RADILIH KOE'/FORT GOOD HOPE
While sitting on a snowbank outside his home in Fort Good Hope this winter, Islombek Mukhamadiev noticed something fascinating.

Islombek Mukhamadiev, Grade 8 student at Chief T'Selehye School in Fort Good Hope, is travelling to Fredericton, N.B. to compete in the Canada-Wide Science Fair this week. - photo courtesy of Tyler Holland

The Grade 8 student at Chief T'Selehye School had always been interested in magnets, and he happened to have a few in his pocket. He took them out and when he placed them at opposite ends of the bank - a distance of about 50 cm - they did something surprising.

"I was wearing my snow pants and warm jacket," he said.

"I went into deep snow and took magnets from my pocket and I let them cool in the snow. After a while I placed them 50 cm apart, and they attracted each other. I hadn't seen magnets attracting themselves so far apart from each other."

Mukhamadiev decided to try the same method at home to see what happened.

"I went back home and did the same thing with magnets, but they didn't attract when placed 50 cm apart," he said.

That's what inspired him to focus his science fair project at Chief T'Selehye School on how temperatures affect the magnetism of permanent magnets, he said. He ended up earning the winning spot and going on to take the top prize again during the regional fair in Tulita.

On May 9, Mukhamadiev will travel to Fredericton to compete in the Canada-Wide Science Fair.

Mukhamadiev's methodology was simple. He tested the magnets' strengths after exposing them to four different temperatures; room temperature set at 25 C, boiling temperature at 100 C, -25C and -40 C. A cold winter day in Fort Good Hope created the perfect conditions to test the magnets at -40 C, he said.

"Each magnet was tested in each temperature five times to examine the changes in magnetic field and strength in different temperatures," Mukhamadiev said.

"To understand the affect of temperature on magnets, I used paper clips, standard paper clips. Looking at the number of paper clips picked up by the magnets, I would understand the affect of temperature on magnets."

After what he'd noticed that day in the snowbank, Mukhamadiev hypothesized that the colder the magnet, the more paperclips it could pick up.

Once he had performed each test five times and calculated the average, he realized his hypothesis was right.

"If it is placed in a higher temperature, it will pick up fewer paper clips than magnets placed in colder temperatures," he said.

Looking ahead to New Brunswick, Mukhamadiev said he's looking forward to the journey as much as the competition.

"I haven't been to New Brunswick so it's a big responsibility for me to go there," he said. "When we go there, they give us some free time to have fun."

He's also hoping to make connections with other young scientists from throughout Canada.

"I would like to meet different people and talk with them and become friends, and look at other projects and learn new things," he said.

Learning new things is what science is all about, he added.

"If you're starting doing your science fair project, you have to do something that you don't know," he said. "Something new."

Mukhamadiev said though completing a science fair project can be difficult, sticking with it can make all the difference.

"If you start your science fair project, don't say, 'I won't finish it, it's too hard," he said. "Just keep trying with a positive mood. If you keep trying, everything is going to happen."

Math and science have long competed for a top spot on Mukhamadiev's list of favourite school subjects, but he said this year science is winning out.

"From my childhood I loved science and math, but this year I think science is the most interesting subject in my school year," he said.

Mukhamadiev said he would like to thank his family and staff at his school for their support while he worked on his project.

This year's Canada-Wide Science Fair takes place from May 10 to 17.

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