Lori Glenn
February 14, 2008 10:14 pm
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MOULTRIE — Continuing Colquitt County High School’s long-standing tradition of impressive showings at regional science fairs, four local students will advance to state competition, two to international competition and two to the national symposium.
Winning first place at the 36th Annual Darton College Regional Science and Engineering Fair recently are Arturo Arenas, Cole Perry, Lauren Cameron and Lena Griffin.
This year, Arenas, 17, a senior, took his project from last year to new heights by polishing his design of a hovercraft. This year, he replaced a water hose with rubber tubing for the perimeter of the disc-like craft to serve as a frame for the plastic interior. The rubber tubing was stronger than the plastic hose, he said. Also, he redesigned tubing on top of the craft to allow more air to pass from the top to the underside.
Arenas modified the hovercraft’s gyroscope, a bicycle wheel, by affixing it to a handheld drill. He was able to modify his craft to negotiate tighter turns.
He won grand prize in physical science and will advance to the International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta in May and the national symposium in Orlando later this month. His project also won the Woodrow Wilson Engineering Award at the regional fair.
Fifteen-year-old sophomore Perry’s analysis of cotton’s water consumption won him the grand prize in life science and a spot in the international competition.
Perry watered cotton in differing amounts and at different stages of development and found that watering later in the growing season would produce a higher yield, specifically three weeks after the first flower appears.
“Georgia had the biggest drought we’ve ever had, and this would save the farmers money and water,” Perry said.
Perry’s uncle is a farmer, and he was advised by Glen Ritchie of the University of Georgia Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. His project also won the attention of Regions Bank and an award from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Cameron, 16, a junior, manufactured biodiesel from soybean oil and ran it through a battery of tests up against petroleum diesel. He compared lubricity in endurance and strength, viscosity, cloud point, gel point and flash point in the fuels performances in a simple engine.
The biodiesel worked better in all aspects except for cloud and gel point and viscosity. More attention has to be paid to storage of biodiesel, especially in cold climates, he said.
“It takes a lot more heat for biodiesel to actually catch on fire, which is safer for storage,” he said.
But Cameron was most impressed by his biodiesel’s performance in lubricity to preserve the life and function of an engine.
“Biodiesel performed way better,” he said. “... Biofuel is such a good lubricant it’ll actually clean out your engine. That’s why you have to change your fuel filters.”
Cameron learned how to make biodiesel locally from online biofuel consultant Tommy Greene and Kathy Baker of T-Co Alternative Fuels.
He walked away from region not only with a first-place win but also with an award from the Darcey Family Foundation. Cameron also will go on to the national symposium in Orlando.
Sixteen-year-old Griffin, a sophomore, impressed the Intel Corporation with her comparison of music recordings.
“I’m a big fan of music like most teen-agers. I’m in the school band, and over the years I’ve collected a lot of music. I’ve been trying to rip it to my computer, and I wanted to figure out which audio codec (a sound file) would take up less room on my computer and also give me a good sound quality that I could also recognize,” she said.
In her study, Griffin had 92 students listen to Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” in an MP3 format, a wave format, such as in a compact disc, and downloads from iTunes in AAC (Advanced Audio Coding or M4A). The students attempted to identify each format after they were given a description of each format. Also, she had them choose the recording with the best quality.
Fifty-nine percent preferred the wave format. Although students generally could not distinguish the AAC format from the MP3 format, 47 percent were able to correctly identify the wave file, she said.
The wave formatted file is lossless, which means it will take up more memory on a computer.
“Anything that’s recorded there is always going to be there,” she said.
The MP3 file deletes sounds that are out of a human’s range of hearing. AAC format is comparable but is better for older music, such as Jimi Hendrix, Griffin said.
“You get your money’s worth when you pay for it,” she said of CDs. “AAC, which iTunes uses and Apple promotes and they say it’s the best thing out there, really you can’t identify that quality over anything else. And it’s not the best.”
Taking home third place at regional were sophomores Kristy Wright, 15, and Ariel Sasine, 16 and senior Michael Lawson, 17.
Wright, who marches flute for the 50th Regiment, designed a cover for her instrument to remedy a simple but bothersome problem on the field during rainy performances.
Woodwind players know not to allow their instrument to get wet. Key pads can easily ruin and replacement is costly, she said. First, Wright tested other means of protection, but her solution worked best she said. Her design to protect the flute from the elements was a fitted sleeve with a lining of thin cloth and an exterior of fabric similar to a plastic tablecloth.
In Sasine’s project, she compared the taste of tap water versus bottled water. She got the idea, she said, when a friend at lunch drank some water from Sasine’s bottle she just refilled from a tap. Her friend liked the taste, and it got Sasine to thinking if people could really differentiate from tap.
She got three classes to take a blind test tasting three ounces each of bottled distilled, bottled charcoal filtered, bottled spring, and tap water from Moultrie’s municipal supply.
“I pretty much figured out that they can tell that there is a difference, [but] they can’t tell what each one is,” she said.
When polled before the test, the subjects said they would prefer bottled spring water. The group’s blind taste test preference was a tie between bottled spring water and tap. The least favorite was the charcoal filtered.
Lawson received special notice from the SASCO Chemical Group for his experiments with ozone-altered fabrics. He built an ozone generator and then ran numerous natural and synthetic fabric samples through it. Although, he only had a slight visible change in the cotton sample, he found that exposure to ozone actually makes the fabrics stronger.
When he took the samples to Albany State University to examine under high-powered microscopes, he found that the fabrics had become more light reflective.
Lawson also has demonstrated recently his talent in computer technology. Look for him at state competition in multimedia. Also look for him to attend Albany State to major in computer forensics.
In addition, CCHS science teachers Tommy Hall and Natalie Griner received an all-expense paid trip to the International Science and Engineering Fair. The winner of that competition receives $10,000 and a trip to Europe.
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