Promoted by the European Commission, the competition has 73 projects, from 33 countries, taking projects from the most varied areas of science, such as Biology, Environmental Sciences, Medical Sciences, Social Sciences, Economics, Engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry, or Physics.
Representing Portugal will be two teams of young Portuguese who stood out at the 14th National Virtual Science Exhibition, promoted by the Youth Foundation, last November.
“ATMOS” is one of the projects that after having stood out in the National Science Exhibition, now goes on to the European Final. Developed at Colégio Luso-Francês, in Porto, by João Carvalho, Klára Varga, and Sara Couto, and supervised by professor Rita Rocha, the project in the area of Environmental Sciences consists of the quantification of polluting particulate matter, suspended in the atmosphere, adsorbed through the trees.
The project was developed in one of the busiest arteries in the city of Porto, close to the school, for two years. The innovation of ATMOS was related to the development of an alternative sampling and calculation methodology to that conventionally described in the literature: trees are not opaque curtains and, as such, the adsorption of pollutants takes place in layers, deep in the crown. of the trees.
Thus, a calculation method based on the green surface area was not enough. Alternatively, the young scientists brought together geometry, dendrology, biology and economics and created what they called the ATMOS method. According to the study, the environmental service provided by green corinas in urban spaces is far superior to that estimated until then, and this nature-based solution is an interesting measure to be adopted in planning our cities.
Hugo Costa, Hugo Remelgado, and Rita Matos are the group that will enter into competition with a project in the engineering area. Developed at Dona Maria II Secondary School, in Braga, the project “Development of an Integrated System for Detection and Alerting of Ionizing Radiation”, consists of a new solution for professionals of various categories, such as dentists, who are subject to a high amount on a daily basis. harmful radiation.
To better control exposure to ionizing radiation, the project features an easy-to-use detection and analysis system for ionizing radiation, which analyzes exposure to harmful radiation in real-time and alerts the user when the daily limit is reached.
The system integrates a detector developed from scratch using the Arduino platform and communicates with a mobile application that analyzes and records all work sessions. The result is a revolutionary prototype and is intended to reduce the health risks associated with these professionals and save lives.
