KUDOS to the kid.
Without further experimentation, it's hard to really say if what he came up with is actually viable and overall more stable. I would advise the family, and others, to make note of what the kid came up with, and watch out for ideas that seem to be the same, but with more research behind them to "prove" it, without a single nod in his direction. Jealousy can play dirty in the hands of "experts."
Good job, I say again, to the kid, as science also has a habit of thinking inside the box only, until someone else thinks outside it, and has enough evidence to beat the rest over the head (and time for the rest to accept they were wrong, or lied.)
I leave with a fictional anecdote that some may recognize as the work of the late Douglass Adams. Scientists were beating themselves over the head on trying to develop an infinite improbability drive, after they managed to design a finite improbability drive. Then someone came along (and was labeled a smart-*** for doing this) and decided to feed the improbability of an infinite improbability drive to the existing finite improbability drive... and voile, the infinite improbability drive was created. My point: Try everything, don't overlook the obvious, or possible solutions outside of the box that science dictates... You never know what you'll learn.
