The flames danced when the music played! And the crowd watching it clapped in glee! The crowd consisted of students of various schools and the dancing flames were the work of a team of high school students led by Nabeel Naushad of grade 12 from Al Ameer English High School in Ajman. The team was one of the groups of participants in the Medical and Science Exhibition held at the Gulf Medical College (GMC) in Ajman recently.

Students from 12 schools in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman participated in the two-day event, which attracted more than 3,500 student visitors.

Naushad's exhibit consisted of a gas cylinder connected to a horizontal tube, which had tiny multiple holes drilled into it. These were lit. "The tube connected to a speaker is very well insulated to prevent any leakage of gas. When the music is on, the combination of music waves creates high and low pressure within the tube and makes the flames dance in tune to the music," said Naushad. His school won a prize for its Ruben's Tube project.

Varied projects

Around 50 projects were exhibited in three large rooms. They included hand-made models by students of grades 10, 11 and 12 as well as poster and audio-visual presentations.

Girls of grades 11 and 12 from New Indian Model School, Sharjah, had an informative presentation about AIDS, its causes and prevention. Rabia and Preeti spoke about the condition, how it is caused and its consequences. Their poster, titled Mysteries behind AIDS, was awarded a prize as the Best Poster in one of the categories.

Mohammad Akram, Umer and Mehdi were part of the team from Delhi Private School Sharjah (DPS Sharjah). They displayed optical illusions and demonstrated the working of the human eye with a model. They also showed the eyes of animals and insects and highlighted how each differs from the other.

The working of the eye, its defects and diseases proved a popular project with other schools as well. Indian School Ajman was among them, focusing on myopia and how it is corrected with eyeglasses.

Best poster

Girls from grade 11 at DPS Sharjah depicted embryonic development in humans. "We made models of each stage of the embryo with clay and stuck them on the poster," they said. The girls also explained the problems that could occur during pregnancy. They won the Best Poster Prize awarded by GMC.

Students from Our Own Indian School in Dubai took up a large area of the hall for their 12 science projects including space exploration. One group made a model of a High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager along with posters showing its importance in studying solar flaress. The project also won a prize at the show.

The team also explained the purpose of the H43A, the smallest unmanned hypersonic aircraft that Nasa uses to study aerodynamics.

Aerodynamics was also the topic of a project by the Emirates English Speaking School, Dubai. Students explained how a propeller, engine and other components work together to take us into the air in an airplane and bring us back to earth.

The propeller was presented as a working model. "The thrust that the propeller gives makes the aircraft rise into the air," said Pritam, a member of the team.

DPS Dubai students had set up a very informative project about the hazards of smoking along with the harmful components in a cigarette. There were posters as well as models of a healthy lung and a smoker's lung and actual pictures of the inside of a smoker's body. The project won the team a prize.

Sharjah American International School in Sharjah and its branch in Dubai both won prizes for projects on a Van De Graff Generator and A Light Follower Robert respectively.

Gautam of Emirates English Speaking School echoed most participants' views when he said that everyone enjoyed working for the exhibition. "It was hard work and sometimes even tiring as we are here from 10am to 5pm, but we got to see all the other projects as well as the exhibits from GMC itself. We learnt a lot in these two days."

As the exhibition was held at a medical college, participants and visitors could check out the exhibits displayed by its departments featuring specimens, cadavers, life-like mannequins and simulators.

A number of reputed companies like Al Marai, Al Mutanabbi Bookshop, GSK, Tiffany, Lipton Tea, Knorr Soup, Dunkin Donuts, Mr Krisps, Body & Soul Health Club, and Blends & Brews Coffee Shop sponsored the event.

By Latha Krishnan, Notes Reporter

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