Monday, I worked until 4 pm, then our office helped the Elko County School District judge their science fair projects. They have a tradition of sending some very good projects to the international fair, so I was excited to judge.

We were assigned different grades. Since I had to leave the next day for SLC and couldn't interview high schoolers, I was assigned sixth grade projects. I like these because they say the greatest things and come up with the craziest conclusions.

They were supposed to have a hypothesis, description of their procedure, and conclusion. Pictures were a must to show the process or results. The best one was the pair of boys who built bridges of Popsicle sticks, placed weights on them until they broke and then recorded their size to load bearing capability ratios. Engineers in the making.

BUT...my favorite conclusion is below. Don't look yet. Wait for it....wait...wait...

These boys put pennies in salt water to make them "rust". Pennies don't rust. Iron rusts and pennies don't contain iron. They are not pure copper either. They are copper plated. So they do corrode and turn green in oxygen. It's the oxygen in the water that makes them corrode.

Well, anyway, these boys had a bad hypothesis, a decent procedure, and a horrible conclusion.

AND NO PICTURES! Read the whole thing below.