Reasons for topic choice
While I was searching for a science expo topic, I thought about one of our family friends Nico Steenkamp. Nico has been working for PMC in Phalaborwa for the past 30 years. Phalaborwa is a small town in Limpopo province, close to Tzaneen where I grew up and my parents stayed for 17 years. We moved from Limpopo province about three years ago.
Vermiculite was what Nico specialized in and for a long time wanted to start his own business. Nico decided to start his own business about the same time we moved to Kwazulu Natal. I was always fascinated by all his stories Nico told and what they mined at Phalaborwa and how it worked.
After our discussion about what exactly vermiculite was and the uses of vermiculite, I was tempted to find out if you will be able to put vermiculite on the ceilings of houses to drop the temperature of houses. I chose this topic to try and see if Vermiculite really was a “miracle mineral”, I wanted to see how effective it can really insulate the cold. We all know electricity is very expensive and not everybody is able to afford it.…show more content… Hypothesis
I believe by placing vermiculite in the ceiling of a house the temperature inside the house is cooler.