Zofia blown away by first prize

ROBERT KITCHIN/The Dominion Post

'REALLY PROUD': Zofia Arthur, 12, has won the best exhibit award at the Niwa Wellington science fair with her windbreaks experiment.

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Anyone planning to build a windbreak take note: you can't do better than use natural materials, says budding scientist Zofia Arthur.

Her experiment, to find the most effective windbreak, has won her the Royal Society of New Zealand prize for best overall exhibit at the Niwa Wellington Regional Science and Technology Fair.

"I'm really surprised and really proud," said the year 8 pupil from Queen Margaret College.

To find the best windbreak, the 12-year-old placed a range of small sheet-metal barriers with holes of varying sizes punched in them in a self-made wind tunnel.

She set up an electric fan to blow through the barriers on to foam cubes, and measured how far they were blown.

The smaller the holes, the better the barriers, she found. But, to her surprise, a solid barrier wasn't the best windbreak.

"It actually seemed to create a vortex, and the cubes moved forward towards the fan."

A barrier made from plant material was the best performer - the foam cubes didn't move at all.

"The leaves were really blowing around, and I concluded that they helped it absorb energy."

Zofia was also judged first in her age group, and took home $1000 in prizes.

"My friends are saying I should give it to them, but I'm not so sure."

Other winners included Thang Tran, a year 13 pupil from Wellington College, who won a first-year scholarship at Victoria University for his project on the effect of temperature on vitamin C.

Nika Thomson, a year 12 pupil at Sacred Heart College, also won a scholarship for a display on the effects of exercise on the insulin needs of diabetics.

- © Fairfax NZ News