Science Fair 2008
Judy Mauriello
Reflecting a growing interest in the environment among young people,
approximately 35% of the projects in the 2008 Anne Arundel County
Regional Science and Engineering Fair were entered in environmental,
energy, power or transportation categories. The Anne Arundel
Group of the Sierra Club awarded four prizes for outstanding
environmental projects.
Our first prize, The Anne Arundel Sierra Club Mike Rixham Memorial
Award went to Luke Andraka, a 7th grader at Chesapeake Science
Point Public Charter School, for The Effectiveness of Limestone
Aggregate to Mitigate Acid. A kayaker on the Cheat River,
Luke noticed the effect of the acidic waters on his boat. He wondered
what could be done to mitigate the effects of the acid mine drainage
from abandoned coal mines. He knew that limestone has been used
to help revive streams. His question: What size limestone
aggregate best mitigates the pH of acid mine drainage? Luke’s
experiments confirmed his hypothesis that, since small, sand size
particles of limestone have the greatest surface area for their weight
they would best raise the pH. Luke built a sluice-like device to
test four sizes of limestone aggregate and three control groups.
The data shows that the rise in pH increases as the aggregate size
decreases. Luke is now using his results while working with The
Friends of the Cheat River to try to clean up some of the small streams
flowing into the Cheat. Luke received a plaque and $100 gift card
for Eastern Mountain Sports.
Three students received Certificates of Merit and $50 gift cards for
Eastern Mountain Sports for their excellent projects:
Christina Brinster, a 10th grader at Kent Island High School, received
a Certificate of Merit for her project, Island Biogeography and
Species Equilibrium Analysis. Christina has studied forest
fragments on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for the past few
years. She is looking at how the size and location of forest
fragments, or islands, relates to the number of species of birds living
in the forest. Her data shows that as the size of the forest
fragments increased, the number of species moving in and out of the
forest both decreased. They did this in such a way that the
average number of species increased as the size of the forest increased.
Mattie J. Kobus, an 8th grader from Brooklyn Park Middle earned a
Certificate of Merit for her study, An enemy Among Us: Pollution in
Our Environment. Mattie looked at two forms of
pollution, air (represented by car exhaust fumes) and water (samples
taken from Curtis Creek in Curtis Bay, MD). Mattie monitored the
growth of four Fittonia Red Vein plants in controlled environments: 1.
fresh air and water, 2. fresh air and polluted water, 3. polluted air
and fresh water, and 4. polluted air and water.Each plant was grown in
its own greenhouse and watered every four days. The two plants
with polluted air were exposed daily to car exhaust fumes.
Mattie’s data verified her hypothesis, that the plant with the clean
environment grew the most.
A seventh grader at Chesapeake Bay Middle, Jacob Prucnal, earned a
Certificat of Merit for his project, Chesapeake Bog Water Quality
Study. Students at Jacob’s school are working to create a
bog. He wanted to verify that a bog’s effluent actually has
better water quality than the bog’s influent. He hypothesized
that the filtering features of a bog would improve the quality of the
water flowing through it. Jacob used pH, total suspended solids,
nitrite levels and total setteable solids to determine water
quality. A total of 24 water samples were taken at the North Gray
Bog influent and effluent points. Test results confirmed Jacob’s
hypothesis.
The Sierra Club wishes to thank Lou and Susan Rixham for their
generosity in supporting the Sierra Club’s participation in the Science
Fair. We appreciate their belief that the awards are a fitting
tribute to their son Mike.
Thank you also to our members, who donated their morning to judging the
students work: Dave Barry, Susan Broaddus, Rob McEachern, Mary
Mitchell, Ellen Penndorf, Joe Pepin, Mary Porcella , David Prosten,
Mary Seidel, Ed Wintermute, and Ron Wolfe.
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