Google has announced the 90 regional finalists of its second Google Science Fair, and two Irish entries have been selected.
The Google Science Fair international competition drew thousands of entries from more than 100 countries.
One of Ireland’s two hopefuls is 14-year-old Ralph Moran from Dublin. Moran has been shortlisted in the EMEA 13-14-year-old category for his project that investigates the amount of oxygen used by the average candle. The project looked at the effect that burning paraffin wax candles could have on air quality.
In the EMEA 17-18-year-old category, Clonakilty, Co Cork team Muireasa Carroll, Mairead Kingston and Denise Hurley set about creating a renewable energy source from seaweed lettuce.
The team, whose members all hail from the Sacred Heart Secondary School in Clonakilty, examined how to overcome a problem with a marine algae called sea lettuce being deposited by the sea into Clonakilty Bay and beaches around it.
The three students investigated if it would be possible to create a renewable source of energy by making briquettes for burning from the sea lettuce.
Google will announce the top 15 finalists on 6 June. These finalists will then be flown to Google’s headquarters in California in July for the final round of judging.
