Explore 2000 Middle School Science Fair Finalists
Six students from Explore 2000 Middle School will participate in the Hudson County Science Fair as representatives of their school. Jonathan Pham is a third year student whose project tested three different methods of heat transfer: conduction, convection and radiation.
First year student Henry Jensen-Lim tested four types of water to see which one would make plants grow best. He tested tap water, Hudson River water, seltzer and Nestle bottled water.
Amanda Zweifler, another first year student presented a project called "Does music change your heartbeat?" She monitored the heartbeats of four different people while they each listened to four songs.
Three second year students worked together to present the effects of smoking on the human body. Alexander Vogiatzis, Andrew Kibalo, George Vogiatzis were interested and concerned about how smoking affects health.
Here are their stories in their own words.
Heat Transfer by Jonathan Pham
This years science fair was a new and exciting experience for me. With the new school, and the fact that it was my last year at Explore 2000,this science fair was a place where I wanted to demonstrate how much I really learned. I know that I and several of my classmates were nervous with the thought of meeting other students and people, yet in the end we were glad that we were able to show our knowledge and school spirit. It was satisfying to meet new people who were actually interested in looking at my project and the effort put into it. I was also very intrigued with the unique and creative projects the students around me did as well. I remember one girl did an experiment on how a guitar works, and another person did one about how music affects your lifestyle. One of the students in Explore did an experiment with quicksand. I loved this year’s science fair and will remember it well.
For my experiment, I tested the different methods of heat transfer. The three different methods were conduction, convection, and radiation. Conduction is travel through physical objects, convection is travel through liquids or gasses, and radiation is heat travel through infrared waves. I had to test each method and write down the results and research how temperature and heat work. This was an original idea, and was inspired by the flickering flames of the stove in my home. I remember explaining the process to many different people in the science fair and answering difficult questions on my project. It was very tiring, yet I enjoyed seeing people leave with a good understanding of what I tested.
Water for Plants by Henry Jensen-Lim
Effects of Smoking by \Alexander Vogiatzis, Andrew Kibalo, George Vogiatzis
As we witnessed countless people smoking daily, we were all eager to reveal to ourselves the damage that these people's bodies endured.
Large cigarette monopolies are still making innumerable amounts of money and we wanted to see what they were really selling to people. Soon after, all our experiences and memories of people smoking the Hudson County Science Fair came up. We believed that this was the perfect opportunity to showcase all of our curiosity for the effects of smoking cigarettes on the Human body. The three of us decided to take on our desired challenge. We all worked as a team and took numerous days and nights to succeed in our research and to find our answers.
Once we completed this stage we displayed all of our research and work on our science board. We were committed to inform the public on cigarette smoking and its effects on people. Lastly, just from one mission, we learned great amounts of information and we want to continue learning as much as we can from just our simple science experiment.
Does Music Change Your Heart Beat? by Amanda Zweifler
In the beginning, I did not know what to do for my science project. I started thinking about the things I like or I have a big interest in. Right away I knew my project had to be about music and people because I love being around people and I love music. I particularly like the beat which led me to my science fair project, "Does music change your heartbeat?" I surveyed 4 people and played 4 songs. I measured their heartbeat per minute. I enjoyed doing my project and liked the fact that it incorporated my two favorite things. In addition, it is very exciting to participate in the first science fair in the new facility.
