Local Duo Make Science Finals
By Kenneth Brown
COLLEGE PARK, MD., Oct. 28 – Chana Rich, 14 of Fairfield, recalls her parents reaction last fall when she told them she was studying phytoremediation. “What’s that,” they said.
The confused reaction was similar for the parents of Rich’s science project partner Daniella Sinay. But according to Sinay, 14 of Trumball, after an explanation of the phytoremediation process, which uses the natural properties of plants to extract contaminants from the environment, “even my dad who is not the best in science really understood it and he was like ‘that’s really, really cool.’”
Their project, dubbed “Fight Back with Phytoremediation,” would eventually earn them a spot as two of the 40 finalists at the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, held at the University of Maryland this week.
The two girls, who attended Hillel Academy in Fairfield last year and have since graduated to different high schools, said they learned about phytoremediation after reading in a chemistry magazine called Chem Matters , about another student who did an experiment with phytoremediation. “We basically expanded on that,” said Rich.
According to Rich, who is spunky yet composed when talking science, they decided to apply their idea to cleaning up the local wetlands along the Mill River, a problem they had noticed from frequently passing by in the car.
The wetlands are contaminated by runoff from surrounding abandoned ammunition and battery factories, said Rich. “We were thinking, what can we do to get rid of all this disgusting land, because no one wants to pay to pick up and move all the soil.”
Rich said using phytoremediation would be “a natural, cost efficient way to clean up contaminated soil.”
To begin they went to the wetlands, took soil samples, placed them in small pots and then tested the soil for contaminants. Next soy, wheat, rye, and oat plants were planted in the pots. Then the waiting began. After four weeks the soil was tested to see how effective the plants were in absorbing the contaminants.
The first round of experiments worked, according to Rich, but the plants were slow to react, so they decided to try it again. “We wanted to see if there was something we could do to increase the speed and get the plants to take up more metal,” said Rich.
To meet their need for speed, the two decided to add Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid, which comes in a powder form and was mixed into the soil. “It’s kind of like a catalyst; like a steroid it helps the plant take up more metal,” said Rich.
The powdered acid was effective, but it did have a side effect: it slowed plant growth.
The final results, Rich said, showed that “soy was the best.” The soy plant was so effective in most cases it extracted almost 100 percent of the metal out of the soil, she said.
“There were a lot variables, a lot of pots,” said Rich laughing. Approximately 40 pots were necessary to generate information consistent enough to arrive at a conclusion.
The duo received advice from Karen Howell, 58, science teacher at Hillel Academy. Howell, who has taught since 1986 at Hillel Academy, said she served mostly as “a mentor” and provided supervision on Sundays for several months last fall and winter, when the girls came to work on the project.
“They’re both very bright girls,” said Howell.
“She’s the best,” said Rich of Howell, who uses an effective hands-on approach to science. In addition, Howell always participates in class activities, which energizes the students to learn, said Sinay
“For whatever you are doing, you must have a passion for it yourself,” said Howell. “I have a passion for science.”
She said she hopes her passion and methods for illustrating how science can be applied to everyday life, sparks the curiosity of her students.
Apparently Howell has turned on a few minds, because her students have consistently placed and won the Connecticut State Science Fair. Her students also have been to the semifinals of the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, but never to the finals until this year.
Although Rich and Sinay didn’t win the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, just becoming a finalist is quite an achievement, because Howell said the competition is highly regarded for middle school science competitions.
According to the Discovery Channel, the 40 finalists were chosen from 400 semi-finalists who were chosen from a pool of 1,795 formal entries, initially taken from a pool of 7,500 students who entered science fairs around the nation.
Getting into the finals gave students entrance into a exhilarating world of science this week at the University of Maryland basketball arena, which was filled with bright green lasers, animal skeletons and people whizzing around on Segway scooters. The 40 finalists competed in teams in such events as “skateboard physics,” where students predicted g-forces on a speeding skater in a half-pipe using a high-speed digital camera. And there was a “laser obstacle course,” where students guided a bright green laser through several obstacles using a series of mirrors.
For the competition, Rich and Sinay were on different teams because splitting the two friends up would allow them to meet new people, said Discovery Channel spokeswoman Katie Stack.
As for their joint “Fight Back with Phytoremediation” project that got them into the finals, Rich said to apply the project to the wetlands would require removing the contaminated plants after they extract contaminants, which would be another project in itself
Sinay said they want to pitch their idea to the military. After the military has used a piece of land for artillery practice-firing guns and dropping bombs on it-the land becomes contaminated, mostly with lead, according to Sinay.
“If they use this process to clean up those contaminated sites, it’s going to save them a lot of money, and it’s also going to be very natural, so someone can use that land afterwards,” Sinay said.
Rich said no one has taken interest in their phytoremediation idea yet, but “we might want to write them a letter, a little proposal.”
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