Science dazzled at Casas Christian School last week when the Physics Factory rolled in with its fascinating stage show.
University of Arizona math professor Bruce Bayly put on a lively show Oct. 20 for students in grades 5-8 at the Oro Valley school.
Bayly mixed scientific experiments with humor to take the students on an exploration of physics.
"I'm more interested in science now," eighth-grader Rebecca Kerr said. "There's a lot of cool things you can do."
Bayly played aluminum rods, which he first rubbed with rosin, like violins.
He shot smoke rings out of trash cans.
He carefully handled liquid nitrogen.
"Bad things happen to your fingers when they get cooled down to minus 321 degrees," he said of the temperature of the liquid air.
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He dipped a balloon into the liquid nitrogen to show how air contracts and expands as it's cooled and heated.
He also used a leaf blower to simultaneously suspend three different-sized balls in the air.
The balls hovered one on top of the other, to students' delight.
The experiment demonstrated the Bernoulli effect, Bayly said.
He joked with the students about "blowing things up" during his presentation.
"It's a leaf blower. We're blowing things up," he said.
Many of Bayly's experiments were done using household items.
He launched balls of air out of trash cans that had holes cut out of the bottoms and were lined with trash bags.
Since air is invisible, Bayly filled the trash cans with smoke from a fog machine so the students could see the air floating out of the can in smoke rings.
He encouraged the students to perform experiments of their own.
"I'm not a myth buster. Go ahead and try it at home," he said of the "MythBusters" show that begins each episode with a disclaimer about not attempting experiments seen on the show.
"You can do a lot of cool stuff in a very safe way."
Students were in awe of Bayly's presentation.
"It was interesting. Some of the experiments he did I didn't think were possible," seventh-grader Matthew Petersavage said. "I've always liked science, but I got to see a different side of it."
The Physics Factory
The Physics Factory is a nonprofit organization that performs physics demonstrations at schools and events.
Go to www.physicsfactory.org for additional details.
Contact reporter Andrea Rivera at arivera@azstarnet.com or 807-8430.
