By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Experimentation and dressing up eggs.
Brandywine Elementary held its science fair and family fun night Tuesday.
The students created science projects in a number of categories such as physics, ecology, chemistry, zoology, medicine and engineering.
The students came up with some very interesting projects that included, which hairspray holds the best, what dissolves aspirin faster, how much energy is stored in a peanut and which brand of microwave popcorn is better.
Alicia Tackett, a 10-year-old fourth grader, won first prize for her what color candle burns faster. "I have been wondering this sort of thing for a long time, and I said something to my Mom and she thought it was a great idea. I had a lot of fun doing my experiment," Tackett said.
The students also participated in a dressed egg drop, where the objective was to construct at home a protective egg package.
The students brought in their packages and loaded them with a raw egg and dropped them from the scaffolding that was assembled in the gym, to a 100 cm target below.
Points were given for package size, target score and an unbroken egg.
In constructing the protective egg packages the students weren't allowed to use glass, metal, liquid or tacky materials, and mediums such as jello and sand were also not allowed to be used. A parachute was able to be added to the package.
The packages could not be over 1 kilogram in weight and could be no longer than 20 centimeters in length.
Parents and guest could participate in a number of activities while at the fair, such as slinky races, seeing how many erasers could be stacked on a single piece of folded up paper and does the color of a crayon determine if it sinks or floats.
They could also get a demonstration of the laptops used by the sixth graders in the Freedom to Learn program.