Pell City — Experiments related to the physics of motion, electricity and energy represented some of creative genius showcased among more than 450 projects displayed at Pell City High School’s science fair last week.

“The science fair has grown quite a lot over the last five years,” the science fair’s coordinator Michaela Young said.  “We had less than 20 participants when we first started out.  It just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I’m excited to see more students who want to get involved.”

Students who participated in the PCHS Science Fair developed original research projects and carried out experiments using the five-step process in the scientific method.

“This gives students the opportunity to do research like real scientists, not just follow a set of directions,” Young said.  “It’s a great learning experience.  They learn by critiquing themselves and learn from each other.  I enjoy seeing the kids realize they can do more than they thought they were capable of doing.”

As the science fair grows, the quality of work produced continues to increase.  Ed Tyler, who has served as one of science fair’s judges for the last five years says projects have become more in depth, questions more thoughtful and the process for carrying out experiments improves as more students participate and learn from the previous science fairs.

“You can see how the quality of work has improved significantly,” Tyler said.  “It’s easy to see how so many students have identified or recognized concepts most adults don’t even think about.”

Grant Stice, an eleventh grader, developed a project about harnessing the power of hydroelectricity with a generator.  Stice says he came up with the idea because he lives near the lake.  Building the generator and getting it to function properly was a challenge for Stice.

“It took me three hours to get the generator to work.”  But Stice says the most rewarding part of the project was seeing it come all come together.

Ninth grader, Annie Boyle tested Pavlov’s theory on the energy drinks, Red Bull and Poweraide .  Boyle tested subjects’ blood sugar, blood pressure, heart rate and mental capabilities.

“I enjoyed testing subjects and learned about the challenges of measuring and figuring out how much of the energy drink to give each person, since that amount was based on the person’s weight.”

Boyle attended the state’s science fair as an eighth grader, and says she gained inspiration for this project based on what she had seen at the state level.

For ninth grader Matt McCrory, building a robotic arm out of cardboard was a challenge.  “I enjoyed putting the arm together, but the hard part was creating the claw,” McCrory said.  “Building new machinery is different from operating it.”  McCrory hopes to pursue a career as an aerospace engineer.