BDBoop
Platinum Member
- Banned
- #1
13-Year-Old Looks at Trees, Makes Solar Power Breakthrough - Technology - The Atlantic Wire
As the article says, not too shabby for a kid who hasn't even started high school yet.
Aidan Dwyer did a much better job on his 7th grade science project than any of us. While on a wintertime hike in the Catskills, he noticed the branches of trees held a spiral pattern as they ascended. He wondered if that could possibly serve some purpose, looked into it, and learned about the Fibonacci sequence, which is a mathematical way of describing a spiral. Then he studied tree branches more closely and found their leaves adhered to the sequence. Then he figured out that if he arranged solar panels the way an oak tree arranged its leaves, they were 20 to 50 percent more efficient than the standard straight-line solar arrays. That is why the American Museum of Natural History gave him a Young Naturalist award, and published his findings on its website.
As the article says, not too shabby for a kid who hasn't even started high school yet.