Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge
Encyclopedia
The Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge (DCYSC) is an annual science and engineering research and exhibit competition for students in grade 5 through 8 and was created in 1999. It is sponsored primarily by Discovery Communications
, Society for Science and the Public, and Elmer's Glue. Competitors must qualify for DCYSC by entering in an International Science and Engineering (ISEF) affiliated science fair
.
After being nominated for DCYSC, students must complete an application which includes writing several essays. The essays are then evaluated for communication abilities by DCYSC judges who select 400 semi-finalists in July. The judging panel also selects the 40 finalists who receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
to compete in the October finals.
The finals are composed of two parts. The first is a research presentation, accounting for 20% of the total score, held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
, the National Academy of Sciences, or another building that varies from year to year. Projects are judged not on scientific merit but with more on the student's ability to communicate his/her project effectively. The second part is a series of six science-related challenges that take place at the National Institutes of Health
, the University of Maryland
, or another location in Maryland that varies every year. Each challenge is concluded with some type of presentation (e.g., a radio show, a TV show, or a news conference) and is worth 10% of the students' total score. Students also present a simple science experiment, known as a Whelmer, in front of cameras for 15% of their score. The remaining 5% comes from teamwork, as the finalists are split into eight colored teams of five each for the science challenges.
The grand prize is a $20,000 scholarship, followed by $10,000 for second place and $5,000 for third. 4th-40th receive $500 each. There are also numerous "discretionary" awards, presented by the Discovery Channel
and its subsidiaries (such as TLC
and the Animal Planet
).
The contest was Changed for the 2008 Season. Students must now submit a 1-2 minute video clip to be as the entry form. These video clips must show science communication skills, and demonstrate the selected subject matter in an accurate and creative manner. The students may choose from one of the following six topics:
(i). Demonstrate and explain the Doppler Effect.
(ii). Demonstrate the nature of a parabola, paraboloid, or parabolic mirror.
(iii). Demonstrate and explain why the Earth's sky appears blue.
(iv). Explain or demonstrate the nature of a space craft's orbital path.
(v). Demonstrate a novel approach for explaining how the field around a conductor carrying an electric current, and the field around a magnet, can exert a force on each other.
(vi). Explain and demonstrate either the Bernoulli Principle, or the Venturi Effect.
From these videos, 51 are chosen that score highest. There is one video selected from every state, and one from the District of Columbia. These are the Semi-Finalist, and they win a Certificate of recognition, $250, a T-shirt, a Plaque for student’s middle school, and a Plaque for student’s teacher. The videos are scored on the following rubric:
(i) Creativity (20%);
(ii) Content’s relation to stated criteria (30%);
(iii) Persuasiveness (10%);
(iv) Classroom suitability (10%); and
(v) Overall presentation (30%).
The ten Semi-Finalist videos with the highest overall score are selected as Finalists. They win an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, for the finalist and ONE parent/guardian, Special Young Scientist Challenge apparel, the Opportunity to appear on television, and The Young Scientist Challenge medal. They will appear on TV and complete a set of group and individual challenges.
The First place winner receives a $50,000 dollar government bond, and places 2-10 receive $1000.
in the finals. His project was entitled "Arsenic in the Schools and the Students."
Nolan became concerned about environmental arsenic
contamination after newspaper articles highlighted high arsenic
concentrations in his community's soil. He wondered whether arsenic
concentrations in people living nearby might reflect the arsenic
concentrations in soil. Nolan took soil
samples from several local schools and hair samples from the schools' students, then analyzed them for arsenic concentrations. Although the soil arsenic
concentrations were frequently significantly higher than recommended levels, arsenic concentrations in the students' hair were within a safe range.
in the finals. His project was entitled "Disumbocoblated".
Jacob and his partner Scott were inspired to study people's understanding of word permutations based on a chain e-mail suggesting that readers can easily decipher scrambled text. They decided to examine how demographic factors, such as a subject's education, family history, and school attendance affect the ability to read and comprehend passages of scrambled words. Jacob and Scott composed six paragraphs and wrote a computer program
to scramble the letters in the paragraphs' words. They had students at their school, the Robert Frost Middle School
in Rockville, Maryland
, read the permuted paragraphs and answer five comprehension questions. Jacob and Scott found that intensive scrambling slowed the volunteers' reading and lowered their comprehension. However, subjects who attended preschool or whose parents attended college performed best. Subjects with frequent school absences performed worst.
in the finals. Her project was entitled "When the Dust Settles, Year 2: A Multivariate Study of the Patterns of Near and Far Dispersal of Windblown Particulate Matter"
Last year, Amy and Jayne found that airborne dust increases the melt
rate of snow. This year, they decided to assess how dust from dirt roads common in their community might reach the snow pack in nearby mountains as well as how dust affects the melt rate of snow on which it settles. Amy and Jayne measured how much dust scatters from dirt roads by designing and installing sampling
devices and placing them at intervals successively further from a dirt road. They also collected snow at increasing distances from their sampling sites and tested it for reflectivity, melt rate, and amounts of particulate matter. They found that dust scatters in predictable patterns from heavily used dirt roads. Snow contaminated with dust melts significantly faster than snow without dust.
