MONROE - Third-grader Ally Einbeck can tell you what those strings in celery are called. Fifth-grader Jack Schluesche will let you know which brand of paper towel is most absorbent. Third-grader Gus Waller can demonstrate Isaac Newton's first law of motion.
Students waited by their science displays for the judges to come at St. Victor's Science Fair on Thursday.
If they were nervous, no one could tell, as words like plasticine, xylem tubes or malachite slid easily from their tongues.
Fourth-grader Clare-Michaela Hughes was excited and nervous.
"I didn't know what the judges would like, or if I would mess up," she said.
Each student's project was evaluated by two judges.
"So if you mess up, you have another chance," Hughes explained.
Hughes was demonstrating that potatoes make electricity, using a voltmeter as verification. She said she chose the experiment "because it looked hard."
"I like it, because it's cool. I didn't know potatoes could produce electricity," she said.
The fourth-graders do weekly experiments in science classes, which Hughes believes is a big help for preparing for a science fair.
"You learn more from doing, and understand more about it," she said.
Gus Waller demonstrated how an object in motion remains in motion. He spent much of his time flicking a plastic chip which never failed to replace the bottom one in a stack of chips.
He found his physics experiment in a book, "730 Science Experiments."
"It was the best one in the book," he said.
During his fair preparation, Waller learned about the scientist Isaac Newton.
"I didn't know Isaac Newton made that law," he said. "He's really old - he's dead."
Ally Einbeck used the unusual term "xylem tubes," those fibrous strings in celery, while explaining her experiment. She found her experiment from a science movie shown in class.
Einbeck's experiment showed how plants use xylem tubes to draw up liquids, in this case, colored water.
Fifth-grader Maximilian Waller, Gus' brother, tested the acidity of vinegar, lemon juice and water. Max demonstrated how a mixture of vinegar and salt created a product strong enough to shine a penny "as bright as the sun" in about a minute - and with no scrubbing. He held up a cleaned 1961 penny as sparkling as a new coin.
The solution cleans the copper oxide from the old, dark pennies. But if the penny is not dried thoroughly, he said drying a penny with his shirt, it develops a turquoise blue patina, called malachite.
Jack Schluesche rated paper towel absorbency, and learned something every mother and father of young scientists want to know: Which paper towel is best?
According to Schluesche's experiments, it's Bounty.
Students waited by their science displays for the judges to come at St. Victor's Science Fair on Thursday.
If they were nervous, no one could tell, as words like plasticine, xylem tubes or malachite slid easily from their tongues.
Fourth-grader Clare-Michaela Hughes was excited and nervous.
"I didn't know what the judges would like, or if I would mess up," she said.
Each student's project was evaluated by two judges.
"So if you mess up, you have another chance," Hughes explained.
Hughes was demonstrating that potatoes make electricity, using a voltmeter as verification. She said she chose the experiment "because it looked hard."
"I like it, because it's cool. I didn't know potatoes could produce electricity," she said.
The fourth-graders do weekly experiments in science classes, which Hughes believes is a big help for preparing for a science fair.
"You learn more from doing, and understand more about it," she said.
Gus Waller demonstrated how an object in motion remains in motion. He spent much of his time flicking a plastic chip which never failed to replace the bottom one in a stack of chips.
He found his physics experiment in a book, "730 Science Experiments."
"It was the best one in the book," he said.
During his fair preparation, Waller learned about the scientist Isaac Newton.
"I didn't know Isaac Newton made that law," he said. "He's really old - he's dead."
Ally Einbeck used the unusual term "xylem tubes," those fibrous strings in celery, while explaining her experiment. She found her experiment from a science movie shown in class.
Einbeck's experiment showed how plants use xylem tubes to draw up liquids, in this case, colored water.
Fifth-grader Maximilian Waller, Gus' brother, tested the acidity of vinegar, lemon juice and water. Max demonstrated how a mixture of vinegar and salt created a product strong enough to shine a penny "as bright as the sun" in about a minute - and with no scrubbing. He held up a cleaned 1961 penny as sparkling as a new coin.
The solution cleans the copper oxide from the old, dark pennies. But if the penny is not dried thoroughly, he said drying a penny with his shirt, it develops a turquoise blue patina, called malachite.
Jack Schluesche rated paper towel absorbency, and learned something every mother and father of young scientists want to know: Which paper towel is best?
According to Schluesche's experiments, it's Bounty.