"Creative Ideas Are Amazing"... The 'Class' of K-Science Gifted Students

Ministry of Science and ICT - National Science Museum Announce Results of National Student Science Invention Competition

Song Minjun (right), a student who won the Presidential Award at the 42nd National Student Science Invention Competition.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "I saw my father turn off the teapot and remove the strainer before the water was fully boiled when making tea. Knowing that each tea has its optimal temperature, I developed a kit where the teapot strainer automatically separates once a certain temperature is reached to savor the tea's original flavor."

This is the clear acceptance speech of Song Min-jun (Dajeong High School, Sejong City), who won the Presidential Award at the 42nd National Student Science Invention Competition jointly hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Science Museum on the 14th.

For a young student's invention, it is no "plaything." It accurately applies physical principles such as vapor pressure and Charles's law. When boiling green tea, ethanol, which boils at 70-80℃ (the optimal temperature for green tea), is added (sealed) and heated. At its boiling point (78℃), it rapidly expands, separating the green tea to the surface. This produces the optimal flavor at the best extraction temperature for green tea, and since the upper part of the strainer device overlaps, the overall size remains constant.

There is also a descending-type teapot strainer kit using bimetal. As the temperature rises, the bimetal (two metals with different expansion rates causing the metal plate to rise) causes the green tea in the strainer to separate to the surface. By adjusting the type and length of the bimetal, the desired temperature can be set, offering high scalability. There is also a multipurpose teapot strainer kit using shape memory alloy. When heated above 70℃, the shape memory alloy (a spring form that returns to its original state at high temperature) returns to its original shape, separating the green tea container above the surface. Since the strainer itself maintains a constant size, it can be applied to all teapots.

Lee Nayoon, a student at Pyeongchon Elementary School in Gyeonggi, who won the Prime Minister's Award at the 42nd National Student Science Invention Competition.

The second-place student, Lee Na-yoon (Pyeongchon Elementary School, Gyeonggi), also presented an innovative "beginner inline skate with an anti-skid device." Inspired by seeing beginner friends fall backward while learning inline skating, it prevents accidents by ensuring the wheels do not spin idly and only operate when pushed forward. It is installed directly on the inline skate wheels and utilizes the principle of a car seatbelt. It operates by the inertia of a weight.

This competition saw 40,717 participants from 17 cities and provinces nationwide. Including these two students, 10 received the Grand Prize, 50 Special Awards, 100 Excellence Awards, and 138 Encouragement Awards. The awards ceremony will be held on the 6th of next month at the National Science Museum Science Hall.

Yoo Guk-hee, director of the National Science Museum, said, "Despite the COVID-19 situation, many elementary, middle, and high school students, along with their teachers, creatively improved inconveniences in daily life starting from regional preliminaries. We hope that through this competition experience, they will grow further as talents who will lead the development of science and technology."