Abstracts from Winning Projects
The following abstracts are from projects that won best of fair awards at GNSEF in 2009.
A Prototype Sewage Treatment Plant
Year in school: 11, Age 17
Category: Environmental Sciences
To design, build, and test a prototype sewage treatment plant that will decrease the turbidity of the water by removing biosolids and then through aeration remove oxygen scavengers therefore increasing the dissolved oxygen (DO) and decreasing the biological oxygen demand (BOD). It is believed that a prototype sewage treatment plant can be built that will filter water while, at the same time, decrease the turbidity in the water and increase the dissolved oxygen. To produce a simulation of sewage water, a 20 gallon fish tank was filled with hard water, six fish, and a regular carbon waterfall filtration system so that regular samples of the fish tank water could be analyzed daily. A prototype water wheel with fibers (Velcro) was built so that it would pick up biosolids and dispose them in a collection tank. A tank with a hose on the bottom was also constructed to aerate the water and also breakdown other biological materials. Water that is passed through any of the prototype sewage treatment designs will be tested for nitrate, turbidity, DO, ammonia, pH, and BOD. Tests show that simple aeration was very efficient at increasing the dissolved oxygen and the paddle with fibers on it was efficient at collecting biological solids. Even though the DO was increased and the amount of turbidity was decreased, the bacteria were still present and the water was not potable.
The Micropropagation of Celastrus Through Tissue Culture
Year in school: 12, Age 18
Category: Plant Sciences
The floral industry is a billion dollar per year industry. Lately, specialty forest crops, or woody florals, such a Celastrus, commonly known as bitter sweet, has become very popular because of the berries that the Celastrus plant produces. Celatrus is a monacious plant, meaning that it has both a male and a female plant. Since only the female berries produce berries, I wanted to find a way to multiply only the female plants, which could be economically valuable to the woody floral industry. It will ensure that the plants cultured would produce berries and increase profits. I wanted to determine if it was possible and what ways would be the best to force the plants out of dormancy. After they are forced, I determined if I could tissue culture the new growth on the stems and what media type would work the best. My hypothesis was that it was possible to force Celastrus and that the solution with the highest amount of 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate (C9H7NOC6H8O7) will prove the best. I also hypothesized that it would be possible to tissue culture the new growth. My procedure consists of forcing 120 stems in select solutions. These solutions were each 150 mL. They included 200 ppm C9H7NOC6H8O7 and 2% sucrose, 150 ppm C9H7NOC6H8O7 and 2% sucrose, 100 ppm C9H7NOC6H8O7 and 2% sucrose, 50 ppm C9H7NOC6H8O7 and 2% sucrose, Gatorade©, distilled water and 2% sucrose, and distilled water. The solutions were changed every four days and changes were noted. There were two different specimen groups taken, one earlier in the dormancy period and one after a longer dormancy. Samples were taken in the dormant stage because the berry shells were still on the plants, which were needed to identify the females from the males. I then forced the plants out of their dormancy and grew them until there was enough suitable material. I then took the new plant material to the University of Nebraska- Lincoln laboratory and used their facilities in order to tissue culture. There is no pre-developed growing media that Celastrus would grow in, so with the guidance of Dr. Paul Read and Virginia Miller, lab technician, I developed a few formulas to test. I found that I could force the stems and that the control, distilled water, worked the best. I also found that it was possible to tissue culture the new growth and found three of the medias that I developed would work. Therefore, my hypothesis was proven partially correct and partially incorrect, due to the fact that the distilled water worked the best, when I hypothesized that the 200 ppm C9H7NOC6H8O7 and 2% sucrose, would.
Multiple Impact Absorption and Energy Distribution of Composite Materials
Year in school: 10, Age 16
Category: Electrical and Mechanical Engineering
Objectives/Goals
Modern combat calls for armor made for a fast, light, adaptable fighting force. This same armor must
be able to replace trauma plates in bullet proof vests. This project is a study of how composite
materials react to being struck repeatedly with a high speed projectile. It will measure the force of
each impact and calculate the ratio of weight to force impact. The major goal of this project is to find a
composite material that has low weight to deflection ratio and one that holds up well to repeated hits.
Methods/Materials
I built an air canon that will fire a wax projectile at a composite material layered between two sheets
of metal. A force meter will measure the repeated strikes from the canon. I will also measure the
deflection of the metal over the composite material and the ratio of weight to force impact.
Results
My hypothesis was supported by the data collected. The metal had a minimal effect on the composite
and did a great job of holding the composite together. As I predicted, the medium weight composite
had the best weight to deflection ratio and weight to repeated impact.
Conclusion/Discussion
Advances in warfare must be met with advances in technology. We must focus on the survivability of
combat vehicles and armored vests. Composite materials are what steel was to wood on old
battleships. Composite materials are 40 percent lighter than steel and . The only disadvantage is that
they are more expensive to produce.
