Last year, Huber School fifth grader John Barnitt moved to Secaucus from Florida, where he had sometimes suffered the effects of hurricanes and other nasty weather. While he lived there, he and his friends used to go out a lot in the storms, staring up at the bolts of lightning – that was, until one friend, a girl, got struck by a bolt. Although the girl later recovered, the event left a lasting fearful impression on Barnitt. He was afraid and fascinated, and he wanted to know more about the phenomenon. So when Barnitt came to Secaucus and teachers at Huber Street asked what he would like to do for the science fair, he knew right away what his project would be. “After I found out about what made lightning work, I overcame my fear a little,” Barnitt said last week. But he also said that he is still wary of the dangers. Now, he knows how lightning works and how to keep from getting hit. “If you stand under a tree in an open area, you might get hit,” he said. “It is important to take precautions.” Fifth grader Stanley Gasiewski said his project had also evolved out a real life situation. “My dad wanted to take me to Las Vegas,” he said. “I asked him if it would be by car. He said no, by air. I told him I didn’t want to go.” Gasiewski said he was afraid to fly because of what had happened to Egypt flight 900 and TWA 800, two airplane crashes that have made intentional headlines. Why couldn’t someone invent an airplane that wouldn’t crash if something that went wrong? Gasiewski decided he would give it a try and came up with a model for one such possible plane. “If something was to go wrong or if the plane was to go out of control, his jet air plane’s wings would detach and two parachutes would open at the top,” he said. “If these were not enough to slow its descent, then an third would open up in the middle. If the plane was still heavy, then the cargo section would detach and fall off.” Beneath the remaining section of the craft, pontoons would fill up with air and the craft would float once it hit the water. Gasiewski said he had tried the model, making some adjustments for the difference in weight and the Styrofoam that held the shoots open for display. “I dropped it from seven or eight feet in the air,” he said. “It floated a little.” The two exhibits were among hundreds on display in the Huber Street and Clarendon schools for the 2000 Science Fair, held last week. The annual fair is open to fourth, fifth and six graders, who, according to Huber Street science teacher Jules Rotella, start thinking about their projects early in the year. “Most of the students know that we have a science fair every year,” Rotella said. “Some start preparing for their project over the summer. Most start in November.” Anthony Impreveduto, the son of the state assemblyman, got his idea for a science project while on vacation with his father in Aruba last summer. “We were on the beach day after day and noticed how little rain there was,” Anthony’s father said. “Where do people get water to drink if it doesn’t rain? We found out the island uses sea water that is desalinated. When we got back and my son wanted to do a science project, we had one.” Using two beakers connected by tubing, little Anthony boiled salt water in one and let the other collect the steam, turning it back to water that was salt-free. Rotella said the schools encourage students to come up with ideas for projects on their own. They can use the library, books in the science classes, and use the Internet. Although all of the students get recognition of some sort, all the projects are judged and rewarded during a special ceremony later in the year. The judges can be parents, teachers, and other individuals, many with some science or engineering background. “We’ve tried to cover all the bases,” Rotella said, noting that two of the top high school’s science students are also acting as judges. “These high school students are also involved in lessons other times during the year, and in the science club.” Judging criteria includes the number of students involved in a particular project, creativity, use of the scientific method – including questions asked, hypotheses, experimentation results and conclusions – thoroughness, clarity of presentation, neatness of display, knowledge of subject matter, effort, extent of parental help, total amount of time students spent in doing the project, and difficulty of language. Rotella said this last one was added this year because of the great number of students for whom English is not a first language. “We have to take this into consideration in order to judge fairly,” he said. Science fairs in Secaucus have gone on before Rotella started in the school system, “and this is my 30th year,” he said, noting that the school picks four students from the science fairs to attend the County Science Fair, which is held in March. “Only fifth and sixth graders are eligible for the county fair,” he said. Students can work alone or in teams, depending on their inclination and the size and scope of the project. Matthew Egan, fifth grader, always thought a tsunami and a tidal wave were the same thing, and then he discovered they were not. While both were huge waves that came onto shore, the tsunami was the result of some cataclysmic activity under the water, an earthquake or a volcano erupting or even the striking of a meteorite. That sent water charging towards dry land. Michael Hansen, a sixth grader, always wondered about how the remote control worked on the television, so he decided to find out, learning from his studies that process involved infrared rays. Fifth grader Ashley Figueroa and sixth grader Stephanie DeJesus, got curious about footprints left by dinosaurs that scientists have found over the years, so with a little corn meal flour and water, they decided to show how the prints were made, capturing the handprint of judges and others who came to visit their display. At the same time, they showered each visitor with facts and figures about dinosaurs. Sixth grader Chelsea Aquino became curious about how optical illusions worked because a cousin had sent her a the address of a website full of such illusions. She discovered that it has to do with the way the mind translates data sent to it from the eye. It is not the eye that gets fooled so much, she discovered, but the mind, which gets confused because of the way traditional images are presented. Alanna Rinaldi, a sixth grader, grew fascinated with pendulums and was amazed by how they worked, but also how common pendulums were. “Every one who wears a watch is wearing a pendulum,” she said. “Because every watch has a pendulum inside.” Nearby, Tracie Walker and Sarah Mercado, both of the fourth grade, studied the monarch butterfly, showing the differences between moths and butterflies. Like many of the students, Walker and Mercado got a lot of their information off the Internet.