Tuesday, September 16, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A weeklong effort intended to encourage young people to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, kicked off with a bang Monday afternoon – several bangs, really -- replete with exploding watermelons, pingpong guns and other demonstrations that wowed the students.
"Who wants to see some things explode?" asked Katie Seminara of more than 250 students in the sixth through 12th grades at the Chaney STEM/VPA Campus. They answered with enthusiastic cheers.
With that explosive question, Seminara, assistant manager at Oh Wow! The Roger and Gloria Jones Children's Center for Science and Technology, helped kick off the Seven Days of STEM, a broad series of STEM community events sponsored by Oh Wow! and numerous other partners.
"It's a celebration of STEM education," Seminara said. "We want people to understand that they're in an area that is on the cutting edge of STEM innovation."
The STEM festival continues through Friday. Among the events are exhibitions on art and technology at the Butler Institute of American Art, a NASA presentation, “Astronaut for a Day,” at the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County, a program at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor that features the Niles Fire Brick project, local food initiatives, and a visit to the Oak Hill Makerspace open house.
The Oh Wow! staff took to the stage at Chaney auditorium and demonstrated several science experiments that involved dry ice, liquid nitrogen, and how pressure affects mass.
Using nothing but the elastic energy of a large quantity of rubber bands, students were called on stage to demonstrate how applied force and pressure can cause a watermelon to explode.
Audra Carlson, Oh Wow! education manager, showed students how liquid nitrogen interacts with air as a rolling cloud of dry gas was produced when she spilled a batch on the floor of the stage.
Many students were equally awed when Carlson demonstrated what happens when hydrogen peroxide is mixed with potassium iodine. "It causes our hydrogen peroxide to release oxygen molecules," Carlson told them, resulting in what appeared to be gobs of multicolored foam protruding from a line of test tubes.
Howard Mettee, professor of physical chemistry at Youngstown State University, provided background on how the Periodic Table of the elements was developed and demonstrated how dry ice, or solid carbon dioxide, moves from a solid to a gaseous stage.
Mike Hripko of America Makes, brought with him samples of prototypes and designs that a 3-D printer created at the center. America Makes, he told students, is part of President Obama's effort to create a network of manufacturing research hubs across the county. The first, America Makes, is downtown.
Additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, Hripko said, will transform production methods over the world. "Hip and knee replacements, for example -- each of us one day will have custom-knee replacements" that will fit more precisely because they were properly scanned and printed to fit each human body.
Hripko said a 3-D printer would soon be installed in the International Space Station. That means should a component malfunction in the spacecraft, a replacement part could be transmitted as a digital file and printed right inside the station.
Students were introduced to the role a civil engineer plays and the demands of that profession. Charles Uray, a Chaney High School and YSU graduate and a retired civil engineer, explained to students how he was instrumental in designing and building the highway system in the Mahoning Valley during the 1950s and 1960s.
"We received $25 million in federal funds to build a highway system called I-680," he told students. Uray also helped design and build portions of Interstate 76 to the Stark County line and Interstate 80 to the Pennsylvania line.
"That's what we civil engineers do," he said. "I also did sanitary engineering work and designed water systems all over the world."
The presentation at Chaney was Oh Wow's first staged event at a local school, Seminara said, and she “is very pleased” with the enthusiasm the Chaney STEM students showed. "We really want to generate excitement in the area."
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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