Two students from Lancaster will participate in Monday’s fifth annual White House Science Fair, presenting a blood alcohol content detection wristband.
Jonathan Hernandez, 17, and Fanta Sinayoko, 18, will represent SOAR High School’s Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam that conceived the wristband, which is designed to be an appealing option for young adults who wish to drink responsibly.
The user blows onto a miniature sensor in the wristband, with the presence of ethanol triggering an analog voltage charge that is converted into a light-emitting diode reaction. Green indicates the user’s blood alcohol content is below the legal limit and he or she is safe to drive, while red indicates the user’s BAC is above the legal limit.
The wristband is one-eighth the size of traditional breathalyzer technologies and will cost $20 when it reaches the market, about 13 percent of the price of comparable breathalyzers, according to information provided by the White House.
The team is working to file a utility patent. At least one company has expressed interest in a licensing agreement, according to the White House.
Sinayoko now attends UC Riverside.
SOAR High School — an acronym for Students on the Academic Rise — is a specialized high school on the Antelope Valley College campus and part of the Antelope Valley Joint Union High School District. It integrates college courses into the high school curriculum and emphasizes mathematics, science and engineering.
Students are eligible to participate in Antelope Valley College activities, including clubs and performing and fine arts. Graduates receive a high school diploma and a college associate’s degree within five years.
President Barack Obama traditionally views some of the Science Fair exhibits and addresses participants.
“As a society, we have to celebrate outstanding working by young people in science at least as much as we do Super Bowl winners because superstar biologists and engineers and rocket scientists and robot-builders (are) going to transform our society,” Obama said at last year’s Science Fair.
“They’re the folks that are going to come up with cures for diseases and new sources of energy and help us build healthier, more successful societies.”
— City News Service