Bright sparks on display at Science Fest

Uzma Bano, a Class 8 student from Lucknow, took no more than a month to design and build a solar-powered air conditioner to help relieve long power cuts her school would endure during summer months.

That was reward in itself for this daughter of a cold drink seller. But to be sharing her invention on Monday with 700 school students from various parts of the country at the India International Science Festival (IISF) at IIT-Delhi made for an exciting feeling.

"My design will help children in the school as well to save electricity. This is eco-friendly and will not cause global warming," Bano said.

Her AC consists primarily of a 25 litre ice-box, a portable table fan, and a solar panel. And it cost her about Rs 3,500!

Bano's is just one of the 800 projects made and displayed at IISF by pupils of classes 6 to 10 from across the country, offering energy solutions to a world that is desperate to move away from burning more hydrocarbons.

Participants, representing all states and remotest of places, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, had to win district and state-level science competitions to qualify for IISF. Their models had to be built keeping in mind the problem their district or state was facing.

From a garbage management system to a solar-powered hybrid bicycle and a thermoelectric generator, the students brought the best of their ingenuity to bear on the challenges their communities faced.

Oza Alaykumar's 'artificial tree and wind tunnel' was adjudged the best model. The boy from Gujarat's Mehsana district got the gold medal for it.

Silver medal was bagged by Ananya Y.R. of Karnataka's Chikkmagaluru district for her 'biodegradable plastic' model.

Prithvi Raj of Jharkhand's Garhwa district won the bronze for his jacket that helps the blind.

In addition to top honours, 57 participants were given awards of appreciation.