Running Head: RECYCLING AGAINST RADIATION 1

Recycling Against Radiation

George French and Zane Vandivere

5/8/19

Dr. Psaker
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Goals

We want to to find out what constitutes our recycled HDPE. We have spoken to the

chemistry professor about this and she told us she would research possible tests to perform to

find what oxygen species are in the plastic. We are still waiting on a response from her.
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Accomplishments

In this time leading up to ISEF, we have been reading articles published by NASA on

how radiation shields work on the molecular level. When referring to hydrogen-rich

polyethylene, the article contained the following:

“​These lighter elements can't completely stop space radiation. But they can fragment the

incoming radiation particles, greatly reducing the harmful effects. Imagine hiding behind a

chain-link fence to protect yourself in a snowball fight: You'll still get some snow on you as tiny

bits of snowball burst through the fence, but you won't feel the sting of a direct hit from a

hard-packed whopper. Polyethylene is like that chain link fence” (Nagaraja, 2019).

Additionally, we calculated what the thickness of the shield would need to be to reduce

the radiation to one-tenth of its original value. The value we ended up with was far too high, so

we decided not to use it. We believe this extremely high value is a result of an improper

mathematical model to our data. In order to improve this model, we would like to have recorded

more data in order to create a more precise mathematical model.

We additionally made a presentation to the Manassas, Manassas Park, and Prince

William joint board where we got to practice our presenting as well as show what we are doing

at the Governor’s School.

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Figure 1. This figure shows the beginning of our presentation in front of the Joint School Board.

Their response to our project was unanimously positive and we received lots of praise and

support for our efforts, both past and upcoming.

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Data and Results

Figure 2. This figure shows the calculations we performed in order to achieve a permeated

radiation that is one-tenth its original magnitude. All radiation dosage is measured in

microsieverts and all thickness is measured in inches. As shown, the necessary thickness was

calculated to be on the order or 10​12​ inches, which is far too big. We are currently researching

what errors could have occured in this calculation.

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References

Nagaraja, Mamta. Retrieved on May 7, 2019 from:

https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2005/25aug_plasticspaceships​.