Bouncing ball leads to science fair success

Holy Family School student Brennan Bizon turned his love of basketball into an experiment and his effort won him a superior rating during the State Science Day May 6.

“I wanted to find out how balls bounced and whether larger or smaller balls bounce higher,” Bizon said.

Bizon used Baden balls and video recorded their bounce from various heights with different air pressure and temperatures. When all the data were graphed, he found larger balls bounced higher.

“It’s because of energy,” the seventh-grader said.

The Boardman resident’s experiment won him a superior rating along with 13 of his fellow classmates at Holy Family Feb. 10.

He was one of four students from the school who went on to compete during Lake to River Science Day at Youngstown State University. After he earned another superior rating, Bizon headed for state competition where he earned 38 out of 40 possible points.

“I conducted an experiment and it ended up being a lot of fun,” said Bizon. “The science fair gave me a great opportunity to learn and excel.”

Bizon’s teacher, Charlotte Eskay, said science fair projects offer so many opportunities for learning. She said the projects let students follow the scientific method and allows them to use critical thinking, logic, research and computer skills.