South African schoolgirl wins

South African schoolgirl wins Google Science Fair grand prize

Making Mzansi proud.

South African schoolgirl wins

Remember Kiara Nirghin? Her orange peel experiment earned her a spot a the Google Science Fair and now she’s won the grand prize!

She designed a super-absorbent substance to retain water in soil so plants can make better use of the little rain they receive.

While there are similar devices on the market, they make use of expensive synthetic materials. Kiara used orange and avocado peels to trap water.

Her submission, called “Fighting Drought with Fruit”, won her $50 000 (R697 000) in scholarship funding at the Google Science Fair awards in California on Tuesday.

She conducted three experiments over 45 days involving the orange and avo peels.

“The results of the water retention test showed that the Orange peel mixture’ can absorb 76.1 percent of water,” Kiara wrote in the results of her experiment. “I was successful in creating a low-cost superabsorbent polymer (SAP).”

She said that she hopes winning the prize will allow her to further her studies.

“With the prize I will hope to continue my studies in science, but also further the scientific development and application of my idea, and in addition extend scientific progress in elevating the problems that South Africa faces in food security and sustainable agricultural development.”

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