BT Young Scientist Competition 2022
Last year two of our 4th year students Daniel Somers and Justin O Toole entered the competition. They chose to work on a project in the Biological and Ecological Sciences category. Their project was entitled ‘An investigation into the effectiveness of different materials on bicycle tyre cleaning’. The project aimed to investigate how the cleanliness of tyres could be improved by testing 11 different factors, including household items and a shop bought bicycle cleaner.
APPROACH:
In their study, they investigated how effectively bicycle tyres could be cleaned. They tested 11 different factors to see which of these was the most effective. The factors included:
1) lemon juice, 2) baking soda, 3) toothpaste, 4) washing up liquid, 5) Hot sauce, 6) Dettol, 7) wipes, 8) Listerine, 9) Bike oil, 10) Bike cleaner and 11) Water (the control). These investigations were carried out on three different mountain bike tyres. The volume of solution used, area of tyre exposed, drying time and temperature of the room were all kept constant with only one variable each time tested. This was to make the test reliable. A scale of 1-5 was used to record the level of cleanliness, where 1=spotless and 5= not clean at all.
They tested each factor three times to ensure accuracy and reliable results. It was determined that hot sauce was the best cleaning agent for bike tyres.
The students worked very hard on their project and found the experience to be a rewarding one where valuable skills were learned.