Science Shocks Highland Hills Middle School at Family Night

Engineer shows electricity experiments to students, parents

Bolts of electricity shot from the top of a Tesla coil and illuminated a florescent light bulb in the hand of Ed Fancher. He shattered a carnation and a racquet ball  after freezing them in liquid nitrogen. He even made a pickle light up just by hooking it up to a variac.

He wasn’t trying to get funding to research new energy sources, he was just trying to show middle school students that science can be fun.

Fancher, president of Energy Management Solutions in New Albany, gave his presentation at Highland Hills Middle School’s Family Science Night on Thursday. Students and their families watched science demonstrations and conducted some experiments of their own.

Steve Smith, a science teacher at Highland Hills, said getting parents and students together for these experiences helps them relate to each other.

“That’s what this whole thing was, it should be fun, interesting and families should get involved,” Smith said. “Getting people here to have the same experience allows them to talk about it at home.”

Smith said if a student went home and tried to explain to their parents that they saw a pickle light up like a light bulb, they might not exactly understand what they’re talking about.

Fancher said even though science is part of his job every day, he enjoys showing off some of the experiments to children.

“The ones I find the most interesting are the ones the kids respond to the most,” Fancher said. “It’s fun to see how they react.”

After the experiments with electricity were over, students and parents were given the chance to try their hands in the lab.

Simple experiments that showed how changes in air pressure and buoyancy were put together using everyday household items.

Matthew Wyatt, a student who attended the event, said he had a good time seeing the experiments.

“I learned new things about science, it was pretty cool,” Wyatt said. “It’s interesting because you get to know more about how the world works.”

His father, Russ, said he thinks it’s important for children to learn the thought put behind some of the products they use.

“It’s a good lesson for kids to know that a lot of thought and engineering went behind all kinds of regular, everyday things in your house,” Russ said.