LAWRENCE: Science fair draws 175 projects

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   When Andrew Tziarris-Over would go grocery shopping with his father, he often noticed that organically grown fruits and vegetables were smaller in size than those grown with the help of synthetic fertilizers.
   That’s when it occurred to Andrew that maybe he could experiment growing flowers with — and without — synthetic fertilizers, to find out if the same principle applies to flowers. It also seemed like a good entry for the Lawrence Township public school district’s annual science and engineering fair.
   ”I wanted to do an experiment that would be helpful to people,” Andrew said Saturday afternoon, as people walked past the display board he had set up to illustrate his experiment. The fair was held at Lawrence Intermediate School.
   The experiment’s result? If you want to grow a plant from a bulb, all you need is tap water. But if you are growing a plant that has already sprouted, you need to use a synthetic fertilizer because it is stronger than organic fertilizers, said Andrew. He is a 6th-grader at Lawrence Intermediate School.
   Andrew’s experiment was among 125 projects that were judged at the 5th annual Lawrence Science and Engineering Fair. About 175 students in grades 4-8 signed up to enter their experiments, ranging from which beverage releases the most gas in the stomach — soft drinks, orange juice, Gatorade, milk, water or beer — to whether wearing a swim cap improves a competitive swimmer’s time in a race.
   (In case you’re interested, Sprite produced the most gas, followed by beer, apple juice that contains corn syrup, Coca-Cola and milk. The budding scientist wrote that “now I can tell my dad (beer) is not good for him.”)
   (And wearing a swim cap does improve a swimmer’s time. That’s because it keeps the swimmer’s hair tucked out of the way inside the cap. Hair equals resistance in the water, slowing down the swimmer’s race time — so wearing a swim cap is not a gimmick.)
   But it wasn’t all about the children’s experiments. High school and college students, as well as a smattering of adults, set up shop in the multipurpose room at Lawrence Intermediate School and showed the children and their parents some of the principles behind science.
   Allen Jones, who belongs to the American Chemical Society, let the children and their parents in on the science behind “glow” sticks. He demonstrated the release of chemicals that causes the sticks to glow.
   The dye emits light that is visible to the human eye, Mr. Jones said. If the glow stick is hot, the color is brighter and more intense, but it loses color quickly. But if the glow stick is cold, the color is not as bright, but it lasts longer, he said.
   A couple of tables away, Martin Wolf was spinning the “Wheel of Elements” — not the “Wheel of Fortune.” The Princeton University junior created a colorful wheel that contained the abbreviations for chemicals.
   Mr. Wolf encouraged the young visitors to spin the brightly colored wheel. When it stopped, he would look at the abbreviation and explain what it meant and how the chemical was used. For example, one child’s spin landed on Ti — short for titanium, which he said does not weigh much. Tennis racquets and hip replacement parts are made of titanium, he said.
   And Kelly Rypkema, one of two naturalists with the Mercer County Park Commission, displayed the skulls of several wild animals at her table. She asked the children to “read” the skulls and to tell her which ones would have been meat-eaters and which ones would have had a good sense of smell.
   (Hint — it’s based on the type of teeth and the size of the nasal passage. Animals with canine teeth and molars that had a sharp edge and a flat surface would eat meat and fruits and vegetables. Animals with large nasal passages have a more highly developed sense of smell.)
   Meanwhile, the Lawrence Science and Engineering Fair has grown in popularity since its inception five years ago, said Paul Lobben, who serves on the fair’s committee. It offers children an opportunity to apply the scientific method to projects of their own choosing, which helps to reinforce what they have learned, he said.
   ”The best way to get them interested in science is to give them a topic they can own,” Mr. Lobben said. “(They learn) how to do a research project. Ask ‘why this, why that.’ How do you answer the question? Most projects have a problem statement, then they come up with a hypothesis, or possible answer. Then, they test it.”
   ”It teaches the sequential thinking process — how to solve a problem. Critical thinking skills are in highly sought after by employers. Hopefully, (the fair) creates a desire for science and engineering,” Mr. Lobben said.