Inspired by a biology textbook
's idea of a potato cloning
experiment, Neela set out to explore plant cloning. She wanted to determine how different nutrient concentrations affected the multiple stages of growth in a potato
. Neela removed 60 shoot tips growing from potatoes. After sterilizing the tips, she excised the bottom two segments, the meristem
and primordial. She placed each in a test tube of half-strength or full-strength nutrient
solution and incubated them. During her first trial, all the samples became contaminated. Neela persevered and redid the entire experiment
, finding that the potato clones did indeed grow better in the full-strength solution. She currently attends Keystone School.
at the finals. His project was called "Solar Production of Hydrogen from Seawater via Electrolysis."
Nilesh had heard about hydrogen
-powered car
s but understood that producing hydrogen
requires fossil fuels. He sought to find a more environment
ally friendly approach through solar hydrogen production. Nilesh built a solar-powered device that ran an electric current through a beaker full of saltwater. The result was electrolysis
, by which water is split into hydrogen and oxygen. By clever manipulation of various gas
laws, Nilesh measured the temperature
, pressure
, and volume
of the hydrogen
gas produced. He found that seawater produced almost as much hydrogen
as solution
s containing sulfuric acid
or sodium hydroxide.
in the finals. Her project was entitled "Paddle Perfection? Seeking New Designs with Flume Testing."
While kayaking, Mary Lou was mesmerized by the swirling patterns her paddle
made. She wondered whether the swirls represented lost energy
, and, if so, whether paddle
s could be made to be more efficient. Mary Lou built a flume made of PVC
tubing, a whirlpool
pump, and a butterfly valve to control the flow. She made model paddles from plastic
spoons that she softened and reshaped, and then built a device to measure horizontal and vertical forces on each paddle. After testing four blade shapes and three shaft angle
s – taking more than 300 measurement
s – she concluded that a spoon-shaped blade with a bent shaft delivered the most force. She has filed a provisional patent
application for the design.
Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications, Inc. is an American global media and entertainment company. The company started as a single channel in 1985, The Discovery Channel. Today, DCI has global operations offering 28 network entertainment brands on more than 100 channels in more than 180 countries in 39...
, Society for Science and the Public, and Elmer's Glue. Competitors must qualify for DCYSC by entering in an International Science and Engineering (ISEF) affiliated science fair
Science fair
A science fair is generally a competition where contestants present their science project results in the form of a report, display board, and models that they have created. Science fairs allow students in grade schools and high schools to compete in science and/or technology activities...
.
After being nominated for DCYSC, students must complete an application which includes writing several essays. The essays are then evaluated for communication abilities by DCYSC judges who select 400 semi-finalists in July. The judging panel also selects the 40 finalists who receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to compete in the October finals.
The finals are composed of two parts. The first is a research presentation, accounting for 20% of the total score, held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. Admission is free and the museum is open 364 days a year....
, the National Academy of Sciences, or another building that varies from year to year. Projects are judged not on scientific merit but with more on the student's ability to communicate his/her project effectively. The second part is a series of six science-related challenges that take place at the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
, the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, or another location in Maryland that varies every year. Each challenge is concluded with some type of presentation (e.g., a radio show, a TV show, or a news conference) and is worth 10% of the students' total score. Students also present a simple science experiment, known as a Whelmer, in front of cameras for 15% of their score. The remaining 5% comes from teamwork, as the finalists are split into eight colored teams of five each for the science challenges.
The grand prize is a $20,000 scholarship, followed by $10,000 for second place and $5,000 for third. 4th-40th receive $500 each. There are also numerous "discretionary" awards, presented by the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
and its subsidiaries (such as TLC
TLC (TV channel)
TLC is an American cable TV specialty channel which initially focused on educational content. Since 1991 TLC has been owned by Discovery Communications, the same company that operates the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and The Science Channel, as well as other learning-themed networks...
and the Animal Planet
Animal Planet
Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
).
The contest was Changed for the 2008 Season. Students must now submit a 1-2 minute video clip to be as the entry form. These video clips must show science communication skills, and demonstrate the selected subject matter in an accurate and creative manner. The students may choose from one of the following six topics:
(i). Demonstrate and explain the Doppler Effect.
(ii). Demonstrate the nature of a parabola, paraboloid, or parabolic mirror.
