tiny prisms that refract the light to show many different colors. However, the phenomenon does not occur around the center of the flask because the light from the sun is too intense to be photographed. Just as rain droplets refract and disperse light, these tiny bubbles do the same; the light travels in the air from the bubbles and refracts as it hits the water thus causing the different frequencies of the colors to travel faster or slower, some colors refract more and some refract less, because of this we can see the different colors.

Mansoor Saqib and Nauman Sharif
Emery Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario
3rd Prize ( High School Individual Category )

This is a photograph of a wooden stick conducting electricity. In order to induce a spark from the step-up transformer, one must either: i) decrease the distance between the two electrodes, ii) increase the voltage, or iii) let the voltage build up so that the potential difference becomes so great that the electrons are forced to utilize the air as a pathway to the other electrode. Electrons always seek the easiest path to complete a circuit or reach the ground. In this case, despite an insulator blocking them, the electrons have still found a path from one electrode to the other. Electrons were stripped from the atoms in the wooden stick to create a current and complete the circuit, thus conducting electricity. Lightning striking a telephone pole or tree would be another example of electrons seeking the path of least resistance to the ground. Due to a large build up of energy, lightning will strike the wooden telephone pole or tree even though it is an insulator, in order to get to the ground. Electrons are torn out of the orbits of the atoms of the telephone pole or tree and create a current that reaches the ground.

Alyssa Terminesi
St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, Thornhill, Ontario
2nd Prize ( High School Class Project Category )

Multiply scattered elastic and acoustic waves can reveal a wealth of useful information on the dynamics of complex media. Because the waves sample the medium many times (due to multiple scattering), they are very sensitive to small changes in the physical system. Here we see a mug of beer with Mount Merapi in the background. In the beer mug, an ultrasonic transducer produces a short acoustic pulse, which is scattered many times by the walls of the mug and the beer bubbles. The scattered signal is picked up by a miniature hydrophone, and by observing how the scattered wave changes with time, we can learn about the concentration and speed of the bubbles. Geological changes can be monitored in a similar way. At Mount Merapi, an active volcano on the island of Java in Indonesia, seismic waves are excited by an air gun and detected many kilometers away, after being multiply scattered by heterogeneities in the Earth. These examples illustrate the diversity of applications using multiply scattered waves that are being developed to monitor temporal changes with exquisite sensitivity over a huge range of length and time scales.

William Kurt Hildebrand and John H. Page
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Second Prize ( Open Category )

This picture depicts a chord being plucked on a guitar, and ultimately demonstrating vibration and in the case of a guitar, how it creates sound. The source of the sound emitted from a guitar comes from the vibration of the strings when they are plucked or strummed, as caught in motion by the photo. As important as they are, the strings themselves create very little noise and disturbance in the air. The body of the guitar acts as an amplifier, due to acoustic resonance, and in a sense elongating the vibrations caused by the strings further creating the sounds you hear. The mass and tension of the strings greatly affect its vibration. The tighter the string is, the higher the frequency becomes and the higher the pitch and vice versa. The body of the guitar -- the size and amount of air inside it -- also affects the sound being produced. When a chord is hit, it causes the air next to it to compress. This compression causes a chair reaction outwards allowing the next layer of air to compress as well. This continuous chain reaction, momentously leading to a disturbance in the air, continues to develop and spread out as a traveling sound wave which we can hear. The camera is a Finepix Z10z, 7.2 MP. This photograph was taken on Night mode because it has slower shutter speed in order to capture the vibration efficiently.

Raymond Ngo and Saadia Malik
Emergy Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario
First Prize ( High School Class Category )

This picture was taken in a physics classroom with all the lights turned off. A digital camera was used to take this picture. It was taken from a distance of one meter from the projection screen, without zooming in and without the use of a flash. A Hard-Seal Helium Neon laser was used. A projection screen was placed about one meter away from the laser beam source. A cylindrical plastic tube, with a diameter of 4 cm was placed at an angle in front of the laser. The laser beam can be seen on the top of the plastic cylinder. Since the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, total internal reflection occurs. This traps the laser beam inside of the cylinder. The same process repeats itself until the laser beam reaches the end of the cylinder. We can see a spiral on the cylinder because of the total internal reflection. This is also projected onto the projection screen. The bright areas on the projection are present, because some light escaped from the plastic tube. The beam is refracted as it passes through the plastic tube, and therefore, it appears different on the projection screen.

