Somers sixth grade science fair

Somers Middle School gymnasium was packed from wall to wall for students, parents, teachers and judges for the fourth annual sixth grade science fair on Jan. 26. Twenty-four Flathead High School baccalaureate students volunteered to be judges and six of them were previous students of SMS.

“I attended SMS and we didn't do this when I was in sixth grade, but it will definitely prepare them for high school,” science fair judge Brittany Earnest said. “It really shows their personality and what they like to do.”

Students began work on their science fair projects just prior to Christmas in Mrs. Ford's science class and their projects have been their main focus for the last month.

Projects ranged from testing carpet cleaners to finding out what kind of snow terrain is fastest for snowboarding. Sixth grade student and avid snowboarder David Gillette wanted to know which terrain would allow him to go the fastest, so he timed himself snowboarding from point A to point B on groomed and powdery terrain then compared the results.

 Gillette's science fair project results surprised him, despite his previous experience with snowboarding, when he found that powdery terrain generates faster speeds.

 “My hypothesis was groomed (terrain) because it's icy and icy starts out fast,” Gillette said. “If a beginner is on a hill in their backyard, they could practice with the right type of snow.”

Ford reported no explosions from the students' projects this year, but Logan Borth's project came close with his mentos candy and soda experiment. Borth found that pepsi presented the most potent reaction when combined with mentos, launching the bottle 13 feet; diet coke went 10 and root beer only went three.

“I got the idea from last year when we did mentos fountains, so I decided to try it,” Borth said.

Shianna Kempter and Teka Cetron also presented an unusual science fair project by working together to study a hedgehog

“We wanted to learn more about her and see what her favorite food is,” Cetron said.

“I wanted to see her reaction to different stimulation by poking her back and sides,” Kempter added.

By testing and observing their subject the girls found that the hedgehog preferred cat food to fruit, vegetables and meat. They also found that hedgehogs are easily frightened.

Andrew Meccia added a modern twist to the classic science fair project of using fruit to generate electricity. Meccia wanted to find out how much fruit was needed to power a wireless Xbox 360 controller and which fruit could do it the best.

Meccia knew he needed 3 volts to get the controller working and found that lemons could generate one volt, grapes could make three-quarters and potatoes could only make a half-volt.

Although he was disappointed to find it would take about nine or ten lemons to power his controller, he was still surprised by the outcome and that the controller still works after experimenting on it.

 “I'm really proud of them, it was a lot of independent work,” Ford said.