Snowed under
The day after we decided to make snow the theme for our Gp 4 project it snowed, the project isn't for another 2 weeks so we shouldn't get too excited though. When we were discussing the project one of the other science teachers suggested that student might look at the bending of tree branches like the one in the photo (taken whilst walking the dog an hour ago). This is quite a complex problem, if the snow forms an even layer along the whole branch then the bit of snow on the tip will exert a greater toque than the bit at the tree end. Its the sort of complicated cantilever that engineers love to get to grips with, the solution would almost certainly involve a differential equation and would be a great investigation for an extended essay but is maybe a bit complex for a Gp 4 project.