Talha Qureshi & Sarvatit Bhatt
Emery Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario
1st Prize ( High School Class Project Category )

Near the rustic countryside of Waterloo, Ontario, the early morning sun rises over the autumn forest. Nearby, songbirds chirp and squirrels leave their dens in search of food for the winter. All is still. The beams of light which seem to be radiating from the rising sun are called crepuscular rays. Due to the fog, dense masses of water droplets are afloat in the air; the rays are refracting and scattering everywhere. The light travelling in all directions results in the appearance of very defined rays of light. In actuality, there is a small but relatively visible aura of crepuscular light around most bright sources of light in normal environmental conditions, but it is hard to discern because of the low density of refracting particles. Although they are not a very sophisticated phenomenon of physics, crepuscular rays of light are beautiful displays of science which anyone can appreciate whether they have studied physics or not.

Socrates Li
Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School, Waterloo, ON
Third Prize ( High School Individual Category )

A Van de Graaff generator was used to assist in the creation of the spark seen in this photograph. It works by creating an excess of electrons on its metal sphere. The electrons always seek the path of least resistance to the ground. In this case, our subject on the left has contact with the Van de Graaff generator, but is standing on a wooden platform while extending his finger to our other subject on the right. Since the wooden platform on which he is standing is an insulator, the easier path for the electrons to be grounded is not through the body of our first subject, but through the body of our second subject. The electrons utilized the air between the two fingers when they were at the right distance, to complete the circuit. This created a current that led to the ground. The spark of white light visible in the photograph is the current being discharged between the fingers and finally to the ground.

Alyssa Terminesi
St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, Thornhill, Ontario
2nd Prize ( High School Individual Category )

The force of gravity acts towards the centre of the Earth, so how can these icicles grow almost horizontally? The answer requires the concept of the "centre of gravity" of an object, the point at which the object can balance on your finger tip. The icicles in the photograph initially grew vertically, formed as the snow on the roof slowly melted and refroze at the lowest point. However, the snow also slowly slid down the roof, to extend beyond the roof edge. To do this, the snow had to be a semi-fluid, so it could flow slowly but remain fairly rigid. As the leading edge of the snow moved further from the roof, the only way the centre of gravity could remain under the point of support was for the snow to curve backwards, resulting in the icicles tipping to become almost horizontal.

Alan Slavin
Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario
Third Prize ( Open Category )

Did you know that a stream of water coming of a tap could be bent using a balloon? We decided to take a photo of this physical phenomenon by taking an uncharged balloon and rubbing it against our uncharged hair. Hair has a weaker hold on electrons, so electrons in the hair get transferred to the balloon, therefore, the balloon becomes negatively charged and hair positively charged. Next, we brought the negatively charged balloon close to a neutral stream of water. Water molecules are polar, meaning the oxygen atoms are slightly negatively charged and the hydrogen atoms are slightly positively charged. This attractive force overcame the repulsive force between negatively charged oxygen atoms and the electrons in the balloon. As a result, the stream of water bends towards the balloon.

Satyam Merja and Waleed Majoka
Emery Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario
Honourable Mention ( High School Individual Category )

This picture shows a thin film of soap directed vertically from the ground using a wire loop. A Canon digital camera, with power shot SD 400, and 5.0 mega pixels was used to take this image. The pattern appearing in the photo is produced through optical interference when a thin film reflects light. When the light rays strike the surface of the thin film, some of the light is reflected, while some is refracted. On the bottom surface, a similar process is occurring. As a result, two rays are reflected to the eye of the observer: the first ray from the top surface and the second ray from the lower surface. The pattern seen in the photo also results from the constructive and destructive interference pattern. Also, the effect of gravity (on a vertical soap film) causes the film to portray the patterns illustrated in the photo: thick at the bottom and thin at the top. The interference pattern was created using sunlight at sunset time, which is why an image of the sunset is visible in the photo.

Dhanisha Patel
Emergy Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario
First Prize ( High School Individual Category )

This picture is taken at the shopping store with the canon digital camera. The sunlight is getting in the room through the window and hitting the glass bottles, producing a reflection in the glass. This refection is making the bottles seem like they have another small bottle in them. This creates an interesting optical illusion that there are more bottles than are really there.

Bilal Shahid and Chandni Matharoo
Emergy Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario
Honourable Mention ( High School Individual Category )