WCMS students awed by wonders of science

Warren County Middle School eighth-graders were treated to a rare sight Monday.

They got to see a steaming teapot whistle ? and freeze ? at the same time.

The science experiment was compliments of three Tennessee Tech professors, who made a trip to WCMS to talk to advanced placement science students.

The steaming and freezing teapot is a phenomenon made possible by liquid nitrogen with a temperature of minus 325 degrees. ?It?s so cold, it boils at room temperature,? said Dr. Dan Swartling while holding the teapot. ?What you?re seeing is a paradox. It boils and gets cold at the same time.?

Swartling, a 13-year professor at Tennessee Tech, had several fascinating experiments, including one involving a metal container of liquid nitrogen and balloons. Swartling was able to pack about 25 blown-up balloons into the small container because they would shrivel under such extreme cold. However, when he pulled the balloons out of the container with metal tongs, they would inflate again.

?It?s called Charles Law and that says there?s a direct relationship between volume and temperature,? said Swartling. ?As temperature decreases, volume decreases. As temperatures increases, so does volume.?

Swartling also grabbed attention by using an electric shock to blow the cork off a plastic bottle filled with alcohol. In this experiment, Swartling said the air, alcohol and energy all combine to create combustion.

?I knew it would blow the cork off,? said eighth-grader Allen Betschart. ?I didn?t know it would go through the ceiling.?

The rubber cork left the bottle with such force that it shot through the drop ceiling.

Professor Tammy Boles focused her experiments on water, what she says is perhaps our most vital natural resource. ?All the water on the planet is all the water we?ll ever have so we have to preserve it,? said Boles.

She showed students how water is purified using activated carbon, which absorbs the taste and color from water. Boles also cautioned students about the false belief that bottled water is better than tap water. She said there are many more regulations surrounding tap water.

?People think drinking bottled water is better for you and it?s not,? said Boles. ?You don?t know what you?re drinking.?

In addition to talking to the eighth-graders, the three professors gave a presentation to all the school?s sixth-graders.

The program was the first installment of a lecture series sponsored by McMinnville?s two Rotary clubs and WCMS?s YouthAct Club.