SANTA PAULA : Mysteries of Physics Amaze Youngsters

Ten-year-old Ken Rochelle thought he could hit a ruler placed flat beneath a two-page sheet of newspaper and make the paper fly off the table.

But as the fifth-grader smacked the wooden ruler over the table’s edge, it broke in two. It also did not move the sheet of paper.

“That’s because there is 9,000 pounds of air pressure between the paper and the table. So the paper is like a piece of steel,” said physics instructor Tina Moskowitz. “Even if he were Arnold Schwarzenegger, he wouldn’t be able to do it.”

Ken was one of about 400 children to attend a physics demonstration at Thelma Bedell School in Santa Paula on Friday.

“The goal is to get students involved in science and show them that they can have fun as they learn,” said Bedell Principal Glenn Deines. “It’s a hands-on experience.”

Twice a year, the school holds the hourlong lab where students learn, among other things, about the laws defining why moving air is lighter than stagnant air and the mysteries surrounding the speed of light.

“If you could travel at the speed of light, you could reach the sun in seven minutes,” Moskowitz told the students, who seemed enthralled by her demonstrations. “And in the time you blink your eyes, you could travel around the earth.”

Moskowitz, who works for Science Adventures, a Huntington Beach educational company, began the seminar by mixing glycerin with potassium.

As she turned off the lights in the room, a blue flame rose from the mixture. Students cheered the sight.

“A reaction between two chemicals is a type of energy we call light,” she explained. “And light is the fastest thing that exists.”

Although the youngsters cheered and clapped during most of the program, they were especially enthused when Moskowitz made a ball float by holding an air blaster under it.

“You can raise it as high up as you want--all because the air pressure pushes up the ball,” Moskowitz said, walking around the ball in a circle.

“I think it’s really cool,” said Nicole Ketterman, 7, who assisted Moskowitz with the experiment. “I didn’t know it could do that.”