It was just an ordinary Saturday. My dad was outside mowing the lawn, my mom was upstairs folding laundry, my sister was in her room doing homework and I was in the basement playing video games. And as I came upstairs to get something to drink, I looked out the window and realized that there was something that I was supposed to be doing, and this is what I saw.
Bola to sobota ako každá iná. Môj otec kosil vonku trávnik, moja mama bola v dome a skladala prádlo, moja sestra si robila v izbe úlohy a ja som v suteréne hral videohry. Išiel som si zobrať niečo na pitie a po ceste som sa pozrel z okna, keď som si spomenul, na čom som mal pracovať. Uvidel som toto.
No, this wasn't my family's dinner on fire. This was my science project. Flames were pouring out, smoke was in the air and it looked like our wooden deck was about to catch fire. I immediately started yelling. My mom was freaking out, my dad ran around to put out the fire and of course my sister started recording a Snapchat video.
Nie, nehorela to naša rodinná večera. Bol to môj vedecký projekt. Plamene zbesilo šľahali a cez dym som ani nevidel. Vyzeralo to, že sa chytí aj drevená plošina. Okamžite som začal kričať. Mama bola z toho celá vykoľajená, môj otec vybehol von zahasiť oheň a moja sestra to samozrejme natáčala na Snapchat video.
(Laughter)
(smiech)
This was just the beginning of my team's science project. My team is composed of me and three other students who are here in the audience today. We competed in FIRST LEGO League which is an international LEGO robotics competition for kids, and in addition to a robotics game, we also worked on a separate science project, and this was the project that we were working on.
Bol to len začiatok vedeckého projektu môjho tímu. V tíme som ja a ďalší traja študenti, ktorí sú dnes v publiku. Zúčastnili sme sa súťaže FIRST LEGO. Je to medzinárodná súťaž LEGO robotov pre deti. Okrem hrania hier sme pracovali na inom vedeckom projekte, bol to tento projekt.
So the idea for this project all started when a few months earlier, a couple of my teammates took a trip to Central America and saw beaches littered with Styrofoam, or expanded polystyrene foam. And when they came back and told us about it, we really started thinking about the ways in which we see Styrofoam every day. Get a new flat-screen TV? You end up with a block of Styrofoam bigger than the TV itself. Drink a cup of coffee? Well, those Styrofoam coffee cups are sure going to add up. And where do all these items go after their one-time use? Since there aren't any good existing solutions for used Styrofoam, almost all of them end up right in the landfill, or the oceans and beaches, taking over 500 years to degrade. And in fact, every year, the US alone produces over two billion pounds of Styrofoam, filling up a staggering 25 percent of landfills.
Nápad sme dostali pred niekoľkými mesiacmi, keď dvaja z nás boli na dovolenke v Strednej Amerike a videli pláže pokryté polystyrénom a polystyrénovou penou. Po návrate nám o tom povedali. Začali sme si všímať, kde všade nachádzame polystyrén. Kúpiš si novú telku? Skončíš s blokom polystyrénu, dvakrát takým ako samotná telka. Dáš si kávu? Tie umelé poháriky sa tiež počítajú. A kde všetky tieto predmety po jednom použití skončia? Keďže momentálne žiadne riešenie pre použitý polystyrén nie je, skoro všetky skončia na skládke alebo v oceánoch a na plážach. Rozklad im trvá 500 rokov. Každým rokom len USA vyprodukuje vyše 900-tisíc ton polystyrénu, ktorý zaberá ohromujúcich 25 percent skládok.
So why do we have these ghost accumulations of Styrofoam waste? Why can't we just recycle them like many plastics? Well, simply put, recycled polystyrene is too expensive and potentially contaminated, so there is very little market demand for Styrofoam that has to be recycled. And as a result, Styrofoam is considered a nonrenewable material, because it is neither feasible nor viable to recycle polystyrene. And in fact, many cities across the US have even passed ordinances that simply ban the production of many products containing polystyrene, which includes disposable utensils, packing peanuts, takeout containers and even plastic beach toys, all products that are very useful in today's society. And now France has become the first country to completely ban all plastic utensils, cups and plates.
Prečo teda máme takúto nevídanú akumuláciu tohto odpadu? Prečo sa nemôže polystyrén recyklovať takisto ako plast? Jednoducho povedané, recyklovaný polystyrén je príliš drahý a je potenciálne kontaminovaný. Na trhu teda nie je veľký dopyt po recyklovanom polystyréne. Z čoho vyplýva, že polystyrén sa považuje za neobnoviteľný materiál, lebo jeho zrecyklovanie sa nedá zrealizovať. Mnoho miest v USA prijalo nariadenia o zákaze výroby viacerých produktov obsahujúcich polystyrén. Tieto zahŕňajú príbor na jedno použitie, penové výplne balíkov, nádoby na jedlo a aj plážové hračky z plastu. Všetko výrobky, ktoré sa v dnešnej dobe považujú za užitočné. Francúzsko sa stalo prvou krajinou, ktorá prijala úplný zákaz plastových príborov, pohárov a tanierov.
But what if we could keep using Styrofoam and keep benefiting from its cheap, lightweight, insulating and excellent packing ability, while not having to suffer from the repercussions of having to dispose of it? What if we could turn it into something else that's actually useful? What if we could make the impossible possible?
