Science Expo: Exhibits of Innovative Thinking
1) Title: How do colors affect
people's memorization?
Authors: Kaity Tung, Yuna Chong, Ji Young Kim
Abstract: Colors affect people psychologically and mentally. They also have
different effects on people's eyes, which could affect people's memory. Through
this experiment, we tested if black and the primary
colors have effect on people's memorization. 120 students were tested.
They were given word lists with twenty words printed in one of the four colors. They had two minutes to look at the word
list to memorize and an additional two minutes to write down the words. As a
result, students who had word lists printed in black memorized the most number
of words. In contrast, students who had yellow word lists memorized the least
amount of words. In conclusion, black is the color
people's eyes are used to, thus, people are comfortable looking at the words.
Yellow, however, is too bright and irritates our eyes. Red was the color with
the second most words memorized. The conclusion we made regarding the color red
was that it is a warm color, thus, it left an impact in our brains. The color
stimulates our brain, thus, people memorize the words in red. However, after a
period of time, it also irritates our eyes. Therefore, our control group, black wordlists, help people's memorization.
2) Title: How do colors affect people's memorization?
Authors: Kaity Tung, Yuna Chong, Ji Young Kim
Abstract: Colors affect people psychologically and mentally. They also have
different effects on people's eyes, which could affect people's memory. Through
this experiment, we tested if black and the primary colors have effect on people's
memorization. 120 students were tested. They were given word lists with twenty
words printed in one of the four colors. They had two minutes to look at the
word list to memorize and an additional two minutes to write down the words. As
a result, students who had word lists printed in black memorized the most
number of words. In contrast, students who had yellow word lists memorized the
least amount of words. In conclusion, black is the color people's eyes are used
to, thus, people are comfortable looking at the words. Yellow, however, is too
bright and irritates our eyes. Red was the color with the second most words
memorized. The conclusion we made regarding the color red was that it is a warm
color, thus, it left an impact in our brains. The color stimulates our brain,
thus, people memorize the words in red. However, after a period of time, it
also irritates our eyes. Therefore, our control group, black
wordlists, help people's memorization.
3) Growing Microorganisms (Bacteria) in Petri Dish With
Nutrient Agar
Authors: Minji
Abstract: The experiment conducted
consisted of many side experiments all proving one thing. With the theme idea
of bacteria and how people touch things without knowing what may be on the
materials, we gathered bacteria from many places.
Separating the places from indoor objects (home), and outdoor objects, samples
of microorganisms were taken from ordinary objects touched everyday. A sterile
Q tip was used to wipe on the object. Then, the sterile Q tip was wiped on top
of the nutrient agar. After storing the sample,
the agar was taped and marked. Ordinary house products such as the computer,
and the remote control to outdoor materials such as the subway station's seats
were sampled. Then, over the span of three weeks, the number of colonies were
counted and graphed. With that, a random person's hand sample was also taken.
The person was then instructed to put on hand sanitizer. The sample was taken
again. The two samples were grown like the other samples for three weeks. As a
control, a sample after the use of soap was taken.
It resulted out to be that the use of soap was a lot better than the use of
hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer killed many types of microorganism, however, it failed to kill one specific type,
which grew overwhelmingly on the petri dish. At the same time, the overwhelming
amount of the microorganism may have been due to the fact that the number of Q
tips ran low. Therefore, for this part of the experiment, we asked the person
to wipe their finger directly onto the nutrient agar. This may have caused an
error. However that may be, the sample of the soap had a lot less number of
microorganisms.
For the other samples, the public bathroom and the microwave had the most
number of colonies. The number of colonies may have varied due to the different
types of microorganisms and their sizes.
4) Title: Computational Modeling of the Quantum Mechanical Excitations in a
Light Harvesting Complex in Purple Bacteria
Author: Michael Kaplan
Abstract:
The energy harvesting mechanism in the light harvesting complexes in purple
bacteria transfers energy with 99% efficiency. Intracomplex energy transfer is
accomplished by Förster Resonance Energy Transfer
(FRET). The purpose of this experiment was to show what effect disorder has on
energy transfer. A C++ program was constructed to solve a Frenkel exciton
Hamiltonian and simulate disorder. This was an important step in modeling
single molecular spectroscopy which allows one to observe disorder in molecular
systems. The ensemble line shapes of the gap distributions which were produced
agree well with experimental data. Based on the ensemble line shapes it was
determined that relatively small disorder in the system increases the
efficiency of transfer by increasing the probability that Förster Resonance
Energy Transfer will occur. This disproves a preconception from our knowledge
of inorganic systems is that if there is disorder, it will create a sink that
will trap energy and reduce energy harvesting. Insights gained from the study
of the energy harvesting mechanism in purple bacteria eventually may be
implemented in the design of more efficient inorganic energy harvesting
technology.
5) Title: Have you drunk your vitamin C today?
