Hazelwood College Dromcollogher Young Scientist 2008
A buzz is always around Hazelwood College the week after the Christmas holidays and this year is no different! Ten students are travelling to the RDS on January 8th to compete in the Young Scientist Competition. Four projects qualified for this years competition, the highest number for any school in Limerick. The projects which qualified are;
– An investigation into the bacterial diversity on frequently used objects in our school. This project was completed by Celia Cremin, Máire Flanagan and Liz Cremin. The girls analysed 7 “hot spots†to see what type of micro organisms lived there. They also used various substances to try and see what substance would best sterilise the areas. Various individual’s hands were also analysed. This project aroused huge interest and controversy in the school!
|
|
– An explorartory investigation into the effects that various probiotic supplements have on cholesterol levels. Michael Byrnes and Sean C Donegan were the brains behind the operation! They tracked the diets of five individuals for a period of seven month to observe if products that claim they can reduce cholesterol levels really worked. They also attempted to find out what knowledge people had on cholesterol and broaden their understanding in the area of cholesterol.
– An investigation into the effects of various fertilisers on a cow’s milk yield.
Stephen Kiely and Helena O Shea worked on this project. They sectioned a field into four, placed slurry, Grassland Nitrogen 27% and Topper Urea Nitrogen 46% into three of the sections. They allowed the grass to mature for one week they then placed a cow in each section for one week and recorded her milk yield ever day.
An investigation into the various angles used in order to obtain the perfect score. A trio of Tadhg O Flynn, Seamus Sheehan and Michael Brosnan calculated what the various angles were to score the perfect basket. Hours were spent analysing videos made and much mathematical calculations were used.
