It’s science fair season again — time for countless sixth-graders to test whether it’s OK to eat stuff within five seconds of dropping it on the ground.
It’s amazing how many young scientists gravitate to that particular experiment. No fewer than three exhibits at the San Francisco Middle School Science Fair were devoted to testing the Five Second Rule, that beloved chestnut of the science fair lineup.
This year an entirely new generation dropped food on the ground, quickly picked it up, rubbed it into petri dishes and counted up all the disgusting little bacteria colonies that appeared.
Those who didn’t do that were busy counting the bacteria on basketballs, testing which chewing gum flavors last longest, dipping strawberries into vinegar, hitting baseballs with different kinds of bats and trying to figure out why, exactly, bicycles are easier to pedal when you pump up the tires.
About 130 young people from 28 middle schools around town brought their poster-board-mounted displays, folded neatly in thirds in the science fair way, to the Randall Museum for the 38th annual fair.
Henry Sly, 12, won third place for determining — with a force meter — that it takes three times as much effort to make his bicycle move when the tires are flat as when they aren’t.
“I already knew you were supposed to pump the tires,” he said, “but now I’ve proven it.’’
Aaron Moses, 13, tested whether mustard plants or turnip plants are better at removing toxic substances from water. Turnips lost. It’s not easy being a turnip around middle schoolers.
“We should plant a lot more mustard,” Aaron said. “Not so much turnips.”
Sydnie Kwan, 13, dipped strawberries into vinegar to see whether it would make them take longer to get moldy. It didn’t. She also discovered, as a corollary, that strawberries dipped in vinegar don’t taste that great.
As for the Five Second Rule, it’s a nice idea but it doesn’t work. Food dropped on the ground gets filthy right away, the testers found out, and there were lots of pictures of bacteria, neatly mounted to the poster board with adhesive spray, possibly by the scientists and possibly by the scientists’ moms.
The science fair organizers were not stingy with the award ribbons. Every single exhibit at the fair won a ribbon. There were no fewer than 60 ribbons for first, second and third place. Everyone else got an honorable mention ribbon.
An award went to a young scientist who discovered that raw eggs are going to break if you put a 30-pound barbell on them. An award went to a young scientist who discovered that most customers at Starbucks do not hold the door open for the next customer. An award went to a young scientist who discovered that 60% of skateboarders do not wear a helmet. An award went to a young scientist who discovered that lecture notes taken longhand are more likely to be remembered than lecture notes taken on a keyboard.
And an award went to a young scientist who discovered that mint-flavored chewing gum lasts about twice as long as strawberry-lime-flavored chewing gum.
“Never buy strawberry-lime gum,” that scientist wrote, by way of data analysis.
This year, only one young scientist dropped Mentos candies into various bottles of soda to see which one creates the highest exploding geyser. Traditionally, Diet Coke wins. But that particular experiment has been done almost as many times as dropping rocks from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Mentos-Diet Coke thing has seen its day.
“Things tend to run in cycles,” said Romina Benedict, the science fair coordinator.
Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF
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March 02, 2020 at 02:00AM
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SF science fairs give a boost to middle school imaginations - San Francisco Chronicle
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