Čo keby sme však mohli polystyrén naďalej používať a využívať jeho lacnosť, ľahkosť, izoláciu a skvelé baliace schopnosti, a netrpieť následkami, keď príde na jeho likvidáciu? Čo keby sme ho mohli premeniť na niečo užitočné? Čo keby sme mohli uskutočniť nemožné?
My team hypothesized that we could use the carbon that's already in Styrofoam to create activated carbon, which is used in almost every water filter today. And activated carbon works by using very small micropores to filter out contaminants from water or even air.
Môj tím vytvoril hypotézu o použití uhlíka nachádzajúceho sa v polystyréne na vytvorenie aktívneho uhlíka, ktorý sa dnes používa na filtrovanie vody. Aktívny uhlík pracuje na princípe mikropórov a filtruje znečisťujúce látky z vody a vzduchu.
So we started out by doing a variety of heating tests, and unfortunately, we had many failures. Literally, nothing worked. Besides my dad's grill catching on fire, most of our samples vaporized into nothing, or exploded inside expensive furnaces, leaving a horribly sticky mess. In fact, we were so saddened by our failures that we almost gave up.
Začali sme teda teplotnými testami a, nanešťastie, veľakrát sme zlyhali. Doslova, nič nefungovalo. Okrem zhoreného grilu môjho otca, väčšina našich pokusov sa buď vyparila alebo v drahej peci vybuchla a zanechala lepkavý neporiadok. Skoro sme to vzdali, takí sme boli smutní z našich zlyhaní.
So why did we keep trying when all the adults said it was impossible? Well, maybe it's because we're kids. We don't know any better. But the truth is, we kept trying because we thought it was still possible. We knew that if we were successful, we would be helping the environment and making the world a better place. So we kept trying and failing and trying and failing. We were so ready to give up.
Prečo sme neprestali skúšať i keď dospelí to považovali za nemožné? Možno preto, že sme deti. Čo my o tom vieme. My sme si mysleli, že je to možné, preto sme neprestali skúšať. Vedeli sme, že pri úspechu prispejeme k zlepšeniu prostredia na svete. Tak sme skúšali a zlyhali a skúšali a zlyhali. Boli sme pripravení to vzdať.
But then it happened. With the right temperatures, times and chemicals, we finally got that successful test result showing us that we had created activated carbon from Styrofoam waste. And at that moment, the thing that had been impossible all of a sudden wasn't. It showed us that although we had many failures at the beginning, we were able to persevere through them to get the test results that we wanted. And moreover, not only were we able to create activated carbon for purifying water, but we were also able to reduce Styrofoam waste, solving two global problems with just one solution.
Vtedy sa to konečne podarilo. Za správnej teploty, času a zmesi chemikálií sa konečne výsledok testu podaril. Vytvorili sme aktívny uhlík z polystyrénového odpadu. A v tom momente to, čo bolo nemožné, sa odrazu možným stalo. I keď sme na začiatku zlyhávali, vydržali sme a dosiahli želaný výsledok. Najviac sme nielen vytvorili aktívny uhlík na filtrovanie vody, tiež sme znížili množstvo polystyrénového odpadu. V jednom riešení sme vyriešili dva globálne problémy.
So from then on, we were inspired to take our project further, performing more tests to make it more effective and testing it in real world situations. We then proceeded to receive funding from the NSTA's eCYBERMISSION STEM-in-Action program sponsored by the US Army, as well as FIRST Global Innovation Awards sponsored by XPRIZE. And we were also honored with the Scientific American Innovator Award from Google Science Fair. And using these funds, we plan to file a full patent on our process and to continue to work on our project.
Inšpirovalo nás to ďalej, aby sme pokračovali v projekte, testovali efektívnosť a testovali v reálnych situáciách. Dostali sme aj financie od NSTAs eCYBERMISSIOM STEM-in-Action, čo je program sponzorovaný americkou armádou, a tiež od Ceny za globálnu inováciu sponzorovanou XPRIZE. Boli sme tiež ocenení cenou Vedeckej inovácie Ameriky na súťaži Google Science Fair. Za tieto financie plánujeme dať náš proces patentovať a pokračovať v práci na našom projekte.
So yes, although we started with catching my dad's grill on fire and failing so many times that we almost quit, it was well worth it when we look back at it now. We took a problem that many people said was impossible and we made it possible, and we persevered when it looked like nothing that we did would work. We learned that you can't have success without a little, or a lot, of failure.
Áno, začali sme síce s podpálením otcovho grilu a skoro sme to vzdali kvôli všetkým zlyhaniam, keď sa na to pozerám teraz, všetko sa to oplatilo. Problém považovaný za nevyriešiteľný sme vyriešili. Vytrvali sme, i keď nič nefungovalo. Naučili sme, že úspech neexistuje bez niekoľkých alebo aj mnohých zlyhaní.
So in the future, don't be afraid if your grill goes up in flames, because you never know when your idea might just catch fire.
Nezľaknite sa, ak vám vzbĺkne gril, nikdy neviete, kedy sa váš nápad chytí.
Thank you.
Ďakujem.
(Applause)
(potlesk)