Authors: Hyunjung Kim and Susan Zhang
The concentration of vitamin C in
different brands of orange juice was to be determined during the experiment. As
iodine reacts with vitamin C, the 2% iodine tincture could be used to indicate
the Vitaminc C content in each orange juice. In order to make the iodine
tuncture more visible, cornstarch was mixed with the tincture to make a
blue-black indicator. The process of titration was used in order to find the
Vitamin C concentration. The indicator was poured into 5 test tubes. Each test tube
was titrated with different orange juice. The five brands of orange juices were Blue Bird,
6) Title: Vitamin C concentration
Authors: Jin Ye, Kevin Ho,
Abstract:
In this project, we studied methods to determine the Vitamin C concentration of
similar citrus fruits. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin that is important for our growth.
It helps with the formation of cells, and growth and development of our bodies.
To determine if Vitamin C is present, we used an indicator, indophenol. Then to
determine the concentration of the vitamin C we, standardized how much
indophenol would cause a known amount to change color. Our results showed, out
of all the citrus fruits that we tested, orange had the most vitamin C
concentration. However, a fruit like tangerine, which is similar to an orange,
had the lowest amount of vitamin C.
7) Title: The Effect of Height
on Lung Capacity
Authors: Mohammed Hussain, Karen Huang, Ratul Islam
Abstract:
It was hypothesized that as height increases, so does lung capacity. In order
to confirm this, 10 males and 10 females were chosen. Sub-categories of 5
non-athletic males and females and 5 athletic ( track
team) males and females were created. The heights of members of each of the
four sub-categories differed so that a general trend could be observed with increasing height. For trial 1, members were asked to
hold their breaths for as long as possible. 5 minutes were allotted before
performing trial 2. The results supported the hypothesis for 3 sub-categories:
male-athletic (track), male-non athletic, and
female-non athletic. Female-athletic (track) did not support the hypothesis.
Sources of Error:
Age, ethnicity, race, and the short number of trials
8) Title: Determining Which
Common Beverage Is Most Prone To Stimulate Ulceration
Authors: Peterson Chao, Tyler Chan, Adrish Sarkar
Abstract: The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether
the habitual consumption of beverages with low pHs will have detrimental affect
on the lining of a pig stomach. Our hypothesis was The
habitual consumption of beverages with the lowest pH will have the most
detrimental affect on the lining of a pig stomach.
In order to justify this hypothesis, several beverages, Coca Cola, Tropicana Orange Juice, Milk, Nescafe
Coffee, and Gatorade Cool Blue, were collected. The first part of the
experiment was to take the pH of all of the beverages and the second part of
the experiment was to figure out the pH of each beverage combined with a
mixture of 1M HCl, sodium chloride, and potassium
chloride in order to simulate the acidity of stomach
acids. Coca Cola was found to have the lowest pH in both
tests. The third part of the experiment was to place equal amounts of pig
stomach samples with 10 mL of the “stomach acid”
and 20 mL of the beverages. This was left for a day and the results were
collected. In conclusion, Coca Cola had the most detrimental affect on
ulceration since it caused the most weight change in the sample of pig
stomach. The next conclusion was that the lower pH readings of the Coca
Cola were due to the carbonation process of the
beverage. When a beverage is carbonized in water, this reaction takes
place: CO2 + H2O <-> H+ + HCO3- The higher the concentration of CO2
dissolved in water, the higher the concentration of H+
. Since there is more H+ , then the pH
becomes lower.(pH is measured in the concentration of H+ . The higher the
conc. of H+ , the more acidic the solution. The lower the concentration of H+, the more basic the solution.
9) Title: Ouch! That Headache, What Can I do?
Author: Shamiyun Noor
Abstract: The purpose of this experiment was to determine the dissolution
times of three different pain relievers, comparing brand
names to
generic names. It is believe that the new
improved brand medicines
like the liquid gels would have a faster dissolution rate hence their
name and the contents they were made out of. It was also believed the
tablet with the slowest dissolution rate is the Ibuprofen tablet.
Another hypothesis involved is which is better; brand names or generic
medicine, Advil or Tylenol is believed to
dissolve faster than the
over the counter ibuprofen brand. After extensive research and data
collection, the first hypothesis was incorrect. The results show that
Advil Liquid Gels were very slow in solubility, but Tylenol was the
fastest. Perhaps because of the gelatin coating on Advil takes longer
to break down. The second hypothesis was proved that generic
medications are slower than brand name medication. But some brand name
medicine is slower than others. Now that we know that Tylenol is the
fastest-relief pain killer it may be an answer to
the questions of
many students. This experiment has led to different areas of concern,
for instance doing an extensive experiment on more pain
killers. Also
looking closer into Advil Liquid Gels (i.e. break down Advil into its
components and see which part of Advil takes the longest to dissolve.)
This experiment will help better serve the Bronx Science school
community because now students and teachers will know which medicine
is better.
10) Title: Analysis of the effect of robotic body weight assisted treadmill training on the functional assessment and quality of life in patients at the James J. Peters VA Hospital
Author: Adam Silver
Abstract - In