Eco-friendly cars go like the wind
Noodles packets, drinks cans, pieces of plastic, food cartons, old CDs - you name it - more than 200 students of Ju Ching Chu Secondary School in Yuen Long used whatever they could get their hands on to make of a variety of eco-friendly vehicles this week.
They were taking part in a model car competition, highlight of the school's science week, which ends today. Students were asked to make an eco-friendly model car individually or in a group of five or less, with materials such as empty plastic bottles, cans and used cardboard.
'The model cars need to be driven by kinetic energy other than batteries. We want them to be energy-saving,' said Li Oi-wai, a science teacher at the school. 'They can use materials like rubber bands and balloons to create kinetic energy.'
The design made by Chan Pui-wa, 12, and three of her classmates was crowned winner of the category for Form One and Form Two students.
Their car, with wheels made from CDs and powered by a leaking balloon, ran more than 4.5 metres in the one-minute race.
'I learned a very valuable lesson. I didn't know how to make an eco-friendly model car before,' said Pui-wa, who spent about half a day making the award-winning design.
The science week, held for the fifth time since 2004, also featured a screening of Davis Guggenheim's film An Inconvenient Truth, presented by former US vice-president Al Gore, books and games fairs, and a visit to a landfill site.
