At a time when academic scores decide students' future, this class XI boy in Udumalpet foreseen how he could bring artificial rainfall. K Thiruvarulselvan, a student of RKR Grks Matriculation Higher Secondary School has built a drone that could travel in space to generate artificial rainfall just by sprinkling some chemicals. He said that his nonstop scientific experiments had led him to build a drone that could do cloud seeding.
He said, "The change in rainfall pattern and unprecedented drought is because of global warming. This happened because of cloud and storm changing its properties due to environmental conditions. The experts in foreign countries use aircraft to spray chemicals in the earth's troposphere to produce artificial rainfall." But, Thiruvarulselvan called it harmful as the foreign countries use silver iodide and potassium nitrate to generate a chemical reaction in the clouds. According to him, travelling in space to perform cloud seeding includes a lot of risks and very expensive that do not suit countries like India. Even there is a threat to the pilot as the energy released from the cloud after sprinkling chemicals could upshot. As an alternative, the boy used distilled water with sodium chloride and sand mixed with silicon dioxide.
Both chemicals filled in the container will be mounted in the drone."High voltage electricity will be allowed to pass in the sand that is mixed with silicon dioxide. By using both the chemicals with zero humidity, we could able to generate rainfall," he said. The class XI boy was recently in Bhubaneswar to attend the National Children Science Congress (NCSC) in which he secured B+ grade for his drone project. He has taken part in district and state level competition that fetched him an entry in the national level.
Thiruvarulselvan about his project said, "I carried out surveys in the Udumalai region for three months to know the climatic pattern for my project. "I studied the prospects that affect the society there. Speaking to some of the villagers made it evident that they do not have any backdrop about global warming. Then I educated them. I approached Forest department and veterinary department to understand the geography of the area." he added.
When asked whether he had tested his drone, the boy said his device has reached nearly 400 feet above the ground level. "To get better results, I should test it from a hilly region. For this, I must obtain permission from the government to fly any foreign objects in the space. But, the device could perform well as per my knowledge." As some spares of the drone could not be bought here, the boy purchased it from an e-commerce gain in China. As his ambition is to become a politician, the class XI student said he would first set a milestone in science to proceed further in politics. On the sidelines, he is also working on a device that could help farmers see the forecast of temperature, humidity and water sources according to the crops. His school principal T Mala said they had adopted the boy and has been providing financial assistance. She said, "A guide has been appointed for Thiruvarulselvan to support his scientific experiments.
