On Wednesday, December 14th, Mapleton Jr. High had our annual science fair. There were many great projects this year. Thank you to all who came and participated in the event! The following students placed and will take their project to the Nebo School District Science Fair coming in February.
9th Grade
1st place (tie)-Anne Wake
Project Question: Do males or females verbalize frustration first?
Experiment: For my experiment, I had 11 males and 11 females play the “moron test.” During the test, I timed how long it took them to verbalize their frustration. The end results proved that males verbalize their frustration first.
1st place (tie)-Madisen Ontiveros
Project Question: How can geothermal energy power a community?
Experiment: My experiment was to see which way of wing geothermal energy would be most efficient. My results were that the more wells you had connected to the earth would result in better energy and power.
8th grade
1st place- Haydon Cooper
Project Question: What lubricant makes the bearing spin the longest?
Experiment: For my project I wanted to see which lubricant is the best. I put my bearing on a wooden dowel and clamped it in place with a vise. I spun the bearing with a drill on the highest speed and timed until the bearing stopped. I repeated this for all the lubricants, cleaning the bearings with contact cleaner each time. In the end only one lubricant, powdered graphite, spun longer than no lubricant at all.
2nd place-Sophie Hill and Abby Crandall
Project Question: Can you taste the color?
Experiment: How we tested our project was we took vanilla pudding and put food coloring in the pudding. We had 3 colors: green, reddish pink, and plain vanilla color. We had people taste the pudding and we asked them what flavor they thought it was. We tested people from ages 5-18+. All the kids 5-9 thought the flavor was based on the color (example: green=lime). Everyone else from ages 10+ took time to taste the pudding and almost everyone knew they were all vanilla.
3rd place (tie)-Marjia Farris and Brinley Nelson
Project Question: How does smell affect taste?
Experiment: For our experiment we wanted to see how smell affects taste. We took 3 high school aged boys and had them eat chicken nuggets in 5 different types of aromas. The 5 aromas were: normal, pumpkin scentsy, stinky shoes and socks, perfume, and balsamic vinegar. We concluded that smell does affect taste.
3rd place (tie)-Madi Rosser
Project Question: What happens to underwater plants when I add oil to the plants? (acting like an oil spill)
Experiment: I had 4 aquatic plants, each the same type. I placed them in 4 separate jars and labeled them plant A-D. Plant A had oil, B had gasoline, C had red food coloring, and D was my control with water. I observed the plants for 2-3 weeks and noted any changes. Plant B, C, and D were all in bad condition. Plant B had no leaves on it, Plant C’s roots turned red and the leaves had started to change color, and Plant D was not healthy at all. Plant A, however, looked brand new. It was a funny turnout for my experiment and I believe that if I had used something to put around Plant A’s jar to stop the sun rays from reaching the plant, the results would be different. I had a lot of fun with the experiment and try my experiment again with another theory.
7th grade
1st place-Trevor Jeppson
Project Question: How many magnets will light up a light the best in a light shake?
Experiment: I made two shake lights and hooked a LED light to them. Then I put in magnets and shook them to see how the light lights up. My hypothesis was that the 5 magnets would work the best. My hypothesis was wrong—3 magnets could light the light very bright, but 5 magnets gave no light at all.