Putting science to practice

Bengaluru: For those driving in the night, dealing with high beam lights of oncoming vehicles is a challenge. Mohammed Sulaiman, a class 8 student from Oasis International School, has found that this can be avoided using a simple technique - mirrors. “Small mirrors can be placed at an acute angle next to the top cover of the headlights so that when the driver uses high beam, the light will reflect back on to the road, thereby preventing the glare on the vehicles coming in the opposite direction,” he explained.

The 13-year-old added that the idea struck his mind ever since his father complained how difficult it was to drive while vehicles coming in opposite direction had high-beam on. The youngster was selected as a runner-up in the High School category along with Gokulraj from J.K.K. Nattraja Matriculation HSS, Komarapalayam, Tamil Nadu at the Raman Young Science Innovator (RYSI) Award event held at the city on Sunday. In the same category, Dhruv Shah, who represented Aditya Birla World Academy, Mumbai, was adjudged the winner for his working model of a Cartesian diver (an attractive display in which a sealed straw with a weight whose density can be manually changed floats and sinks in a confined liquid). The event was jointly organised by Raman Research Institute Trust, Innovation and Science Promotion Foundation (ISPF) and ThinkTac, an experiential science programme. Nearly hundred young innovators were selected after the prelims across three different age categories for the RYSI awards.

According to Ravi Rangan, a trustee of ISPF, the event aimed to establish science as fun and as a subject of interest among young students encouraging them to think beyond their textbooks and rote learning methods.

“Our students have begun to realise there is science in everything they see, which I feel is super productive for them in all ways,” said S. Pushpa Mala, headmistress of Govt. Model Primary School.