Imagine a world where cars fly, sushi plates float in the air, fires are put out minutes after they start and bones never ache from the impact of walking and running.
These were all possibilities created by high school students from around the country in the sixth annual Innovative Design Competition Using High Temperature Superconductors for Magnetic Levitation.
The competition, hosted by the National Science Council (NSC) at Kaohsiung's National Science and Technology Museum, saw 36 teams from Taiwan showcasing their projects in the final on Sunday. A team from Japan's Waseda University Affiliated Honjo High School was also invited.
The teams had eight months to prepare their exhibits.
"Our vision was to encourage students to prepare for jobs that don't yet exist, to use technologies not yet invented and solve problems we don't yet know about," said In-Gann Chen (陳引幹), a material science and engineering professor at Cheng Kung University and the moderator of the competition.
He was quoting US high school administrator Karl Fisch, whose Internet video Did You Know has received worldwide attention.
"The competition was designed to foster an informal education setting where students could learn by doing," Chen said.
High temperature superconductor magnetic levitation (HTS maglev) was the cornerstone of the competition.
Maglev is a technology in which objects are suspended in the air using only magnetic fields. HTS maglev uses superconductors in subzero temperatures; "HTS" refers to the relatively high temperature required when using li-quid nitrogen instead of helium.
Traditionally helium was the refrigerant used in HTS maglev, but in 1988 Wu Maw-kuen (
"The competition allows students to think outside of the box," National Science Council Deputy Minister Yang Hung-duen (
He praised Heping High School's HTS maglev car, which required only front wheels because the rest of the car floated. That entry won the Intel Think Tool prize.
Maglev cars are fuel-conservative since there is little friction, said Honjo team captain Satoru Wakabayashi, whose team also entered a maglev car in the competition.
Zhonglun High School's HTS maglev artificial joint was inspired by team captain Liang Ching-hung's (
"With HTS maglev technology, we can have an air joint instead of padding between two bones to prevent wear and tear during movement," Lee said.
Although the subzero temperature in HTS maglev limits the pro-ject's human applications, it opens the possibility for medical breakthroughs when the technology matures, Lee said.
Competition winner Ger-jyh High School's automatic fire hydrant system, which also won third place for Most Creative Entry, was a system that utilized a hose with a HTS maglev plug fixture, team captain Tsai Cheng-ta (蔡承達) said.
When a fire starts, the liquid nitrogen that stabilizes the plug evaporates and mixes with oxygen and puts out part of the fire, Tsai said. When enough nitrogen has evaporated, the plug loosens and water comes out of the hose to put out the fire completely, he said.
"The innovation is patent worthy," Wu said.
"Taiwanese schools tend to emphasize schoolwork over research and experimentation. We hope the competition will inspire teachers, parents and students to change their attitudes and realize that practice is as important as theory," Chen said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS