The 306 learners at the ‘FFS Expo for Young Scientists’ were fascinated to learn that there will be internet on Mars.
They got this good news from the keynote speaker, Divashen Govender, a BSc graduate from KwaZulu-Natal, who is on the short list of 100 people from around the world who are vying for a place to travel to Mars on a one-way ticket in 2026!
Other good news for science is that all the numbers were up at this year’s expo, with 223 projects on display and 23 schools participating.
The expo was held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Edgewood Campus in Pinetown on 30 and 31 July.
FFS Refiners is also sponsoring about 25 of the top achievers on a four-day tour in October of various sites of scientific interest in KZN and Gauteng, including the Drakensberg Pumping Station, Wits University Planetarium, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s National Laser Centre, Pretoria Zoo, Tswaing Meteorite Crater, Sterkfontein Caves, and SciBono in Johannesburg.
The award for the Best Senior Project went to Nicholas Fowler in Grade 10 at Hilton College, for his project ‘Machine guidance is economically viable’.
The award for Best Junior project was won by Dani Jansen van Rensburg, a Grade 8 learner at Hillcrest High School for her project ‘Cu at the taxi rank’. She won the junior award in 2014 also.
And in the ever-popular Micro Steam Car Challenge, Wingen High School at Shallcross took the top three places. The winner was Kairon Govindasamy whose car travelled 872 metres on 20 ml of methylated spirits. He bought the flame-powered steam turbine micro car in kit form from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and built it up. He would not reveal the secret of his success, saying only that he had worked for three months preparing for race day.
Said Andrew Channing, managing director at FFS Refiners, “We believe that a country’s future is linked to the development of science and technology among high-school learners, as this is where our scientists and engineers will come from. We are proud to be sponsors of the ‘FFS Expo for Young Scientists’ as in so doing, we are encouraging young learners to consider a career in the science and technology fields.”
FFS Refiners, an innovative Durban-based company, is the largest supplier of industrial heating fuels in South Africa. The company markets products for a wide variety of uses, including glass making, brick making, steam raising in boilers, billet re-heating, baking, incineration, laundry, road-mix heating, lime kilns, sand and stone drying. FFS Refiners currently has over 250 customers who collectively consume more than 300 000 tons of fuel oil per year.