Year 9 FAMELAB Acadamy 2023

A few months ago, I joined a club called FAMELAB which ran every Wednesday lunchtime. The club was about writing and performing a speech on something to do with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). There were (I think) 11 participants in total but a few people dropped out before. Closer to the end of the year we had to say the speech in front of the whole year 9 (and some teachers as judges) for a competition.

In the first few sessions we went through the criteria that the judges use when assessing the speech. The 3 main things were the three 'C's: Content, Clarity and Charisma.

Content: his is what you will talk about so it has to be interesting and fun to talk about. This is topic of your talk. It also has to relate back to STEM.

Clarity: Clarity is very important within the speech. It must be understandable for the audience so it can't use too much sciencey jargon (fancy language that not everybody understands). The way you explain things is essential to create an interesting speech, it must be clear and understandable.

Charisma: this is the way you deliver your speech. It must be interesting to see how you talk about your speech. This is also where you add your personal touch and personality within your speech. You must seem genuinely engrossed in your topic and that way you will make everyone else who is listening eager to be as enthusiastic as you in your chosen topic.

I researched on some topics and my final chosen one was, 'What happens if the world stopped spinning?'.

After everyone had chosen their topic and wrote their speech, the lunchtime meetings were all about practice and delivery. Projection is also quite important. If the people at the back of the hall can't hear you, then how can they understand you? The speech also had to be maximum 3 minutes long, it was actually timed so I had to be extra careful with how long I was taking to explain things.

A few weeks later, we had to perform our speeches during the first hour of  Thursday 29th June, 2023.

The order of speeches was decided by names out of a hat because that is the fairest way. I went 4th. 

Here is the final draft of my speech (I had to cut some bit out because it was too long...):

*Enter stage*

What happens if…the world stopped spinning?

What happens then?

Well, first, everything around you, that is not completely secured to the earth, would go hurtling east at approximately 1000 miles per hour. Imagine an aeroplane speeding along a runway at 166 miles per hour and then times that by 6, that is how fast everything with be flying, including you! 

This is because the earth rotates at 1000mph, but we don’t feel it because Earth rotates at a near constant speed, meaning that it doesn’t speed up or slowdown that makes it noticeable to us.

But, if the Earth did stop spinning, everything would continue to move as if it was still spinning.

This also includes the atmosphere and the oceans. The moving oceans would trigger enormous tsunamis that would sweep across every continent and make it into a temporary aquatic world. The moving atmosphere would result in 1000mph windstorms, and dangerous earthquakes and volcanic eruptions would also occur. On the bright side, an Earth with no spin would also mean the end of hurricanes as they are created due to the Earth’s rotation. 

An Earth with no spin would mean a day would last a whole year – 6 months of daylight and 6 months of darkness. 6 months of daylight can cause temperatures to reach over 100˚C – this is hot enough to boil water! The water vapour would then make its way into the night-time, cooler regions of the Earth, leaving the daytime areas to become a barren, scorched landscape. On the other side, temperatures would plummet to the negatives and you would probably die of vitamin D deficiency.

Most creatures would have been driven to extinction from the initial disasters but one of the animals most likely to survive are penguins. In the south pole, they are already used to 24 hours of darkness and 24 hours of daylight so they could easily adapt. However, their natural habitat would have to be underwater but theoretically, penguins may be one of the best-suited animals to survive a non-spinning Earth. 

But…is it actually possible for the Earth to stop spinning? The answer is yes. There are 2 ways earth could stop rotating. One way is a sudden stop - another planet-sized object could crash into Earth and theoretically stop the earth from spinning. Another way is a gradual stop, which is more likely as our planet spin is already slowing down by 1.4 milliseconds every 100 years because of the moon’s gravity. However, it is quite unlikely that the earth would stop spinning at all as Earth would be destroyed long before it stops spinning when the sun dies in about 5 billion years. So, we don’t need to worry about a motionless planet at all.

*Exit stage*

It is quite long but it is enough to cover 3 minutes. We did have the option of using a prop but I didn't think it was necessary for my talk.

Other topics we also quite interesting: Could Elsa's Castle really exist?; Could we live on Mars?; What happens if we don't sleep?; Vacuume Decay; Why are your ears shaped the way they are?....and many more!

In joint 2nd place, there was the speech about living on Mars and a super interesting speech on why we use world fillers such as ummm, uhhh, like and so.

In first place was a speech on 'Why can't humans regrow limbs?'.

In my opinion, the winning speech was quite informative and I definately learned something new. The speech also had a perfect ratio of jargon to understandable explanations so I understand why she won.

Reflecting back on this wonderful experience, I don't feel sad that I wasn't on the podium, I am actually just content with conquering my fear of public speaking. I am happy with myself for saying the speech without freaking out or dropping out last minute. 

Try something new! Don't be afraid of failing because it is natural to not get something first try. In the end, you might learn a new skill or end up loving it!

See you soon!