BEST IN SHOW

Staff report

Poland

Eighth-grade students Brennan Bizon and Anne Alcorn earned Best of Show at Holy Family School’s Science Fair.

Seventh- and eighth-grade students participate in the science fair by completing a project that is judged by a panel of qualified science professionals. Charlotte Eskay is the science instructor for grades six through eight at the school.

Anne’s project is titled “Let’s Make A Deal.” She chose the topic because she was interested in how people can possibly win the best prize in a game show. She has always wanted to be on a game show such as “Jeopardy,” “Wheel of Fortune” or “Let’s Make A Deal.”

Anne’s hypothesis was that she thought there is a way to win the best prize by “switching to the remaining door.” She conducted an experiment in which 15 people play a game.

Eleven of those people stayed with their current door and out of those, eight lost and three won. Four of those people switched their choice of doors and all of them won.

She repeated an experiment of having one subject always switch their choice of door and a second subject always remained with their current door.

After repeating it 30 times, the first subject won 21 times and lost nine times while the second subject won eight times and lost 22 times.

Anne said her project was fun and that her hypothesis was proved because in her experimentation, when you switch your choice of door, you will most likely win.

Brennan chose his topic because this past summer he noticed paint chipping off the pillars on his family’s front porch.

He wanted to see if he could develop paint that lasted longer by using paint additives. He said paint fails from exposure to natural elements such as heat, freezing, dust and rain. Expansion and contraction (heating and cooling) leads to cracking in the painted surface and water seeping in.

The water can then freeze inside the paint and lead to flaking.

Brennan’s hypothesis stated that by modifying the binder using rubber particles, the life of the paint will be extended.

He thought that the paint would be more elastic and stand up better to expansion and contraction. He designed an experiment to test the elasticity as well as the adhesion of the paint called Max Stretch and Cycling.

The next two tests he developed were to track the adhesion of the paint. Those test were called Peel and Abrasion.

In his conclusion, he had some surprising results. He confirmed that by adding the rubber particles to the binder, he increased the elasticity of the paint, confirmed by the Max Stretch test. The Cycling test confirmed that the paint would withstand a higher number of cycles as well. However, he also discovered that the paint’s adhesion was significantly decreased when rubber cement was used.