13 year old finds tree inspired solar collection

[otohara]

50% more efficient:

(PhysOrg.com) -- Aidan Dwyer, a 13 year old Junior High School student from New York state, noticed that the phyllotaxy of the leaves on trees he was observing while hiking through the Catskill Mountains, did so in the form of a Fibonacci sequence. Wondering if there was a reason for it, he deduced that it might be because such an arrangement provides the most efficient means of solar power collection for the trees. To find out if this was the case, he built a small solar tree from PVC pipe and small solar panels, then built another in a normal flat panel array, attached voltage readers to both, and lo and behold, discovered the tree model array was indeed more efficient, at least during times of low or indirect sunlight. Dwyer won a Young Naturist Award for his efforts after writing and submitting his essay, The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees.

The Young Naturist Awards are given (by the American Museum of Natural History) to two students from each grade, K-12, every year for young scientists who have investigated questions they have in the areas of biology, Earth science, ecology, and astronomy. Dwyer’s entry, took the known, that tree leaves grow in a Fibonacci sequence (where each number is the sum of the previous two) and applied it in a novel way that advanced the study of solar energy.http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-year-tree-solar-efficient.html

People see winter as a cold and gloomy time in nature. The days are short. Snow blankets the ground. Lakes and ponds freeze, and animals scurry to burrows to wait for spring. The rainbow of red, yellow and orange autumn leaves has been blown away by the wind turning trees into black skeletons that stretch bony fingers of branches into the sky. It seems like nature has disappeared.
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But when I went on a winter hiking trip in the Catskill Mountains in New York, I noticed something strange about the shape of the tree branches. I thought trees were a mess of tangled branches, but I saw a pattern in the way the tree branches grew. I took photos of the branches on different types of trees, and the pattern became clearer.
http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2011/aidan.html

[Harmony Blue]

1. Extremely proud of this young budding scientist

Observation and deduction. Then went out to test hypothesis? Kudos.

[Auggie]

2. K & R

[mwrguy]

3. Debunked :(

Sounded awesome, but not really true.

http://news.yahoo.com/blog-debunks-13-old-scientists-solar-power-breakthrough-170520740.html

[otohara]

4. Dang

maybe someday....

[1monster]

5. I'd like a little more proof that his experiment is "broken" than someone who hasn't

actually done the experiement before declaring it impossible...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. Reminds me of the boy in The Last Mimzy, cute show don't know if there is anything

to the ideas presented therein.