Scientists take over Riverview School for a day

Ken Johnston
Editor

After weeks of hard work researching, experiments and assembling displays to show the results of them, Riverview Elementary School students opened their doors to the public last week for the annual science fair.
81 exhibits were on display for students from grades 4-8 and subjects covered a wide range of subjects.
Josh Wilson’s project was called Plant Growth and Water. He learned that there needs to be more water during germination of seeds than when the plant is growing above ground.
Shane Dixon did a project on circuitry showing how to complete a circuit and how a certain amount of wattage can power different sized light bulbs.
Mitchell Seguin did a classic test of battery power as did Danny Usiski. Both conducted experiments to see what type of battery lasts the longest. Seguin used a light on Duracell, Die Hard and Mallory Super Heavy Duty batteries. He found the Duracell lasted the longest and Mallory the least. Usiski tested how long Duracell batteries would last when subjected to different temperatures.
Dayna Seguin conducted a plant growing experiment putting different compounds in each growing cell to see if they would aid growth. She discovered that tea bags and coffee grounds aided growth while fish food and kool-aid had no effect on growth.
Ethan Swentik also tackled a plant experiment that involved two different kinds of plant food. He found that Schultz plant food worked better than Miracle Gro in stimulating plant growth. He attributed that to Schultz having higher levels of nitrogen, phosphate and potash in it.
Kelsey Quibell did an experiment on her violin using different sizes of strings. She learned that the thicker the string the lower the notes played by the instrument.
Other experiments involved yeast fermentation, proving if molecules exist, milk proteins, friction, the effects of cola on teeth, and many more.
After the fair was done last Thursday judges chose six students to go onto the Regionals in Fort Frances March 12-13, 2002. They are Alyssa Jodoin (gr. 4) for her experiment on Insulation; Kelsey Quibell (gr. 5) for her experiment on Vibrations; Nicole Sharpe (gr. 6) for her experiment on washing bacteria from one’s hands with dish soap; Ethan Swentik for(gr. 7) his experiment on Fertilizers; Britany Jasper (gr. 8) for her experiment on Iron; and Shantelle Davidson for her experiment on Proteins.