Courtesy photo George Colton and Navy Smith stands beside their project, The Aqua Dome.
Courtesy photo Navy Smith and George Colton are in the testing phase of their project.
Local students are state finalists in Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest
George Colton and Navy Smith are state finalists in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Competition, which is meant to encourage students in grades 6-12 to create solutions to help solve issues of the world. There are three phases to the competition, with winner of each phase being awarded increasing amounts of money in Samsung technology with up to three winning $100,000. As finalists, Colton and Smith have already secured $2,500 worth of Samsung technology for Chase County Schools. The Imperial Republican sat down with the two young men to have them explain their device and hopes for the future.
In the high school board room, Colton and Smith explained their device, The Aqua Dome. Unfortunately, it was not brought to the meeting, as the device is approximately 8-10 feet tall and has a 100 feet circumference. The device is a dome that is placed over a body of water. As the heat of the day causes water to evaporate, it collects atop the dome roof and condenses into a number of tubes that filter out any organisms.
There are still small problems to fix but when everything is finished, the result is a supply of clean drinking water for places that do not have readily available access to it.
“We’re in the middle of testing our filter which will filter out bacteria and add in additional minerals, so it’s very healthy drinking water,” said Colton. “When it and the dome come together, we’re hoping for it to be used in places like third world countries and Flint, Michigan. It’s really bad that humans have become so advanced, and yet there are still places that can’t readily get clean water. Helping people like that is something we should be doing.”
In the future, the two are hoping this device becomes successful enough to develop into a larger business. Their parting words for anyone reading is to take a moment and recognize that they are fortunate enough to live in a place where the necessities of life are easily provided and that we should do what we can to make sure that fortune is spread to anyone and everyone who may need it.