Having won the national stage of the Intel ISEF 2015 international competition for scientific and technical creativity of schoolchildren, Samuil Kruhliak, 10th-grade student from Oleksandria (Kirovohrad oblast), had earned his entry to the Genius Olympics that was held in Oswego, NY from 14 to 19 June. And he took advantage of his opportunity to see the world and be seen to the fullest, winning the bronze prize and outsmarting two thousand young inventors from around the world.
Kruhliak’s project is named “Getting electricity from the atmosphere.” The young inventor proposes to produce electricity from the air – or, rather, from the atmosphere using artificial ionized clouds generated by a strong electric field of an ionizing tower. An estimated, one kilowatt of electricity will cost as much as 0.03 hryvnias. According to the boy, he saw his invention in a dream when he was in the eighth grade. After two years of research, the teachers of Junior Academy of Sciences Svitlana Piskova and Serhii Kaminsky helped to implement this project.
“Samuil’s work is a new word in the energy sector. That’s just a pity that here in Ukraine the boy has got his attention only following his victory in New York. Before this we turned for support to our local authorities, to the regional, we trumpeted this money- and electricity-saving invention across the entire Ukraine, but no one has paid any attention to us. Samuil had a great idea, and the scientific consultants helped in building the device. We have attracted a large number of specialists – a laboratory of Minor Academy of Sciences in Kyiv provided the basis for experiments. Mini model of the device had been already set up in Kyiv lab, it works and shows its results,” said Svitlana Piskova, the section supervisor of the scientific and technical creativity, invention, and environmentally friendly technologies of Minor Academy of Sciences for Learning Youth. According to her, the invention provides for the extraction of not only electricity, but also water. “This installation would cost pennies, but the benefit from it is millions. Imagine: if we manage to run it we could provide 82 percent of electricity for Kirovohrad oblast. It’s a pity no one needs it here,” adds Piskova.
The second phase of the project is going to be implemented in Oleksandria, where the abandoned pipe of a thermoelectric plant can be used to build the generator tower, but this requires substantial funds from sponsors.
Apart from his diploma, Kruhliak has been awarded free education at one of the US universities and a monthly stipend of about 700 dollars. Samuil’s mom says that studying abroad is a dream of her son. Together with her husband they are raising three children: the two younger ones show no interest in physics, but Samuil loved experimenting since his childhood. “He is very determined boy. As soon as we decided at the family council to allocate the funds necessary for his trip to America (the dad went to the US with Samuil), we said his supervisors that if he loses, it will be his personal loss, not theirs, but nevertheless he should try his hand. He tried – and we are happy that we gave him the chance,” says Inna Kruhliak.
