Borrego Sun - Since 1949

Borrego Springs Unified School District six-graders and high schoolers presented their science projects at the school's science fair on Tuesday, June 2.

The school's science teacher worked together with a UC Irvine professor at Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center to have students create a science project and then record the effects that a natural resource could have on the population.

The participating students worked for two weeks to two months on their projects and recorded their findings. High school student, Jose Delgadillo, created a Water Wheel Energy Generator to help impoverished communities generate electricity. The spinning wheel and the water current created energy; the energy could then be stored in a motor, and the water could be reused for their daily lives.

Six graders also contributed to the science fair by creating their own projects. Yesenia Marin and Marla Manzano worked on their two-week project to find out which drink, either soda, coffee or tea, would stain teeth greatly. They used eggs for the experiment since the material found in eggs is also found in teeth. The students submerged the eggs in the liquid and recorded the results everyday. They found out soda is the main stainer, followed by coffee and then tea.

Fellow students Danitza Mares Fuentes, Daniella Carmina and Jennifer Ramirez worked on a project to find out if salt water had a different effect than non-salted water during the evaporation process. They set three cups with salted and non-salted water in the sun to evaporate, and found out that salt water evaporated faster than non-salted.

Other students presented their projects and explained the processes and discoveries to teachers and experts.