7th Grade Science Fair Interviews
by Maleeya Mickelson
After months of diligently working on their projects, from researching to experimenting to painstakingly assembling their boards, our 7th and 8th grade students have finally been able to showcase their hard work at the annual Science Academy Science Fair. This year saw many informative projects from the students aiming to solve a variety of problems with a creative approach. Congratulations to the following 7th grade students who won this year’s school Science Fair and who will be advancing on to the Los Angeles County Science Fair where they’ll represent The Science Academy STEM Magnet:
1st Place – Aiden Kim & Jayden Park
2nd Place – Jackson Rutner
3rd Place – Adam Young
Honorable Mention – Daniel Jang
I interviewed the 1st place winners, Aiden Kim and Jayden Park, and the 2nd place winner, Jackson Rutner, to learn more about their projects and their overall reflection on this year’s experience.
1st Place – Aiden Kim & Jayden Park | “What is an MFC?”
What was your hypothesis?
If bacteria in soil were to generate electricity with a microbial fuel cell (MFC), then it would generate more electricity than distilled water that has no bacteria to use and be able to power a microbial fuel cell.
What information was your project aiming to find out?
We were trying to find out if bacteria can generate electricity using a MFC or an alternative battery that collects energy by taking the electrons from biochemical reactions catalyzed by bacteria. We also were trying to find out if an MFC utilizing bacteria generates more electricity than an MFC using distilled water.
How did you conduct your experiment?
Our experiment utilized the power of electrogenic bacteria, such as E. coli, which are special types of microbes. Due to electrogenic bacteria being able to release electrons extracellularly, anodes in a MFC are able to take the electrons and harness them to electricity. Many of these types of electrogenic bacteria important to MFCs are commonly found in all types of soils. The overall set-up of our experiment consisted of two sets of two large containers connected by two small pipes. In one set, we put soil and bacteria food into one container and normal tap water with an oxygen generator in the other. The other set of containers was set up the same way, but instead of soil, we used distilled water and didn’t add any bacterial food because it is not needed for the distilled water. Once this was built, we used a volt multimeter to measure the amount of millivolts three times a day.
How did you overcome complications during the experimental process?
A complication we ran into was that the pipe connecting the two containers for our experiment was slowly leaking, potentially changing the amount of electricity generated. So, the real amount of electricity generated may be higher than our observation.
What were the results of your experiments?
Our results showed that the bacteria with MFC generated more electricity than distilled water with MFC, which supported our hypothesis. In our experiment, electricity was produced by the soil bacteria MFC, at an average of 5.04 mV. In the distilled water MFC, the amount of voltage generated remained roughly about 0 mV. In the soil MFC, the voltage pattern was increased and peaked at day 7, and the amount of voltage was then dropped. The reason behind the amount of voltage being reduced might have been that the food ran out, or the bacteria died/stopped growing.
What inspired you to choose this topic for your project?
We were scrolling on TikTok and found an interesting video about bacteria creating electricity, which led us to creating our project. The outcome of our experiment could be helpful to people in the future because MFCs could lead to a more efficient production of electricity.
If you were to do this project again (or one similar), what would you change?
If we were to do this project again, we would have tried to make a permanent MFC by adding bacteria food every week and seeing if the bacteria survives, or we would make our MFC generate more volts as our current MFC can only generate a couple millivolts.
What advice do you have for those participating in the science fair next year?
Always try your best and be your best at all times.
2nd Place – Jackson Rutner | “Tidal Trouble: How Does Different Tidal Patterns Affect Erosion?”
What was your hypothesis?
If different tidal patterns are compared to each other, then semidiurnal tides (a type of tidal pattern that cycles twice a day instead of once a day like diurnal tides) will cause the most erosion compared to diurnal tides because of a faster tidal pattern.
What information was your project aiming to find out?
I was trying to figure out how erosion in different places with different tidal patterns affect how fast the land loses mass.
How did you conduct your experiment?
My project uses a tank, chalk and a VEX v5 system. To prepare I code the VEX v5 system to have the motor move the styrofoam with a custom function to simulate diurnal tides. Afterwards, I put a block of chalk into one edge of the tank. To set up the system, I suspend the styrofoam with the metal plates at the bottom 0.5 inches below the top of the chalk. I fill the tank to the top of the chalk block with water. Now I run the program for two weeks or until the chalk is gone. To record my data, I weigh it by the end of the 2 weeks. For semidiurnal tides, I repeat the process with a custom function to simulate the semidiurnal tides. Finally, I repeat with no function for the control.
How did you overcome complications during the experimental process?
A complication I ran into was having a way to simulate the tides was tough and I even cracked the first tank I was going to use because of a faulty design to control the water level. To fix that problem I used rubber bumpers to hold tightly but not destroy the tank like I did in the previous iteration.
What were the results of your experiments?
According to the data collected, the hypothesis that if tides are compared to each other, semidiurnal tides will cause the most erosion compared to diurnal tides because of a faster tidal pattern appears to be incorrect. It would appear that the slower diurnal tides were able to have more impact because the surface of the water could be affected. The tides do seem too small to play a significant role in the grand scheme of things of the ocean. The project did have some errors, like the fact that it was not one solid eroded block. Also because the chalk absorbed water, it gained 10 ounces, changing the experiment.
What inspired you to choose this topic for your project?
I had a question in sixth grade in science class that Mr. Lewis did not know the answer to, and I could not just google it, so I decided I may as well have a science project that I was actually interested in so I would not put in lackluster effort to make sure that the project was enjoyable and relevant.
If you were to do this project again (or one similar), what would you change?
If I did this project again, I would make sure that the simulation had a greater effect on the water level because the styrofoam I used to control the water level was not thick enough to move the water the amount that I had hoped for in this experiment.
What advice do you have for those participating in the science fair next year?
Make sure that you like your project and have a unique and novel project – be sure you can’t just Google search the project type or the answer.
Pictures of Science Fair and Board Assemblies:
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