The mystery of the misty skull solved
November 13, 2008
By Laura Geggel
The week of Halloween, Twin Falls Middle School students saw a prop worthy of an Indiana Jones movie. A skull sat on librarian Karen Andring’s counter and mist poured out of its eye sockets.
“Kids were fascinated by the mist being generated, without boiling water,” Andring said. “Many students guessed that dry ice might be involved and were even more fascinated when I told them it was just tap water and electricity and the metal base inside the skull.”
Rachel Massey, left, holds the skull that inspired a contest both she and Renee Spear, right, won. Spear shows some of the books she won as part of the prize.
Students from all grades peered at the skull, waving their hands in the mist and asking Andring how it worked. Her response?
“Figure out the correct answer and submit it to the library,” she wrote on a contest flyer.
Two sixth-grade girls entered the contest and one received a $20 gift certificate to the PTSA book fair Nov. 7.
Sixth-grade student Renee Spear said the skull caught her attention because of “the fog coming out of it. I thought it was pretty neat.”
Spear went home and discussed some potential misty-making solutions with her father. She also called her friend Rachel Massey and the two of them researched the problem in the Twin Falls library.
“We needed to find a scientific resource,” Massey said.
Both students submitted short answers to Andring, who asked science teacher Dwaina Tembreull and math teacher Dave Bettine to judge the entries.
Both girls got the answer correct. The metal base of the skull had an electric current that created sonic vibrations. The vibrations caused the water molecules to become hyperactive, which allowed the water to go from liquid to gas almost instantaneously.
“My answer was the (water’s) electrons and the protons rub together so fast that it creates the fog,” said Spear.
Spear, who won the contest with a slightly more thorough answer, received five books as a prize.
“I love to read books,” Spear said during a phone interview. “I’m sitting at my bookshelf and I have four shelves full of books.”
The judges and Andring said they were glad the students made an effort to research the skull-mist conundrum.
“Too often today, we take any answer or the first answer or the most popular answer as being correct,” Andring said.
Tembreull commended the girls for their research.
“Everyone can be a scientist,” Tembreull said. “By studying how to do science you can learn more about the world.”
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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