It’s practically a Las Vegas rite of passage to hop around wildly after stepping barefoot onto burning hot concrete by the pool during the blistering hot summer.
But you want to know what’s worse? Stepping onto artificial turf.
Artificial turf, which absorbs heat, can get much hotter than concrete and result in serious burns, especially in the Mojave Desert.
So it only makes sense that a group of Las Vegas students came up with a way to easily lower the temperature of artificial turf. They will be feted for their innovation with an all-expense paid trip to Washington DC this week.
The students who developed the turf are brothers Tony and Trevor Olivas and Milosz Fernandez-Kepka and they all go to St. Viator's Catholic School.
The boys told KNPR's State of Nevada that the idea to improve artificial turf after they noticed steam coming off their soccer cleats.
They used infrared cameras to detect and compare the heat of artificial turf to concrete, the human body and natural grass.
They found all kinds of things were much cooler than the turf.
"It was a little weird to think that something I had played on since was 4 could get that hot," Tony said.
The boys then decided part of the problem was the color of the turf. They remembered how their mothers had asked them to wear white T-shirts during the summer not a black one, which absorbs heat.
The would-be scientists then experimented with the color of the grass.
They realized no one would want white grass so they created a green-yellow grass that looked like grass but reflected more light.
They also worked on the infill which is what gives artificial turf some bounce. Right now, it is black crumb rubber, but the boys found compacted clay worked better at reducing the heat.
"Something we found very surprising was that the infill mattered more than the actual color of the turf itself," the boys said.
In fact, they found the current artificial turf was the hottest than all the other ways they tested the turf. The color change and clay infill created a 10 to 20 degree difference, according to the students.
Their teacher Johana Franklin said she is very proud of the boys and what they've accomplished.
The competition the boys entered is focused on STEM, or science, technology, engineering or math, solutions for community problems.
"All you have to do is focus on a community problem, so as long as it is based on your community and you're trying to improve that community you can compete," Franklin explained.
The boys have a chance at a $5,000 first place prize.
Tony Olivas, eighth grader, St. Viator Catholic School; Trevor Olivas, eighth grader, St. Viator Catholic School; Johana Franklin, advisor, science teacher, St. Viator Catholic School
