The Science Project

A sixth grade science project. What could go wrong?

Dan Fishel fought to stifle a yawn. It really wouldn’t do to look bored while his students were demonstrating their science projects, but with sixth graders it did sometimes get hard to pay attention. Jenny Summers was currently showing how to light a bulb using a potato. That was all well and good, but this was his third class of the day, and the third potato light. He had lost count of the number of potato lights he’d seen in his five years of teaching. She finally concluded with a good description of how electrons were generated by a chemical reaction.

“Thank you, Jenny, that was well done,” he said as she sat down to a smattering of applause. “Next up is Mark Williamson. Mark?”

The kids sat up a bit straighter as Mark brought his project to the front of the classroom. Mark was exceptionally bright, but he was also the class clown. They clearly thought something unusual might be about to occur.

Mark had a clear plastic container that looked to contain about a gallon of water. He put it on the table and put a small box beside it, then turned to face the class, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

“Mr. Fishel and students of Jackson Middle School, prepare to be amazed!” There was some giggling at this, and Dan shook his head.

“Okay Mark, we don’t need a flashy introduction. Just get on with it.”

“Yes, Mr. Fishel. So, what I’m going to demonstrate is a chemical reaction like you would see in bath bombs. I made these myself using cornstarch mixed with sodium bicarbonate and citric acid.” He took a round ball out of the box and dropped it in the water, and it began fizzing. “The cornstarch dissolves in the water, and the sodium bicarbonate and citrus react.”

Dan nodded as Mark went on to explain an acid base reaction, and how using higher concentrations of the reactive elements produced more fizzing. He clearly had put in the work and was doing an excellent job. Then Mark pulled a much smaller ball out of the box.

“Of course, different chemicals will produce different results. This ball has a mixture of sodium and potassium. Let’s see how this works.”

At first, what Mark said didn’t register. Then realization struck.

“No Mark, don’t!”

But it was too late. Mark dropped the ball. There was a huge flash and a blast of heat. The plastic container shattered. Flames leapt into the air and Mark staggered backwards, saved by his glasses from being blinded. The children in the front rows screamed and fell backwards out of their chairs. The fire alarm went off and the sprinklers deployed, drenching the room. Everyone began scrambling for the door in a blind panic.

“Okay, don’t panic people!” Dan yelled. “Stay calm, please! Walk, don’t run!”

He might as well have been speaking Russian. The children were pushing and shoving to get out the door. They spilled out into the hallway yelling and screaming. Some of the smaller kids fell, and Dan hurried to pick them up before they could get trampled. Pandemonium reigned as the other classrooms emptied. Finally, everyone was out, and all the children were heading for the fire exits. He stood in the doorway looking after them. It looked like nobody had gotten injured, which was good. He looked back into the room. It was a mess, with water drenching everything.

He had not seen anything like that in all his years of teaching.