SANDPOINT — There may not have been the typical explosion that goes along with fireworks during an experiment performed by a pair Sandpoint High School students on Friday, but there were colorful flames for all to enjoy.

“The torch is making the elements in the metal salts excited so that the electron from the metal jumps out to the side, and in order for that electron to come back, it has to release energy, which in this case is color,” explained Valerie Wickboldt, who was performing the experiment with classmate Paige Davidson during the 6th annual SHS Science Circuit on Friday.

The Science Circuit was started by chemistry teacher Mamie Brubaker to not only teach her students about science, but to inspire younger students in the district as well. Each year, fifth- and sixth-grade students head over to the high school to check out the different experiments and learn more about different areas of science.

Brubaker said she read a study that found the biggest factor in determining whether students go on into the more advanced science and math classes, like physics and chemistry, and whether they ultimately choose a STEM career, is the presence and influence of a role model.

“Here in Sandpoint, we can’t really boast that we have a huge biotech industry,” Brubaker said. “There is certainly some great science happening, and some great businesses locally, but we are not a Seattle or a Boston, so this is a chance for that fifth- and sixth-grade level — where they are so naturally curious about science and the world around them in general — to see that next level.”

As part of the research requirements for her high school students, Brubaker said, the teens also have to reach out to a primary source and connect their project to a career.

“The primary idea there is they are not entering the same world you and I did,” she said. “The jobs that they might get don’t even exist yet ... A bioinformatic specialist — if you have never even heard of that, how would you ever say, ‘That’s what I am going to be when I grow up.’”

So again, she said, it helps the younger students make those connections as well.

The Science Circuit gets a little bigger every year, as it started with chemistry and later added physics to the showcase. This year the event expanded even more, however, with the addition of anatomy and physiology.

SHS junior Angelina Peebles, for example, was teaching the kids about the receptors in the skin by blindfolding them and having them guess what each item is that she would put in their hand. She made a game out of it by timing them, with the fastest times winning prizes. She chose the game, she said, because it was “really fun and easy for kids,” while teaching them about the nerve endings responsible for sense of touch, such as change in texture.

“I am showing them the little Meissner’s corpuscles in the epidermis and how they can feel it, and how it is in their feet and their face,” she said.

The fastest youngster to identify three items correctly did it in six seconds — and she gave them some pretty difficult ones, she said.

Other experiments throughout the circuit included a liquid nitrogen frozen bubble exhibit, the Van de Graaf generator which causes hair to stand on end, as well as experiments in chemical reaction, gravity and more. One group was testing the kids’ reaction time with the Wii Balance Board. They would test the kids, then have them play a game on the Wii to get their adrenaline going and then test them again. The reaction time would typically increase between the initial testing and the final testing.

Many of these experiments were hands on, or “hands in” in cases such as the Oobleck, which is made from cornstarch and water. The kids would stick their hands in the Oobleck in its liquid form, which was fine as long as they did so slowly. If they quickly tapped the liquid, however, it would turn solid and not let anything through.

“It’s non-newtonian fluid, so it doesn’t follow the laws of viscosity,” said SHS student Garrett Chandler. “You hit water, it stays water. You hit this, it gets harder … It’s really cool.”

And it is an experiment that the kids could easily go home and do with their families, he said.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.