Biofuel Blast!
By Christina Murray
WSU Pierce County Extension 4-H Afterschool Coordinator
Over 2,000 Washington state youth joined millions of others across the country on 4-H National Youth Science Day, October 7, discovering how ordinary household products can be alternative sources of energy and how fuel powers many of the things we use each day.
For one experiment, youth combined corn syrup and yeast in a bottle, covered it with a balloon, and watched as the yeast broke down the natural sugars in the corn syrup—releasing ethanol and gas to inflate the balloon.
Discussions centered on how plants such as corn, switchgrass, sorghum, and even algae can be converted into fuel and how these alternative sources of energy can be used in people’s own communities.
“I enjoyed doing the experiment, recording the results, and making a poster of my findings,” said 12-year-old Sara from Tacoma. “I plan on researching more about how to become a chemical engineer after doing this experiment.”
To combat a national shortage of young people pursuing college majors and careers in science, 4-H has a goal of engaging one million new young people in science, engineering, and technology programs nationally by 2013. 4-H National Youth Science Day 2009 was organized to give young people nationwide opportunities to join leading scientists in experimenting with biofuels to discover which ones might lead us to a sustainable future.
“4-H knows the value of youth being engaged as explorers of science and
engineering,” said Brian Brandt, a WSU Pierce County Extension 4-H faculty member. “Today’s experiments allowed youth to get hands-on experience in the emerging industry of biofuels. Today’s youth will be tomorrow’s successful scientists.”
posted November 2009
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