Clifford Byungho Kim

PENNSYLVANIA

Clifford Byungho Kim, 18, of Wexford, used two Pyrex plates, a wedge, four liquids, a camera and graph paper to reconfirm and expand concepts developed in 1712 for his Intel Science Talent Search project in chemistry on capillary action in narrow gap space. In his home laboratory, Cliff verified that the rise of fluids in narrow tubes was inversely related to tube diameter and further demonstrated that fluid viscosity, surface tension and fluid adhesion to Pyrex modified these relationships when tube diameters were significantly less than 1 mm. Water wicking in concrete basements and the development of new non-wetting materials may potentially benefit from his studies. Cliff's project was inspired by his earlier research using gum balls and M&M candies to explore particle packing densities in tubes of various sizes. A gold, silver and bronze medalist at the World Piano Competition, he has soloed twice at Carnegie Hall and once at the U.N. Performance for Peace. First in his class of 656 at North Allegheny Senior High School, Cliff aspires to study physical science at Harvard or MIT, and teach and conduct academic research in the surface sciences. Cliff is the son of Hong and Yookyung Kim.