Auckland students are this week putting the finishing touches to their projects as the NIWA Auckland City Science and Technology Fair kicks off.
More than 250 students from 23 schools around Auckland have entered the annual fair which offers the premier award winner $600 and the runner-up $350. There is $8000 in total prize money up for grabs across a wide range of categories.
The diverse range of innovative projects entered this year include:
- Floating Foundations – an innovative way to stabilise buildings in an earthquake zones
- Triathlete’s Dilemma - wetsuit or togs? Is it worth wearing a wetsuit during a triathlon?
- Wine Evaporation – developing a new culinary product by concentrating wine
- Master Pasta - comparing the starch content of different types of pasta and relating this to cooking times
- What Temperature Creams Butter Best – useful for cooking
- The Physics of Music - analysing the timbre of sounds produced by flutes compared to guitars
- How Far can you Roll? Do different bike wheels affect how far you can free-wheel?
- Deadly Dilutions – the ability of Dettol to kill bacteria at different dilutions
- Full of Hot Air - comparing the performance of nitrogen filled tyres with air filled tyres
- Go away Bacteria - testing how effective different types of honey are at killing bacteria in yoghurt
- Do You Know Your Streams? Analysing the water quality of streams around Auckland.
A team of judges, including scientists, educators and industry representatives, will select the winners, including prizes for excellence in biology, best use of statistical data, best entomology and the opportunity to be a scientist for a day.
The fair, being held at the Fickling Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, is open to the public on Friday, 29 August from 5pm-8pm and on Saturday, 30 August, from 10am-5pm. Prize giving will be held on Monday.
NIWA also sponsors the Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Wellington science and technology fairs.
For more information see: www.scifair.org.nz.