(iii). Demonstrate and explain why the Earth's sky appears blue.
(iv). Explain or demonstrate the nature of a space craft's orbital path.
(v). Demonstrate a novel approach for explaining how the field around a conductor carrying an electric current, and the field around a magnet, can exert a force on each other.
(vi). Explain and demonstrate either the Bernoulli Principle, or the Venturi Effect.
From these videos, 51 are chosen that score highest. There is one video selected from every state, and one from the District of Columbia. These are the Semi-Finalist, and they win a Certificate of recognition, $250, a T-shirt, a Plaque for student’s middle school, and a Plaque for student’s teacher. The videos are scored on the following rubric:
(i) Creativity (20%);
(ii) Content’s relation to stated criteria (30%);
(iii) Persuasiveness (10%);
(iv) Classroom suitability (10%); and
(v) Overall presentation (30%).
The ten Semi-Finalist videos with the highest overall score are selected as Finalists. They win an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, for the finalist and ONE parent/guardian, Special Young Scientist Challenge apparel, the Opportunity to appear on television, and The Young Scientist Challenge medal. They will appear on TV and complete a set of group and individual challenges.
The First place winner receives a $50,000 dollar government bond, and places 2-10 receive $1000.
Nolan Kamitaki
Nolan Kamitaki won first place and a $20,000 scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
in the finals. His project was entitled "Arsenic in the Schools and the Students."
Nolan became concerned about environmental arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
contamination after newspaper articles highlighted high arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
concentrations in his community's soil. He wondered whether arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
concentrations in people living nearby might reflect the arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
concentrations in soil. Nolan took soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
samples from several local schools and hair samples from the schools' students, then analyzed them for arsenic concentrations. Although the soil arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
concentrations were frequently significantly higher than recommended levels, arsenic concentrations in the students' hair were within a safe range.
Jacob Hurwitz
Jacob Hurwitz won second place and a $10,000 scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
in the finals. His project was entitled "Disumbocoblated".
Jacob and his partner Scott were inspired to study people's understanding of word permutations based on a chain e-mail suggesting that readers can easily decipher scrambled text. They decided to examine how demographic factors, such as a subject's education, family history, and school attendance affect the ability to read and comprehend passages of scrambled words. Jacob and Scott composed six paragraphs and wrote a computer program
Computer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
to scramble the letters in the paragraphs' words. They had students at their school, the Robert Frost Middle School
Robert Frost Middle School
Robert Frost Middle School may refer to one of the following schools in the United States:*Robert Frost Middle School - Rockville, Maryland*Robert Frost Middle School - Fairfax County, Virginia...
in Rockville, Maryland
Rockville, Maryland
Rockville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a major incorporated city in the central part of Montgomery County and forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The 2010 U.S...
, read the permuted paragraphs and answer five comprehension questions. Jacob and Scott found that intensive scrambling slowed the volunteers' reading and lowered their comprehension. However, subjects who attended preschool or whose parents attended college performed best. Subjects with frequent school absences performed worst.
Amy David
Amy David won third place and a $5,000 scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
in the finals. Her project was entitled "When the Dust Settles, Year 2: A Multivariate Study of the Patterns of Near and Far Dispersal of Windblown Particulate Matter"
Last year, Amy and Jayne found that airborne dust increases the melt
Melt
Melt can refer to:* Melting, in physics, the process of heating a solid substance to a liquid*Melt , the semi-liquid material used in steelmaking and glassblowing*Melt inclusions, a feature of igneous rock...
rate of snow. This year, they decided to assess how dust from dirt roads common in their community might reach the snow pack in nearby mountains as well as how dust affects the melt rate of snow on which it settles. Amy and Jayne measured how much dust scatters from dirt roads by designing and installing sampling
Sample (material)
In general, a sample is a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount of that thing. The things could be countable objects such as individual items available as units for sale, or a material not countable as individual items. Samples of countable...
devices and placing them at intervals successively further from a dirt road. They also collected snow at increasing distances from their sampling sites and tested it for reflectivity, melt rate, and amounts of particulate matter. They found that dust scatters in predictable patterns from heavily used dirt roads. Snow contaminated with dust melts significantly faster than snow without dust.
Neela Thangada
Neela Thangada won first place and a $20,000 scholarship in the finals. Neela's science fair project was entitled "Effects of Various Nutrient Concentrations on the Cloning of the Eye of Solanum tuberosum at Multiple Stages".Inspired by a biology textbook
Textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
's idea of a potato cloning
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
experiment, Neela set out to explore plant cloning. She wanted to determine how different nutrient concentrations affected the multiple stages of growth in a potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
. Neela removed 60 shoot tips growing from potatoes. After sterilizing the tips, she excised the bottom two segments, the meristem
Meristem
A meristem is the tissue in most plants consisting of undifferentiated cells , found in zones of the plant where growth can take place....
and primordial. She placed each in a test tube of half-strength or full-strength nutrient
Nutrient
A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment. They are used to build and repair tissues, regulate body processes and are converted to and used as energy...
solution and incubated them. During her first trial, all the samples became contaminated. Neela persevered and redid the entire experiment
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
, finding that the potato clones did indeed grow better in the full-strength solution. She currently attends Keystone School.
