Emily Mahon and her hammered dulcimer

Two kids go different ways in
Science Fair competition

Two winners from last year's Greater St. Louis Science Fair are taking different approaches to their entries in this year's competition.

Twelve-year-old Emily Mahon is extending the research she did in her winning entry last year. But, 12-year-old John Ellebrecht's experiment this year is in a whole different field.

The Greater St. Louis Science Fair is the world's largest regional science fair. This year's fair will be at Greensfelder Recreation Center at Queeny Park in west St. Louis County.

Fair dates are: for elementary kids, April 8-11; for secondary school kids, April 12-16. There will be honors judging April 8 and honors exhibits April 8-16.

Before getting a spot in the overall competition, kids have to advance in local contests.

For complete information, you can go to the website of the Junior Academy of Science of St. Louis at www.jracademy.com.

Emily has been allocated a spot in this year's fair by her school, St. Justin The Martyr School. "We don't have a local science fair at my school. But, I've been allocated one of our school's places in the regional fair," she said.

"I've had an entry in the fair every year since kindergarten, except for fifth grade," she said.

Last year's winning entry was titled, "The True Color of Ink." She started with inks from ball point and Uniball pens, markers and pencils. She used solvents such as water, vinegar, acetone and rubbing alcohol to break down the inks.

The idea was to see what different colors combined to make up the final color of the ink.

Emily said, "You'd think that red would be just red, being a primary color. But, the red ink broke down into pinks, yellows and orange." The sample of black ink was made up of browns, purples, blues and yellows, she said.

The various colors in the ink separated when she used strips of coffee filters as a wick and dipped them into the mixtures of ink and solvent.

In this year's entry, Emily will us longer wicks and new solvents to see if she can find more colors in the inks. She's using paint thinner as one of the new solvents.

Emily likes experimental science but she isn't fond of experiments on living things. "We cut up mussels in science class at school and I thought it was disgusting," she said.

But, she also likes music and now plays a hammered dulcimer. That's a stringed instrument that dates back into medieval times. She plays on an instrument that was custom-made for her by her first music teacher.

She will accompany her current piano teacher, Betsy Howard, when she plays in an upcoming flute festival.

John Ellebrecht and his winning entry from last year

John Ellebrecht is a sixth grader who is home-schooled by his mother, Barbara. His winning experiment last year centered on showing how the mechanism of a clock keeps time. He built the gears and pendulum to make a working clock.

But, this year, his experiment is called Ups and Downs in the Deep Blue Sea. It shows how a submarine is able to go down and then resurface by adjusting air pressure.

His submarine is made of an empty plastic soda bottle, some metal and putty for weight and a plastic straw to control the air inside the bottle. The interest in submarines runs in the family.

His older brother, Mike, has made a model submersible that has reached a depth of 13 feet. Mike is 16 and is due to enter the University of Missouri-Rolla next fall to major in engineering.

John has other interests besides experimental science. He keeps a flock of 18 chickens (17 hens and one rooster). He likes to raise unusual breeds of chickens, include one that lays eggs with a light green shell. He gets the exotic breeds from a hatchery in Iowa.

He also keeps track of how the type of feed a chicken eats changes the color of the egg yolks. For instance, store-bought eggs usually have a light colored yolk. That's because the chickens are fed mostly processed feed.

But, John's chickens run loose and often eat grass and alfalfa hay along with other feed. That makes the yolks much darker in color. Also, this freedom of movement makes the egg shells of his chickens stronger than store-bought eggs, he said.

John has room for the chickens because his family lives in a rural area of Wildwood close to Babler State Park in west St. Louis County.