Port Hope Fall Fair

The port Hope Fall Fair was a blast as usual. My grandson Nick and I arrived at 8:20 am at the Town Park Recreation Center in Port Hope. I found the Cameco tent where we were to set up. Cameco personnel guided us to our Scientists in School (SiS) area and Nick and I began to set up. Cameco joined Scientists in School about three years ago as one of our sponsors. We were grateful to Cameco for providing such a large tent, for the tables to be set up, and to be out of the 6 degrees celcius weather. Afterall, it is only September 14th and it is still Summer.

Nick and I continued to set up as Angela Maclean, another SiS presenter arrived. Angela had a couple of neat hands-on activities related to solar power. Both Angela and I were ready to go for the 9:00 am opening. Sarah Carnegie, a Team Leader with SiS joined us.

Traffic was slow until about 10:20 am. Nick and I were teaching children to build alloon powered hovercrafts using an old cd, a wooden spool, duct tape and a 12" party balloon. It is the easiest thing in the world to make. When all of the pieces are attached, you blow through the hole at the bottom of the cd. The air goes throgh the hole in the spool and inflates the balloon. When the balloon is large enough and pinching the neck of the balloon so air doesn't escape, you place your newly constructed hovercraft on a flat surface, give it a little push and watch it cruise across the table. It's floating on a cusion of air provided by the balloon as the balloon deflates. The hovercrafts function can be described by Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law: "For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction." Air goes down, action, cd goes up, reaction. The balloons forward mo

vement is based upon Newton's First Law. "every object remains at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force." By giving the balloon a slight push (external force) the balloon at rest begins to move. Grade 6 students who study flight understand Newton's First and Third laws.