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LP Middle Students Put Science To The Test

Marc Valero/Highlands Today

Lake Placid Middle School sixth-grader Tyler Carr hit baseballs with a wooden and aluminum bat for his science project to determine which bat drives the ball farther.

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By MARC VALERO | Highlands Today

Published: May 12, 2008

LAKE PLACID — Lake Placid Middle School sixth-grader Tyler Carr played the part of of a batting machine to answer a scientific question – does a baseball travel farther when hit with a wooden or an aluminum bat?

For his science project experiment, Carr tried to make a batting machine with the help of his baseball coach, but the cost and a design problem thwarted it.

So Carr took consistent swings at a baseball atop a batting T at the Lake June Ball Fields and measured the difference in the distances.

The metal bat drove the ball farther, about 30 feet more on average than the wooden one.
The composite aluminum bats are designed to make the ball spring off the barrel when hit, Carr said.
Lake Placid Middle sixth-graders posed a measurable question and put it to the test for their science projects.

Variables teach cause and effect, science teacher Evan Rees said Friday as students took turns briefly explaining their projects to their fellow students.

One student believed music affects a person's blood pressure and heart rate.

An experiment showed that a 72 year-old woman's blood pressure and heart rate indeed went down as she listened to "ocean surf" music, but increased while she was listened to "Who Let the Dogs Out."
Other projects asked the following questions:

* Can I simulate a hurricane and predict which wave pattern, high or low, will cause the most destruction?

* Will mold grow faster on dry wheat bread, wet wheat bread, dry white bread or wet white bread?

* What will erode a tooth faster – Diet Coke, Coca-Cola or Capri Sun Juice?

* Does music make plants grow taller?

The students with the top six projects, as judged by science teachers, will receive a $50 savings bond from Sun 'N Lake Medical Group.

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