Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition: Music and study do not mix, three students from the Teresian School in Dublin have found. They conducted exhaustive studies showing that music makes you run faster but study slower.
The 13-year-old second years, Laura McKenna, Rachael McKenna and Hannah McCarthy, decided to establish what effect if any different types of music had on test subjects while eating, studying and exercising. They also gauged the impact of rap, rock, pop and classical music on emotions. They exhibited their findings at the Esat BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition which formally opened yesterday at the RDS in Dublin.
The Minister for Communications, Mr Dempsey, was on hand to declare the 41st annual event officially under way. ESAT BT's chief operating officer, Mr Mike Maloney, joined him in last night's celebrations at the RDS along with singer Simon Casey and "Bruce Airhead", who made his entry in a green balloon.
Weapons of Sound provided high-decibel musical accompaniment, with the help of dustbin lids, old refrigerators and metal drums.
The exhibition runs until Saturday evening and opens to the public this morning. Three days of judging began yesterday, and the top award - the 2005 Young Scientist of the Year - will be announced by the President, Mrs McAleese, on Friday evening.
The three students carried out 180 experiments on nine hapless test subjects over the past four months. Unfortunately their main finding shows that parents and teachers have had it right for years - listening to music while studying inhibits one's ability to learn.
They also found that if you are determined to have music playing, classical is better than rap. The high-word content of rap makes it particularly difficult to study, they found.
Similarly controversial findings were also made by Róisín O'Grady (15), Meghan Mooney (15), and Jacqueline Brunton (14), three third-year students from St Joseph's College, Lucan. They found that the use of "energised" water helped promote plant growth.
They used a device provided by a Dublin company that allowed radio frequency waves to be passed through water. This was given to plants, and the root and foliage growth was then compared to comparable growth made by untreated plants.
In virtually all cases they found that use of treated water delivered better growth and root development.
It was sound pollution, not growth, that captured the imaginations of Stephen McFadden and Eilish Haran (both 16), and Seán McKenna (15), all fifth years from Coláiste Cholmcille, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal.
Their project studied ways of reducing sound pollution between school classrooms and in the home. They built their own sound chamber and even developed their own building material which they believe could be used in internal walls to reduce noise.