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The
inaugural Darke County Science Day at Greenville High School Feb. 19
attracted
31 students from six local school districts.
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‘Mind
over matter’ gets top nod at science event
By Bob Robinson
GREENVILLE – The inaugural Darke County Science Day at Greenville High
School attracted 31 students from six local school districts Feb. 19.
Two Tri-Village 10th graders, Gage Berghoff and Casey Puckett, took top
honors with their Behavioral/Social Science project, Mind Games, in the
inaugural Darke County Science Day at Greenville High School.
Greenville senior Sarah Herzog took 2nd place with her Chemistry
project, and Versailles 9th grader James McClure took third with his
Behavioral/Social Science project.
Five additional medal winners (in no order) were: Keenan Fraylick,
Tri-Village, Environmental Science; Francesca Masso-Rivetti,
Greenville, Behavioral/Social Science; Katelyn Hanes, Tri-Village,
Engineering Materials; Emma Campbell, Tri-Village, Chemistry; and
Denver Toner, Versailles, Transportation.
The Berghoff and Puckett Mind Games experiment asked ‘is it simply mind
over matter?’ The experiment investigated the feasibility of a low cost
EEG toy headset being used to control objects. Mattel’s MindFlex
headset measures brain waves. To control an object the user must be
able to manipulate their brain waves. The dependent variable was a
remote control car; brain waves were converted to digital information
and sent to the car. The experiment showed when participants were given
a positive stimulus, their attention increased and they were able to
control the car. “It really is mind over matter,” they said.
Herzog’s chemistry project dealt with ferrofluids containing
nanoparticles of iron compounds. When manipulated by strong magnetic
fields, the fluids spike sharply. Since ferrofluids are used to seal
parts of computers and in the medical field, it was important to
measure the magnitude of the spikes in proportion to the distance of
the magnet as well as the amount of ferrofluid. In her abstract, Herzog
noted she was able to form magnetite but was unable to get it to spike
since a glycerin substitute had to be used instead of
tetramethylammonium hydroxide. “It was a classroom environment,” she
said. “The chemical was too dangerous… corrosive and toxic.”
There were other options she could have used instead of the glycerin
but she ran out of time. “It took two weeks and four trials to form the
magnetite,” she added. “By then it was too late to test the other
options.”
McClure’s project tested to see if age made a significant difference in
the perception of time. Test subjects were asked under a controlled
situation to look at a picture of a tree from Yellowstone Park then say
when they thought two minutes had passed. McClure analyzed it in
Microsoft Excel and found average times for individual age groups
showed no correlation to the predicted data curve. He found his
hypothesis was not supported by the data.
According to Janice Michael, Edison Community College, the inaugural
Darke County event is part of the Upper Miami Valley Science Days.
Miami County held its event the previous week, Champaign County held
theirs Feb. 20. All 13 students who received Superior rating in this
event will go to the District Science Fair at Central State University
March 22.
The other ‘superior’ student projects were conducted by Courtney Vogel,
Wesley Wilson and Haley Yount, Versailles, Animal Husbandry; Ashley
Murphy, Ansonia, Behavioral/Social Science; Hannah Grilliot, Lauren
Heitkamp and Emily Kramer, Versailles, Chemistry; Quintin Muhlenkamp,
Greenville, Engineering Materials; and Jenna Frantz, Versailles,
Physics.
Special awards were presented to Vogel, Wilson and Yount by BASF
Corporation; McClure by McMurray; Herzog by BASF; Grilliot, Heikamp and
Kramer by Aptalis Pharmatech; Hanes by Darke County Economic
Development; Toner by BASF, Fraylick by BASF, Berghoff and Puckett by
McMurray, Campbell by BASF and Frantz by Darke County Economic
Development. Berghoff and Puckett were noted for best presentation of
data, Frantz for best abstract and Herzog for best project, Greenville.
Entries were judged on knowledge achieved, use of scientific method,
clarity of expression and originality and creativity. Students fifth
grade and above were eligible to enter.
Published courtesy
of The Early Bird
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Sarah
Herzog, senior at Greenville High School, won second place for her
chemistry project.
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Olivia
Wright, sixth grader from Ansonia Elementary, talks with a judge about
her project, the role of
music when studying or taking tests.
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Jenna
Frantz, Versailles, Physics
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Zachary Baughman, Greenville, Science
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Hannah
Grilliot, Lauren Heitkamp and Emily Kramer, Versailles
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Olivia
Wright, Ansonia Elementary
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