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JackTheTripper
09-17-2003, 05:13 PM
High school student builds nuclear fusion reactor and only wins second place. (http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,510054502,00.html)

(I'd like to see what won first place. 8O)

JackTheTripper
09-17-2003, 05:29 PM
OK, when last we left you the question was "What won first place?" It turns out it was a study on eating blue berry pie and whether it is bad for you or not.

Unbelievable. 8O

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First Award of $3,000
PH029 Is Eating Blueberry Pie Bad for You?
Jennifer Anne D'Ascoli, 17, Academy of the Holy Names, Albany, New York


PH053 Chaotic Fluids: An Examination of Phase Transitions in Taylor-Couette Flow
Mairead Mary McCloskey, 17, Loreto College, Coleraine, Co Derry, Northern Ireland



Second Award of $1,500
PH005 The Effect of Salinity on the Production and Duration of Antibubbles
Michael J. Pizer, 14, University School of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin


PH040 Magnetoplasmadynamics: Ionization and Magnetic Field
Ray Chengchuan He, 19, Hempfield High School, Landisville, Pennsylvania


PH046 Nuclear Fusion Reactor Apparatus
Craig J. Wallace, 18, Spanish Fork High School, Spanish Fork, Utah


PH054 Electron-Phonon Interactions in Carbon Nanotubes
Edward Joesph Su, 18, William G. Enloe High School, Raleigh, North Carolina



Third Award of $1,000
PH024 A Siphoned Flowing Soap Film as a Model for Density-stratified Fluid Systems
Jonathan Jacques Kamler, 17, Townsend Harris High School, Flushing, New York


PH026 Superconductivity in High Pressure Phases of Lithium
Wei Gan, 18, Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School, Rockville, Maryland


PH028 The "Blackberry" Cluster: Thermodynamic Equilibrium and Potential Medical Applications of Giant Nanoscale Inorganic Molecules in Solution
Brandon Stuart Imber, 17, Commack High School, Commack, New York


PH034 An Investigation of the Properties of the Plasma Plume Created by Laser Ablation
Kevin E. Claytor, 16, Los Alamos High School, Los Alamos, New Mexico


PH052 Is the Wind Predictable?
Nolan Herman Reis, 16, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, California

Dave Beauvais
09-17-2003, 05:59 PM
OK, when last we left you the question was "What won first place?" It turns out it was a study on eating blue berry pie and whether it is bad for you or not.

Unbelievable. 8O
:frusty: :idontthinkso: I think those two emoticons express my feelings pretty accurately. He build a damn nuclear reactor! How does a freakin' blueberry pie beat that? :) Makes my old middle school science fair projects seem pretty insignificant. One year I showed how to make your own recycled paper out of newspaper, and the following year did a study on the effects of salt water, acid rain, and other pollutants on aluminum siding. :)

--Dave

Kati Compton
09-17-2003, 06:59 PM
Did you read the linked article? Now I know what to do with all those CDs AOL keeps mailing me...

upplepop
09-17-2003, 07:38 PM
Well, actually what this guy built was an Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (http://torsatron.tripod.com/fusor/) fusion reactor. These have been around for a while and they have yet to produce more energy than they take in. So while it's pretty impressive that a high-school kid could build one of these, it's nothing new.

JvanEkris
09-17-2003, 08:08 PM
Does anyone know when those things are going to hit the stores ??? I mean, if a schoolkid can build one, why not sell it ??????

Jaap

Janak Parekh
09-18-2003, 12:58 AM
Well, actually what this guy built was an Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (http://torsatron.tripod.com/fusor/) fusion reactor.
Right. Friends of mine were doing some atomic research, and the basic experiments are not on the order of building some commercial-grade power-generation solution... ;)

That said, quite impressive nevertheless. I did science research in high school, but I didn't have that level of dedication.

--janak

maximus
09-18-2003, 01:34 AM
When I read the thread, all I can think was ... OH MY GOD. These days, high school kids are doing research on nuclear reactors, nanotubes, superconductors, lasers, etc.

When these kids reach university, what are they going to reseach on ? warp fusion generators ? stargates ? interstellar travels ?

CESkins
09-18-2003, 02:12 AM
This gives new life to the label "amateur scientist". The best ideas come from minds free to dream and invent...not shuffle papers like most of us in the hard core sciences do. It's amazing what was done on a shoestring budget. :D