Published Monday, October 27, 2003
By Patrecka F. Adams
Herald Staff Writer
Ten-year-old Angela Nicikowski stirred the mixture in the little paper cup until it resembled thick, yellow molasses.
Then the East Elementary School fifth-grader began to stretch and pull the yellow Silly Putty-like substance in her hands.
"It sticks to your hands if you keep rolling it," she said as she tried to get the little pieces off her fingers.
"It's not actually sticking to your hands," said Heath Yanicko, an elementary education major at Thiel College in Greenville. "It's trying to stick to the molecules of putty on your hands. "When you wash your hands and handle it again, it won't stick anymore," he told her.
"That's cool," Angela said after learning that tidbit of chemistry. Yanicko was one of about 20 Thiel students who taught fourth- through sixth-grade students from East Elementary and St. Michael elementary schools about science in the "Kids and Chemistry" program.
The program was held Sunday afternoon in the Academic Center on campus. It served as the college chapter of the American Chemical Society's celebration of National Chemistry Week, which began Oct. 19 and ended Saturday.
In addition to making putty, students from both Greenville schools made slime, played chemistry bingo, built soda pop rockets and created colorful rainbow fish.