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A YOUNG TEENAGER has made a scientific breakthrough in the world of solar power.
New York native Aidan Dwyer was out walking one day through a forest when he noticed the patterns in tree branches.
He decided to study these patterns and this lead him to the Fibonacci sequence.
This sequence begins with the numbers 0 and 1 – they are added together and each subsequent number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two.
This pattern is in turn reflected in nature in many instances, and Aidan decided to test with tree branches.
He built a test tool to measure the spiral pattern on certain species of trees and discovered that the Fibonacci sequence was indeed behind the pattern seen in tree branches.
When it came to constructing his own ‘tree’, he used the Fibonacci pattern of an oak tree, and in place of leaves he used PV solar panels.
He also used a flat panel solar power collector so he could compare the results.
He tested his solar power ‘tree’ from October to December and compared his results on graphs.
It transpired that the Fibonacci tree made 20 per cent more electricity than the flat panel, collecting 2.5 more hours of sunlight.
And even in dark December, the tree made 50 per cent more electricity.
Aidan went on to win a Young Naturalist Award for his work.
The bright young spark says that he wants to continue researching his project and improving his designs.
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A bright spark !! A very good story. Fair play to him.
Seems obvious once someone else thinks it up. Kid is a genius.
Fibonacci strikes again!
fair play to him indeed – how clever!! I don’t understand why any of you got red downs for your comments – although i do think that someone must come on here specifically to down comments!! Nowt as strange as folks!
A lot of trolls frequent thus site.
I often wondered about that, Sheila. Maybe Damian P is right. As u say – “nowt as strange as folk” ….. Cheers !!
This is a great story and I’m happy to read it – the thumbs down bamboozle me.
He mentions in the ‘Young naturalist Award’ link that his Dad helped “inspire” him. I hate to be a nay sayer but I’m always suspicious of the amount of help kids get from parents for these sort of things.
It would be interesting to find out whether is Dad is more than your average taxi driver.
Young minds question everything, usually with no preconceived notions which tend to distort an adults perception of what they are witnessing. Occasionally, these totally open minds see what to them is obvious, but to an experienced adult is hidden by his prejudiced point of view. This sounds like just one of these instances. Absolutely brilliant. Well done that man.
Very true, Chrissy Beanz.
i suspect the thumbs down are from our christian friends. how dare this kid question gods work
Or maybe the I complain about anything atheist gang.
Genius :)
Also those who are thumbing down are those who are just mad they are unable to create anything :)
The applications for this are going to be great unless it’s suppressed like every good thing is. Fair play to this lad I hope to be able to see his trees all over our world within the next few years. Brilliant!
Here here Paul. Bamboozle, one of my favorite words.
beam me up scotty
Some thumbs down are from careless scrolling on phones. I was guilty of a horrible one last week.
sorry that was meant to be a thumbs up :-)
@Aoife, can you check from within journal.ie if it is the same people thumbing down without leaving comments, if so can we have a poll that they get a week ban of thumbs up or down, some comments are very valid pro or con and large numbers of negative thumbs just because people disagree without discussion
Sweet jellybeans! I really thought this couldn’t have the usual contentious bickering, but hey-ho, there we go. Maybe it’s Mr. Burns behind the thumbs down :-) Excellent story, everyones a winner!
I reckon the thumbs down came from people who always moan about unemployed people "13 years of age and he is out lookin at trees instead of being down a mine Im fed up with these time wasting scoungers"
thumbs down, i dare ya
Its most likely Oil and gas companies and those who are passionate about nuclear.
Some more info on the story (get out your thumbs down!): http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2011/aidan.html
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