STUDENTS of a Government school in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh have prepared eco-friendly Ganesha idols in their chemistry lab from potash alum, a water purifying chemical compound, to spread the message of “science for environment”. The group of eight students from the Venkat Higher Secondary Excellence School No 1 struck on the idea last week during their class with their chemistry teacher Dr Ramanuj Pathak. The idols, about 1.5 ft tall, were moulded and prepared on Ganesh Chaturthi day on September 10.

 

“We were discussing in the class about how idols, statues made of plaster of paris and paint pollute the environment and damage the ecosystem after immersion. It was then that we decided to put science into action and hence the idea to create eco-friendly Ganesha idols of alum in our chemistry laboratory came about,” Pathak told PTI. Pottasium alum or simply called alum is a water purifier and a double-salt chemical compound which not only purifies water but also leaves no harmful residue. Alum also has antiseptic properties and multiple medicinal uses, he said. “When we immerse idols made of alum into water bodies they are not polluted but instead cleansed,” Pathak said. Those made from plaster of paris are hard and insoluble in water as they have calcium sulphate and end up polluting and choking the water body.