Cirencester Deer Park School

Hydrogen - Fuel of the Future?

Teacher: Mr Seb Rogers
Scientist: Dr Nigel Schofield, Head of the Power Conversion Group, University of Manchester

"Hydrogen will be the fuel of the future." This was the conclusion of pupils from Cirencester Deer Park School who spent two days working in laboratories at the University of Manchester.

One of the hydrogen buggies.

The pupils from Deer Park School started their project by working on hydrogen powered buggies, which used the same principles as the hydrogen fuel cell taxi being developed at Manchester. They planned methods for measuring and calculating energy changes in the process to assess the overall efficiency of the buggy. At the university, the pupils used the skills developed in school to measure the electrical output of a full size hydrogen fuel cell using the advances research equipment only available at Manchester.

Pupils were able to work with PhD students who are developing cheaper and more effective materials for parts of the fuel cell. The school was invited to come and present their project at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition 2006 in London, which was a great boost to the pupils' communication skills and confidence in talking to members of the public.

For more information on the project, please visit the school's Summer Science Exhibition page.

Tips: finding a partner

"I tracked Nigel down by checking who the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) had given grants for work on hydrogen power," says Seb.