BT Young Scientist Exhibition 2010
Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 January 2010 22:42
Meteorology related Projects at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition 2010
Weather is a topic that fascinates so many people and it was not surprising that several projects at this year’s BT Young Scientist Exhibition were on the theme of weather and climate
Julianne O’Connell, Fionnuala Kennedy and Emily Long from the Presentation Secondary School in Thurles, Co. Tipperary presented a project on the very topical theme of road gritting salts. Their project “To determine which salt is the most effective in reducing icy roads and the salt’s impact on the surrounding environment” won 3rd prize in the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Intermediate Group section. Having tested a selection of salts, they found that calcium chloride melts ice fastest and works better than the other salts at lower temperatures. Although this salt is 3 times more expensive than sodium chloride (used in Ireland), a much smaller quantity of this salt is required to keep roads ice-free.
Julianne O’Connell, Fionnuala Kennedy and Emily Long, Presentation Secondary School, Thurles, Co. Tipperary
In the Biological and Ecological Sciences Junior Individual section Cian Rynne from Pobail Scoil Naomh Coilm Cille in Dublin won first prize. His project “Aesculus hippocastanum: Terminal bud locations in the Horse Chestnut and the effects of weather patterns” involved correlating the growth of horse chestnut branches on north, south, east and west facing sides of trees with 10 years of Met Éireann data. The correlations were generally poor, apart from a possible link to relative humidity, but the report thesis spanning several hundred pages was a clear indicator of the extensive research that went into the project, making it a very deserving category winner.
Cian Rynne, Pobail Scoil Naomh Coilm Cille, Dublin
“Flooding: Our solution” by Sebastian Ryan, David Byrne and Conor Flynn, Marist College, Athone, Co. Westmeath was a study of materials suitable for use in sandbags. This project was a follow-up to their 2009 entry and they found that a mixture of clay and volcanic ash expands to ten times its volume when wet, which would make it a very useful sandbag filler. Flooding was also on Michael Redmond’s mind (Wicklow). His project entitled “Rising water table - an early warning system” involved developing a temperature-based system to predict flooding and found that flooding was likely when the temperature of the soil rose or dropped suddenly by several degrees.
Joe Nugent, Neassa Cooke and Emily Morley looking into alternative weather forecasting for Cork city based on Tides “An investigation into the correlation between lunar phases, tidal patterns and weather predicting”.
Renewable energy was another area of interest among the students. Philip Doran, Stephen Duke and Daniel O’Loughin from Gorey, Co. Wexford created an efficient wind turbine “Double wind turbine”, a design which is now patented. Similarly, Alan Rochford and Mark Kennedy from Skerries patented their tidal stream turbine design.
In the Social and Behavioural Sciences section Luke Stuart-Mills and Seoirse Murray from Maynooth Post Primary School, Co. Kildare looked into “Climate change – the human experience. Luke’s uncle and father are avid amateur weather forecasters and his uncle has collected over 40 years of weather observations.
Luke Stuart-Mills and Seoirse Murray from Maynooth Post Primary School, Co. Kildare
The BT Young Scientist Exhibition was also open to primary school students. Fifth class girls from St Pius V National School in Terenure set up a weather station, kept weather diaries and even wrote and performed a play about the weather. So there are lots of budding meteorologists out there!
Fifth class girls, St Pius V National School, Terenure