Lakeview Teachers To Go Weightless For Botany Experiment
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Watering plants isn't a difficult chore, unless, of course, there's no gravity.
Four Lakeview Middle School teachers will conduct an experiment next week at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to find out what soil types best absorb water in near-zero gravity. The experiment, titled "Effects of Microgravity on the Absorption of Water by Various Soil Types," will be performed aboard NASA's Reduced Gravity Aircraft as it flies parabolic maneuvers. Each parabola gives the flyers and experiments almost half a minute of weightlessness.
The LMS foursome is one of only 11 teams from U.S. schools chosen to take part in the botany experiments. Lakeview also is the only middle school taking part, with all other schools being high schools and one junior-senior high school.
Leaving Tuesday, and tentatively scheduled to return March 16, are teachers Dan Wray, Mark McCollom, Jose Gutierrez and Roger Haeck. Wray, McCollom and Haeck have flown weightless before; this is the first time for Gutierrez.
Haeck said the experiment will be conducted inside a "Glove Box" they built. The experiment must be conducted within the container so the soils and waters don't float away.
NASA, Wray said, wanted experiments that have to do with botany for a variety of reasons. One of those was because of astronaut Barbara Morgan, the first educator to fly in space, who has an interest in the botany field.
Wray said the most difficult part of the process was figuring out an experiment they could conduct in a short amount of time. They will be weightless for only 22-30 seconds at a time, for about 30 times.
Through discussion and contemplation, Wray said the group thought they might be able to figure out how water is absorbed in various soil types in weightlessness.
For the experiment, when the flight hits zero gravity, a syringe of 30 milliliters of icy water will be injected through the lid of a container holding the soil. As the water goes into the soil, six temperature probes on the lid will take the temperature of the soil to indicate where the water went. The probes will be interfaced with a data log to record the experiment. After the foursome return from the trip, they will be able to look at the data on a spreadsheet and try to determine the results.
"NASA wants our published results within a month of when we get back," said Wray. "They picked experiments they care to get results back for."
The five soil types being tested will be sand, vermiculite, arcillite, perlite and lunar soil simulant.
McCollom said this is a very unique opportunity for them. During their trip, they will meet Harrison Schmitt, who is one of the few Americans to walk on the moon, and take a tour of the NASA facilities. The participating teachers also will be put in the hyperbaric chamber to see how well they do in the pressure chamber.
For the trip, NASA required that one of the participants have less than five years of teaching experience. Gutierrez, who is an English as a second language teacher, said he is definitely excited about going. His uncle works with the Mexico space program, he said.
McCollom said in his initial hypothesis, he thought peat moss would work, but it's not even part of the experiment now. In the group's original findings, they found that unless it's already wet, peat moss repels water.
"We've learned a lot of stuff we didn't know before," said Wray.
This experiment is different from any other experiment he's conducted before, Wray said, because it's a science experiment of their own design. In other experiments, someone else came up with parts of it or posed a question.
"This, we had no idea. We've developed it as we've gone," Wray said.
Haeck said the group appreciates their wives letting them go to Houston for 1-1/2 weeks. He also thanked the school and Warsaw Schools Superintendent Dr. Robert Haworth for letting them do something like this.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Haeck said. "They've gone beyond the normal to let us do this. Without their support, it wouldn't happen."
Wray said they will have a video conference from Houston March 14 at 1:10 p.m. The entire Lakeview student body will be in the school's gymnasium to watch the conference. Edgewood Middle School also will try to tie in to the conference.
Students have been involved in the project since the start and will work with the data analysis. As part of the application process, Wray said LMS eighth-graders had to explain the experiment to NASA officials. They did such a good job, the officials didn't have any questions for the students.
Students also helped pack the containers with the right amount of soil, and helped conduct the preliminary experiments. With the information the teachers bring back with them from Houston, the students will chart, log and graph it. About 50-60 students will be involved with the analysis, Wray said.
Hopefully, Wray said, they will post video and picture updates online. The Web cast will be linked to the Warsaw Schools Web site so anyone can see them. He said they've committed to three updates during their trip, more if they can.
