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Young Inventors |
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Change Makers for the Future |
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| Abstract |
This compilation of innovations by children from around the world is an attempt to put the IGNITE competition organized by NIF in a global context (nifindia.org/ignite). Children all around sense, struggle and succeed sometimes in transcending the problems rather than adapting to them. -Ed.
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Sixteen year old finds a way to speed up plastic decomposition
The problem of finding a way to degrade plastic waste is something many experienced researchers have been trying to tackle for long. To the surprise of many, in 2008, a 16-year-old Canadian boy, Daniel Burd, came very close to finding a solution. Daniel was told that plastic takes about thousands of years to decompose. However, he took note of the fact that at the end of those many years, the plastic did decompose eventually. He thought what if somehow these organisms that decompose plastic were bred to do it faster?
That question led to a series of experiments. A simple technique of immersing ground plastic in a yeast solution that encourages microbial growth, and then isolating the most productive colonies started yielding results. The initial tests were encouraging so he kept choosing the most effective strains and interbred them. With several modifications of temperature and conditions lasting for weeks, finally he was able to achieve 43% degradation in six weeks.
Most methods of degrading plastic use chemical processes. With Daniel Burd’s organic method, environmentalists can take a sigh of relief. With over 500 billion plastic bags manufactured every day and a plastic dump yard that grows in size each day, a low cost nontoxic method is the most viable solution to the plastic waste problem.
Link: http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/boy-discovers-microbe-that-eats-plastic#
Banana peels to bioplastic
Elif Bilgin, a 16-year-old Turkish girl, discovered that the peels of banana contained enough starch and cellulose to be used as an insulating material. She developed a process which turned the peels into a non-decaying bioplastic material. This, she hopes, could reduce the dependence on plastic based insulation.
Elif read that cellulose and starch were being used with mango skins in the bioplastic industry. This triggered the thought about using banana peels. She spent two years developing the material until it finally paid off.
Links: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/at-scientific-american/2013/06/27/science-in-action-winner-for-2013-elif-bilgin/
http://inhabitat.com/sixteen-year-old-student-from-turkey-turns-banana-peels-into-bioplastic/
Solar Power by harnessing the Fibonacci Sequence
Aidan Dwyer created an energy efficient solar tree which can generate about 20-50% more energy than the conventional array of photovoltaic cells. He studied trees around the woods where he used to play and observed that these branched out in a specific pattern. The sole purpose of this pattern to branch out was to harness sunlight most efficiently.
He showcased that by using a specific formula to distribute solar cells in a particular pattern, an increase in energy generation can be achieved. He used the Fibonacci sequence, which he was led to as he studied the different patterns of branching. The Fibonacci sequence is a number series starting from zero or one with each subsequent number being the sum of the previous two numbers. It turned out that these patterns and sequences appear in nature repeatedly.
His study on branches led him to test this. He built a small solar array using the Fibonacci formula. He then compared the energy output with identical cells set in a row. “The Fibonacci tree design performed better than the flat-panel model. The tree design made 20% more electricity and collected 2 1/2 more hours of sunlight during the day. But the most interesting results were in December, when the Sun was at its lowest point in the sky. The tree design made 50% more electricity, and the collection time of sunlight was up to 50% longer!”
Link: http://inhabitat.com/13-year-old-makes-solar-power-breakthrough-by-harnessing-the-fibonacci-sequence/
The germ defeater
Travis Jahn, a third grader from Germany, was well aware of the dangers of catching flu or other infectious germs when playing outside. But that was still not motivating enough for him (or any other kids) to wash hands when he came home or before eating. Travis thought why not make the activity of washing hands fun. He came up with an ingenious idea of a Germ Defeater. It uses two different soaps to wash hands. These two different soaps are of two different colours and when used together they turn into a third colour, thus making the boring process of hand wash fun and interesting.
Link: http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/news/local/invention-earns-third-grader-a-california-trip-t-1/nNHX3/
A 12 year old wants to fix the world
Peyton Robertson, 12, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is a now a well-known young inventor in the US. He has three patents pending on his name. One of his major inventions is a sandbag to tackle flooding. This bag is light weight and easy to transport when dry but becomes a dense solution after coming in contact with water. The sandbag contains salt to make it heavier than the seawater. There is an interlocking fastener system in the sandbag that keeps the sandbag in place while also eliminating any gaps.
His other two inventions include a case that keeps golf balls at a certain temperature so that they don’t lose their bounce and retractable training wheels for people learning how to ride a bicycle.
Peyton is interested in science mostly for understanding his outer world and trying to make it a better place. He is currently trying out the idea of immunisation of trees against citrus canker- a disease which causes early fruiting of trees. Another exciting and humane idea he is working on is trying to blend underwater speaker technology with echolocation (human ability to using echo of objects in an environment to locate them) and analgorithm to guide trapped whales.
Link: http://blog.ted.com/2014/01/13/this-scientist-has-three-patents-pending-he-also-happens-to-be-12/
Plastic waste to biofuel
Plastic consumption in Egypt is estimated to be around one million tons per year, which also equals to the amount of plastic waste that the country generates. The solution to this problem came in the form of a catalyst, an idea, from sixteen year old Azza Abdel Hamid Faiad, to convert Egypt’s growing plastic waste into bio-fuel worth $78 million. This was an idea that could literally change the country’s economic position.
Azza’s idea is, “to break down the plastic polymers found in drinking bottles and general waste and turn them into biofuel feedstock (The bulk raw material that is generally used for producing biofuel).”
Azza’s idea may not be novel, however, she has found a high-yield catalyst called aluminosilicate that digests plastic waste while producing gases like methane, propane and ethane, which can then be converted into ethanol.
Speaking on her breakthrough she said, “This technology could provide an economically efficient method for production of hydrocarbon fuel” including 40,000 tons per year of cracked naptha and 138,000 tons of hydrocarbon gasses – the equivalent of $78 million in biofuel”.
Link: http://inhabitat.com/16-year-old-egyptian-scientist-finds-way-to-turn-plastic-waste-into-78-million-of-biofuel/ |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 24(3) 17-18, 2013 |
