About the Invention

For her science fair project, grade seven student Liana Greiner based her project on a problem that she identified which she felt needed a clever solution. The needles and cones that fell from the Ponderosa pines in her neighborhood were a nuisance and a fire hazard. "The idea for my project came from the thought that there must be a useful way to use all the pine cones and pine needles in my yard," Liana said. So she set out to create an inexpensive and effective homemade fire-starter by combining the pine needles and pinecones with dryer lint, cardboard wrapping tubes and paraffin wax.

In the fall of 1999, she began work on her invention. Her first task was to collect a large quantity of pine needles. At the time, the pine needles were damp, so she let them dry over the winter months. She completed her first prototype in March. Liana had some help from her parents during the experimental stage to ensure safety during burning tests. The resulting product is waterproof, resembles a small stick of dynamite and works as well or better than other commercial fire-starter products.

Liana's invention has been a tremendous success. Her teacher says that the invention shows all the benchmarks of innovation. Liana's teacher wasn't the only person who thought so because she won the following awards:

• Silver Medal Winner Okanagan Regional Science Fair 2000
• Gold Medal Winner Backdrop Regional Science Fair 2000
• Grade 7- Regional Science Fair Academic Excellence Award
• Chevron Canada Award- Alternative Energy
• British Columbia Agrologists Award

For now, Liana plans to market her product through word-of-mouth while she's at summer camp. In the future she hopes to be able to market the fire starter through the Internet and through campsites.

About the Inventor

Liana finds experimenting a lot of fun, and she also enjoys making things. No wonder she was able to come up with a very successful product for her science fair project. She likes using ordinary materials from around her house in order to create something new and exciting.

She experienced several challenges in developing her invention. She found it difficult to decide what materials to use, and she says, "It took a long time to figure out quantities. It also took a lot of time to convert the experiment into a written form." The support of her parents, her homeroom teacher, Mr. Scott Edwards, and her enrichment teacher, Ms. Shirlene Peters was important in the development and production of the fire starter. Even her grandmother provided support by contributing the backdrop for her science fair presentation.

At present, she is considering becoming a teacher, but for now she does what other twelve-year-olds do - she plays softball, volleyball, and hangs out with friends.