It has been quite sometime since we wrote about Trinity’s innovators. Our previous posts introduced Master Venura Wijesekara who invented a Briefcase Computer and a Wireless Stethoscope.
In this article we are delighted to introduce to you, Master Brannon Stephan – a young student from Grade 08 who has been experimenting on multiple innovations on his own.
Master Brannon Stephan came to Trinity in Grade 06 after studying at St. Anthony’s College, Kandy. Being the only child in the family, Brannon was inspired at a very young age where his first experiments started with making various structures with Legos combined with gear motors and other parts together. He gained knowledge by reading a variety of science books and using the internet. Moreover, he persuaded his parents to bring numerous broken computers and mobile components for his projects.
Brannon’s intense curiosity in creative experimentation lead his parents to encourage him to participate at IgniterSpace – a makerspace organisation in Sri Lanka where Brannon learnt many uses of Arduino boards and other innovative work. Gradually Brannon realised his interests were more in the field of Physics. The global pandemic of Covid-19 helped him to further use the time at home to work on many creative ideas.
Brannon is also a young chorister of the Trinity College Choir and hopes to partake in sports such as Swimming and Basketball in the future. He hopes to become an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer in the field of Aeronautical engineering.
While we admire young Master Brannon Stephan’s creative ability, we also wish him best for all his future experiments and endeavors. We also thank Mr. Wasana Dissanayake and Mr. Subash Dhanasekara for bringing the Web Content Team’s attention to Brannon’s talents. We invite young Trinity innovators who are critical and creative thinkers to write to us on [email protected] as we continue to explore vistas of excellence.
Watch the video below, as Brannon presents his latest innovations:
Smartphone Projector
Material Used: A custom built projector using a cardboard box and two Convex lens.
How it works: The convex lens captures the light from the phone, magnifying the image. It also flips the image, so if you turn the phone upside down, the projected image will be upright.
Mini Microscope
Material Used: Mini microscope was built using two blank CD cases, DVD lens, two 1.5V batteries, battery case, wires, LED light, switch, 2 inch ball screws & ball nuts, piece of wooden board and two slides.
How it works: The light reflects off an object when it is viewed under the microscope and passes through the lens, it bends towards the eye which makes the object look bigger than its actual size.
Laser Beam Microscope
Material Used: Laser Beam Microscope was built using laser light, injection cylinder, small wooden tray, few BBQ sticks, piece of mirror glass, bulb cover, ball screw and nut.
How it works: A microscope works using lenses to magnify an image. In this microscope, the drop of water acts as the lens. As the lesser light passes through the drop of water the light is bent (refracted) as it enters the leaves the round water drop. Tiny living specimen appears in front of the light, creating shadows.
Foam Slicer
Material Used: Foam Slicer was built using a wooden board, nuts, two rubber bands, nichrome strings, electric wires and a drill to punch the hole.
How it works: The heated Nichrome string melts the block of foam for the correct measurement while dragging the block on the board (Nichrome is collection of nickel and chromium).
