Fairland Middle student takes top prize at county science fair

The Lawrence County Science Fair took place last week and the work of  the winner of the top project in the awards ceremony on Thursday at Ironton Middle School was a perfect example of the scientific method in action.

Kaylee Lucas, an eighth grader at Fairland Middle School, won first place for Best Overall Project with “Static Electricity and a Leyden Jar.”

“My question I was trying to answer was, ‘What materials conduct the most static electricity’” Lucas said, after winning the big trophy. “And so I hypothesized that, with clothes – material is a good conductor of static electricity, then polyester will conduct the most.”

Lucas tested four materials in her work — Wool, cotton, polyester and cotton polyester blend.

“But what I found was my hypothesis was actually proven wrong and that wool actually conducted the most,” she said.

The mark of a good scientist is not whether they always have a correct hypothesis, but instead in what they learn from testing that hypothesis.

Lucas’s passion for the subject was evident as she detailed, step by step, the process she followed, described what she learned from problems she encountered along the way and told how she was able to adapt her procedures to accurately carry out her experiment.

In determining how to conduct testing, Lucas said she did research and came across information on Leyden jars, created in the 1700s and later used heavily in experiments by Benjamin Franklin and others.

“It’s a fun experiment you can do from home,” she said. “It’s just made of a plastic water bottle and tinfoil and a little screw at the top.”

She said the problem she encountered was that there was no way to discharge the electricity that was being stored into the jar.

“So what I did, I connected some wire to the screw and connected it to a voltage meter,” Lucas said. “But then there was another problem there. From the voltage meter, the discharge was so rapid, the Leyden jar, you couldn’t even see it. So I used Ohm’s law to find what size resister I needed. The resistor slows down the electric current, so that way you would be able to see the voltage on the meter, to slow it down so you can actually read it.  So I connected the resistor to the Leyden jar and ran it from the voltage meter to the screw. So then from there, I went with my procedure.”

Next, Lucas said she used PVC pipe, knowing that it is a good conductor of electricity.

“I took my material and rubbed it up against the PVC pipe four times,” Lucas said. “And then I discharged it from the Leyden jar.”

She said she then discovered another phenomenon that she found “pretty interesting.”

“I found that the electrical current from the PVC pipe was jumping to the tinfoil instead of the screw, so I had to make sure to ground it,” she said. “I had to ground it and make sure all of the current was going straight into the screw on the top of the Leyden jar.”

Lucas said she repeated each step of the procedure twice.

“And, after I did that, I had this little switch that I attached to my voltage meter, so I wouldn’t be trying to read the voltage meter while I was working it,” she said. “So, what I did, I flipped the switch. I also found that I had to stand back a little bit, because the static electricity from my clothes was actually hopping onto the Leyden jar and it was causing the results to change on the voltage meter.”

Lucas said she would flip the switch and take a step back each time.

“I watched the voltage meter and, whatever number it topped out at was my answer for the results,” she said. “And I did that twice, so I had two testings of that material.”

Surprisingly, Lucas said this was her first try at competing at the county science fair, which is open to fifth through eighth grades. She said she has taken part in school fairs in the past, but this was her first time registering for the county level, in which she came away with the big win.

She said she has always had an interest in electrical things, along with computers.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “People told me I should try going into electrical engineering so I might do that. I’ve been thinking about it, I’ve always been interested in this stuff, so I just kind of geeked out on this project.”

More than 30 projects were entered into the county fair, which took place last week at Ironton Middle School and was coordinated by the Lawrence County Educational Service Center.

ESC superintendent Jeff Saunders said he and staff were amazed by the abilities of the students competing at it, as well as other ESC events, such as Quiz Bowl and the county spelling bee.

Lucas’s win was the second for her school in the countywide competitions. Another Fairland Middle student, Meredith Dunlap, won the county spelling bee in December.

Of the event, Saunders said, in addition to science education, the fair is important as it helps students develop the “soft skills” needed for communication, such as “looking someone in the eye and shaking hands” when they speak.

