When it became clear that drinking water in the city of flint, Michigan, is polluted with lead, the region was plunged into a real public health crisis. This problem could not fail to attract the attention of Gitanjali RAO, which for two years has overseen the development of the situation and was amazed at the number of people poisoned by lead.
When the girl saw that her parents check the drinking water in their house, she was not too impressed with the results, as all these methods were slow and unreliable. Then Gitanjali’s got something to do with it.
Science for the benefit of people
As reported by ABC News, at the Massachusetts Institute of technology, who is a girl weekly watched for the presence of «something new» she found the materials describing the detection of hazardous substances, and thought, why not try to use this technology for the detection of lead.
Through perseverance and undoubted talent in scientific activities, the young inventor was able to create a portable and relatively inexpensive devicewhich more efficiently and accurately determines whether the water is contaminated with lead than do conventional household methods.
The principle of operation Tethys
This device consists of three parts: a disposable cartridge containing chemically treated carbon nanotubes and a signal processor with a Bluetooth module. In addition, the device communicates with the smartphone via a special app that displays the results of the analysis.
Carbon nanotubes in the cartridge is sensitive to changes of flow of electrons. They are covered with atoms, which have an affinity to lead, which adds measurable resistance to electron flow.
When the cartridge is dipped into pure water, the flow of electrons is not changed, and the smartphone app shows that the water is safe to drink. But when the cartridge falls into the contaminated water, lead reacts with the atoms in the tube, causing the resistance to electron flow, which measures the processor. Then the application shows that the water is unsafe for drinking.
RAO named his device Tethys after the Greek goddess of fresh water.
Recognition and reward
The invention was so successful that Gitanjali was awarded the title «Best young scientist of America» in the framework of the contest Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, complete with prize accompanied by a check for $ 25,000 to future achievements.
Girl plans to defer some of that money to help pay for their College education and the remainder she wants to invest in your device to make it commercially viable.
The young talent said that when she grows up, she would like to become a geneticist or epidemiologist. Its device detection of lead allowed her to combine both interest, as contaminated water can cause rashes and congenital abnormalities. Its purpose Gitanjali sees helping people and saving lives.
