Test of Nerves : Science fair: Some students and their parents are jittery about coming to L.A., but the show goes on.

It took 625 kids to do it, but they disproved Newton’s third law of motion Tuesday at the state Science Fair.

For every action there isn’t necessarily an opposite reaction, youngsters from throughout the state showed as they flocked to a riot-ravaged area of Los Angeles to display classroom science projects and compete for prizes.

Organizers of the fair had toyed with calling it off after rioters destroyed nearby shopping centers and soldiers set up an emergency encampment near the Sports Arena, where the event was held. Even after they decided to stage the competition, officials hypothesized that many worried parents would keep their children home.

No way.

Only half a dozen families called to withdraw their children from the competition because of fears for their safety, spokesman Evan Nossoff said. Another 40 were no-shows when judging began Tuesday morning. But that absentee rate was up only slightly from previous years, he said.

And although Santa Barbara County science fair leaders decided to forgo the competition due to safety concerns, students and parents from the region made the trip anyway, said Christopher Gould, a USC physics professor who is the state fair’s chairman.

Some of the out-of-towners got an L.A. eyeful, however.

When 13-year-old Brian Hall from the gold country community of Angel’s Camp arrived to set up his display on pendulums, his father made a wrong turn at the arena and ended up at the National Guard’s riot command post.

The pair turned around and hurried off to buy a camera to record the scene. But the shop they went to--Olympic Camera near downtown Los Angeles--had been emptied by looters.

“That’s the city for you. That’s why we live in Angel’s Camp,” said Jack Hall, an optometrist.

Students and their parents were invited to stay in USC dorms during the two-day event. Fair officials rented shuttle buses to carry visitors between the arena and the campus and to and from the airport.

Charlene Kvederis of Orinda said she called fair organizers twice for assurances that her son, Brad, 14, would be protected if he came to display his math project. Officials wrote back promising “a safe, memorable experience” despite “the recent events in Los Angeles,” she said.

San Diego resident Ellie Wilkerson said images of the riots weighed heavily on her mind when her 13-year-old son, John, was invited to show his airplane wing lift project. He hopes to become an aircraft designer.

“I was terrified for him to come up here,” she acknowledged, adding quickly that she is glad that “they have aircraft companies in Seattle as well as L.A.”

Zoe Herman, a 15-year-old from Carmel who studied architectural stresses for her project, heard similar goodbys. “My friends said, ‘Gosh, it’s so bad down there.’ They think riots are the usual thing,” said Zoe--who explained that she wouldn’t mind trading the boredom of Carmel for the excitement of Los Angeles.

In an adjoining booth, however, Brenna Heid said she was happy to be living in Huntington Beach. Hers had turned out to be a topical project: the study of the effect of flame retardants on fires.

“I’ve never seen things like the burned shopping centers I’ve seen around here,” Brenna, 13, said. “I like my neighborhood. It doesn’t have a lot of violence.”

Michelle Bernal, 15, of San Clemente, who studied the effects of drugs on microscopic fleas, said: “I was nervous coming up here. I was afraid something might happen to me and my family. I saw some of the burned buildings outside; I wouldn’t want to live here.”

But competition, not confrontation, was on youngsters’ minds when it came time for judges to prowl among exhibits with such titles as “Don’t Drink and Spin” and “Are Clean Clothes Worth It?”

Fourteen-year-old Joseph Domoto of Sanger studied rocket engine thrust for his eighth-grade project. A few steps away, Andrea Collins of Reseda displayed her experiments on new designs for an ancient device: boomerangs. “What goes around, comes around,” said Andrea, 14.

Cash prizes ranging from $50 to $5,000 were awarded to the fair’s 120 winners Tuesday night.

Grete Hemmingsen, 17, of La Jolla was picked as the state’s science student of the year with a study of neuronal proteins. Brandon Angell, 14, of Bakersfield won the top senior high prize for a study of acids. Colin Matheson, 13, of Willits was the top junior high winner with a bacteria project.