Hurley Middle Students Gear Up For Science Expo

A seven foot tall pink windmill will be just one of many projects that will be displayed at this year’s Science Expo on February 2.

The windmill was made by seventh grader Morgan Platt and was set up outside each of the schools in town to see which location produced the most wind power as measured by a voltmeter.

Hannah MacDonald’s project measured the buoyancy of a variety of foods in a carbonated solution. MacDonald saw an experiment that showed raisins being dropped in cola and then floating to the top when air bubbles attached to their surface, before bursting and returning to the bottom.

“It’s fun seeing how different the results were from what you expected to be,” MacDonald said.

Andrew Silviera tested the effectiveness of different mouth pieces for his project.

Silviera has played hockey since he was two years old and wanted to see which brand of mouthpiece was the most effective at absorbing impact since mouth guards are an important part of concussion prevention.

“I feel like I can make a difference with this,” Silviera said.

Sarah Gingras also was inspired by her sister in cosmetology school to test which brand of nail polish would go the longest without chipping.

She used a set of wax hands to test the more expensive OPI brand versus the Sally Hansen brand from Target and went through her every day routines with the hands, including showering and doing homework. Neither brand chipped until the seventh day of the experiment.

“It shows that even though that OPI is pricier, it doesn’t make it better,” Gingras said.

All of the students said they had fun with their projects and enjoyed the hands-on learning experience as opposed to the traditional in class lectures.

“I think it’s a better way to learn,” MacDonald said.