He Blinded Me With Science

I kept waiting for Jay to blog about this. He complains about having nothing to blog about and this was definitely more him than me but it is too good to forget about.

Every year, Seth's elementary school hosts a science fair. Most schools probably do. Seth's school is particularly proud of it's elitist reputation and many parents go above and beyond to "outdo" each other. I've heard this is the case with the science fair and while we didn't want to compete, per say, we did want Seth to shine.

Ideally, Seth would have picked out his own experiment. But his suggestions were retarded. Not to mention untestable. (I hope you all interpreted my "being funny" tone and don't think I actually think my son is retarded - you never know with the written word). One of his ideas was to see who followed buses better, me or his dad. ??????? One was who could drink the fastest. I kept asking him what he was trying to prove and it was so clear in his mind but in the name of real science...I couldn't do it. I graduated with a degree in Microbiology and Jay is a medical doctor. His teacher kept saying "Seth's project should be amazing with you two as his parents." Um....no pressure. So, you see how the bus following project just couldn't be.

Jay came home with a great, easy idea he got off the internet about growing bacteria. Perfect. The trouble was in convincing Seth it was interesting enough to do. We prettied it up as best we could but he wasn't very enthusiastic. Jay went and bought the supplies: five petri dishes, and plain gelatin. We already had sugar and plenty of germs:)

Our first attempt didn't go so well. The petri dishes were plastic but obviously not sterile as we just picked them out of a big plastic bin at the store. The internet directions mentioned boiling for sterilization and we put the dishes into a pot boiling water. These were not safe-for-boiling dishes though. They totally warped. We thought we'd do a practice experiment with them anyhow and Jay mixed up the gelatin, sugar and water and poured the homemade agar into each container. When they were set, Sam, Seth, Jay and I all rubbed our fingers over the agar of our individual petri dish.

They weren't pretty but it totally worked. After a couple of days, you could see little colonies of bacteria growing on each petri dish. None of us used the same pattern with our fingers but as it wasn't the "real" experiment we weren't worried. Seth saw the little circles and started to understand how those circles were giant clusters of bacteria. He seemed more excited.

We tried again the weekend Jay got home and Jen and Christopher were here. Jay made the plates and this time they were perfect. This was going to be a controlled experiment. Seth, Ansel, Jonas and Sam each went to the bathroom and wiped. Seth didn't wash his hands and made zig zags on his agar. Ansel rinsed with water and made the same zig zag. Jonas washed with soap and water and Sammy used hand sanitizer. The hypothesis? That washing with soap and water would produce the least amount of bacteria, followed by hand sanitizer, water only and last of all the gross, unwashed hands.

We were a bit short on time. It was Saturday and the project was due Wednesday. Bacteria grow better in warmer conditions. Bright idea....put petri dishes in a warmer place so that our results show quicker. Jay put them close to our heat dish which puts out the most heat in our house. When he checked back later that evening, he realized his mistake. The agar had completely melted and was liquid again. Project ruined.

That night, while I was sleeping, Jay and Seth set out to run another experiment. This time it was Seth's idea. He wanted to see if different liquids weighed different amounts. Great idea! This is real science. With a measuring cup, Jay poured out a cup of water, a cup of all the different fat contents of milk (we seem to need all of the varieties), one of orange juice and one of maple syrup. Seth was so excited with his results that all of the liquids weighed a different amount! But, of course, they aren't supposed to. Except for the syrup. We tried to explain it to Seth that 8.1 and 8.4 were basically the same but the measuring wasn't exact but I think we just confused him more. He's big into numbers and 8.1 and 8.4 are definitely not the same! He still doesn't get it and when trying to explain it, we've realized that more complicated science is required that is way over his head. Actually, it's kind of over my head.

We ended up just skipping the science fair. Kind of sad but necessary. I don't think we impressed his teacher.

Seth wasn't even disappointed. The only reason he wanted to do it was so that he could pick something out of "treasure trunk".

He picked out a ruler.