Nilesh Tripuraneni
Nilesh Tripuraneni won second place and a $10,000 scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
at the finals. His project was called "Solar Production of Hydrogen from Seawater via Electrolysis."
Nilesh had heard about hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
-powered car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
s but understood that producing hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
requires fossil fuels. He sought to find a more environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
ally friendly approach through solar hydrogen production. Nilesh built a solar-powered device that ran an electric current through a beaker full of saltwater. The result was electrolysis
Electrolysis
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...
, by which water is split into hydrogen and oxygen. By clever manipulation of various gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
laws, Nilesh measured the temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
, pressure
Pressure
Pressure is the force per unit area applied in a direction perpendicular to the surface of an object. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure.- Definition :...
, and volume
Volume
Volume is the quantity of three-dimensional space enclosed by some closed boundary, for example, the space that a substance or shape occupies or contains....
of the hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
gas produced. He found that seawater produced almost as much hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
as solution
Solution
In chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of only one phase. In such a mixture, a solute is dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. The solvent does the dissolving.- Types of solutions :...
s containing sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...
or sodium hydroxide.
Mary Lou Hedberg
Mary Lou Hedberg won third place and a $5,000 scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
in the finals. Her project was entitled "Paddle Perfection? Seeking New Designs with Flume Testing."
While kayaking, Mary Lou was mesmerized by the swirling patterns her paddle
Paddle
A paddle is a tool used for pushing against liquids, either as a form of propulsion in a boat or as an implement for mixing.-Materials and designs:...
made. She wondered whether the swirls represented lost energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
, and, if so, whether paddle
Paddle
A paddle is a tool used for pushing against liquids, either as a form of propulsion in a boat or as an implement for mixing.-Materials and designs:...
s could be made to be more efficient. Mary Lou built a flume made of PVC
PVC
Polyvinyl chloride is a plastic.PVC may also refer to:*Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military honor*Peripheral venous catheter, a small, flexible tube placed into a peripheral vein in order to administer medication or fluids...
tubing, a whirlpool
Whirlpool
A whirlpool is a swirling body of water usually produced by ocean tides. The vast majority of whirlpools are not very powerful. More powerful ones are more properly termed maelstroms. Vortex is the proper term for any whirlpool that has a downdraft...
pump, and a butterfly valve to control the flow. She made model paddles from plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
spoons that she softened and reshaped, and then built a device to measure horizontal and vertical forces on each paddle. After testing four blade shapes and three shaft angle
Angle
In geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays sharing a common endpoint, called the vertex of the angle.Angles are usually presumed to be in a Euclidean plane with the circle taken for standard with regard to direction. In fact, an angle is frequently viewed as a measure of an circular arc...
s – taking more than 300 measurement
Measurement
Measurement is the process or the result of determining the ratio of a physical quantity, such as a length, time, temperature etc., to a unit of measurement, such as the metre, second or degree Celsius...
s – she concluded that a spoon-shaped blade with a bent shaft delivered the most force. She has filed a provisional patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
application for the design.
Science challenge themes
Since 2003 the themes for DCYSC have followed scientific curiosities and built activities around them.- In 2003, the activities were based on the 100th anniversary of the first flight of the Wright BrothersWright brothersThe Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
, December 17, 1903, and included a reproduction of the Wright Brother’s 1901 wind tunnel and lift balance which allowed contestants to test various wing designs for lift, and rocket propelled go carts which were powered by compressed carbon dioxide gas. - In 2004, the activities were based on the 100th anniversary of Einstein's Theory of RelativityTheory of relativityThe theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....
. - In 2005, inspired by the events of Hurricane KatrinaHurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and the Indonesian tsunami, the activities were about understanding natural disasters and included a 20’ tall vortex (tornado) generator, a 40’ tsunami wave tank simulator, and procedures to safely dispose of biological waste after a natural disaster. - In 2006, the activities were based on the theme "Disease Detectives" due to the H5N1 avian influenza scare. Contestants participated in virtual colonoscopy screening, mold identification and remediation, and avian flu containment using herd immunityHerd immunityHerd immunity describes a form of immunity that occurs when the vaccination of a significant portion of a population provides a measure of protection for individuals who have not developed immunity...
models.