Young scientists from Pretoria with leading innovations
Three pupils from local schools proved to be in the top competition with their innovative scientific concepts and international Olympiads.
Three grade 9 pupils from Star College Pretoria, situated in the east of Pretoria, were awarded for their innovative and thoroughly researched science projects.
These pupils participated in the International Young Inventors Project Olympiad (Iyipo) where they all won medals, and in the International Environmental Project Olympiad (Inepo). They were accompanied by their science teacher Suleyman Ayar.
Byron Govender studied the efficiency of solar panels, usage of radiant energy for elimination of CO² emission and reducing electricity usage for the country. He tried to find a way to protect the environment and also the benefits of using renewable energy sources instead of non-renewable energy sources.
Roque du Plessis and Allister Slingers studied a new technology of hydrogen powered cars and they used radiant energy to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water. In this process, they have only used renewable energy which are stored in the form of hydrogen. Hydrogen is known to be three times as powerful as petrol and they believe that hydrogen will be efficiently used in most of the cars as some car manufacturers have already started to announce concept cars which have hydrogen powered engines. Combusting hydrogen is eco-friendly due to the fact that at the end of the reaction no CO² emitted to the atmosphere.
Govender won a silver medal, as Du Plessis and Slingers both won bronze medals from the IYIPO in Georgia.
The Iyipo has been hosting the Olympiad for eight years and this year 126 finalist projects from 37 different countries were evaluated in Georgia. Inepo is the biggest project competition in Istanbul, Turkey and 104 international finalist projects from 45 different countries were there. It was the 22nd annual event of this competition.
