Successful Participation in
BT Young Scientist Competition 2011

This year all of our young scientists were 2nd year students. The frist group was Christopher O'Hagen, ConorO'Kane and Donall O'Leary. Their project was called "Can SODIS work in Ireland?"
SODIS is solar disifection of water. It is a process carried out in third world countries to make contaminated water safe to drink. It involves water being placed in PET bottles and exposed to UV light for a number of hours. The water is then safe to drink and therfore prevents many deaths due to diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera.The students in this project wished to see if SODIS would work in Ireland in the winter time due to the occurrence of many flooding disasters in previous years which meant water was unsafe to drink.
They also developed a method of carrying out SODIS using magnifying paper over the bottle which they found made the process of SODIS faster. Students received help from Dr. Kevin McGuigan and Dr Mike Fisher in the RCSI andare now going to carry out further research on the project in DCU and Trinity.
The students have so far received a Highly Commended award for their work.

The second group of students was made up of Jude Vaughan, Patrick Geoghegan and Niall McEnteggart. The title of their profect was The effects of hydrogen Peroxide on Root Cuttings and Seed Germination.
Hydgrogen Peroxide has been deemed safe for use as a pesticide as it simply breaks down into water and oxygen. The students decided to see if different concentrations of this had any effect on the growth of diferent types of root cuttings and also on the germination of seeds of different plants.

The third group of students was made up of Fiach murphy, Alex Cahill and Michael Lavery. Their project was titled "Fun or Frustrating". The aim of this project was to investigate if winning games meant that you enjoyed them more, if there was any difference in enjoyment between males and females and also were results different between computer games and sporting activities.

All students spent the week of the Exhibition in Dublin and all agree that the experience will be fondly remembered.