Second place for the big trophies at the end of the ceremony was a tie. Last year’s first place winner, Mitchell Dunlap, of Fairland Middle School, shared that ranking with Solomon Preston, of Chesapeake Middle School.

Third place was another tie, this time between two Chesapeake Middle School students, Greyson Diamond and Cody Harris.

Students who earned a Superior ranking for projects at the county fair are now eligible to take part in the upcoming district fair. Those earning a Superior ranking at that fair will be eligible for the state science fair in Columbus.

2023 Lawrence County Science Fair winners

Best Overall Project

First place

• Kaylee Lucas — Fairland Middle School – Score: 39.5

Second Place

(Tie)

• Mitchell Dunlap — Fairland Middle School — Score: 39

• Solomon Preston — Chesapeake Middle School — Score 39

Third Place

(Tie)

• Greyson Diamond — Chesapeake Middle School — Score: 38.5

• Cody Harris — Chesapeake Middle School — Score 38.5

Top five project scores across all categories (7th/8th grade)

First place

• Kaylee Lucas

Second place

• Mitchell Dunlap

Third place

• Cody Harris

Fourth place

• Trinity Massey — Ironton Middle School

Fifth place

• Annie Chin — Fairland Middle School

Best of in category (7th/8th grade)

Behavioral and Social Science — Cody Harris

Biomedical and Health Science — Annie Chin

Energy: Chemical — Trinity Massey

Energy: Physical — Kaylee Lucas

Materials Science: Mitchell Dunlap

Superior ratings (7th/8th grade)

(Students receiving this rating are eligible to go on to compete at the district science fair)

Kaylee Lucas, Mitchell Dunlap, Cody Harris, Trinity Massey and Annie Chin

Excellent ratings (7th/8th grade)

Addison Best and Troy Kelly — Dawson-Bryant Middle School, Karen Garnson and Rosie Bridges — Dawson-Bryant Middle School, Harrison Bennett — Fairland Middle School and Aubrey Hager — Fairland Middle School.

Top five project scores across all categories (5th/6th grade)

First place

• Solomon Preston

Second place

• Greyson Diamond

Third place

• Easton Collier — Chesapeake Middle School

Fourth place

• Jake Saunders – Chesapeake Middle School

Fifth place

(Tie)

• Aliaina McDonald — Chesapeake Middle School

• Emilee Edwards – Chesapeake Middle School

Best of in category (5th/6th grade) 

Animal Science — Landon Whitmore — Chesapeake Middle School

Cellular and Molecular Biology — Madison McGowan — Chesapeake Middle School

Chemistry — Alianina McDonald

Embedded Systems — Jake Saunders

Energy: Physical — Solomon Preston

Materials Science: Easton Collier

Mathematics: Emilee Edwards

Microbiology: Greyson Diamond

Physics and Astronomy: Cyrus Chaffin — Dawson-Bryant Middle School

Superior ratings (5th/6th grade)

(Students receiving this rating are eligible to go on to compete at the district science fair)

Solomon Preston, Easton Collier, Madison McGowan, Landon Whitmore, Aliaina McDonald, Greyson Diamond, Cyrus Chaffin, Jake Saunders and Emilee Edwards.

Excellent ratings (5th/6th grade) 

Braiden Anderson — South Point Elementary, Alaiya Fulks and Laney Lunsford — South Point Elementary, Olivia Clay – Burlington Elementary, Kahlan Heitz — Chesapeake Middle School,  Liberti Bozick — Chesapeake Middle School, Michaela Easterling — Ironton Middle School, Ariana Ervin — Chesapeake Middle School, Caycee Archer — Chesapeake Middle School, Keegan Miller — Chesapeake Middle School, Masan Holschuh — Ironton Middle School, Katie Saul — Chesapeake Middle School, Anne Thacker — Chesapeake Middle School and Addison Burns — Chesapeake Middle School.

Good ratings (5th/6th grade)

Braylie Murdock — Burlington Elementary, Amiah Lundy — Chesapeake Middle School