The University of Tennessee Space Institute’s Center for Laser Applications (CLA) hosted a week-long science camp for area fifth and sixth graders in July. Forty-four campers learned just how exciting science can be during the week full of adventures. The theme of this year’s camp was all about Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion.

Not your average camp, students learned about the solar system, then watched as a homemade comet was created right in front of their eyes. They studied air and atmosphere, then rode on a hovercraft and made air gliders out of CDs and balloons. Campers watched as soda and milk became ice cream with the addition of liquid nitrogen. They built rockets with straws, and later with empty soda bottles and launched them high into the sky. They also built their own solar cars and launched a solar bag. There were also volcano and dry ice experiments, experiments with slime, catapults and trebuchets, vacuum chambers, microscopes and lasers.

Great fun was had by all, and a lot of thanks go to both CLA Director Dr. Bill Hofmeister for hosting the camp and to CLA’s Business Manager Carole Thomas for coordinating the camp. In addition, Camp Counselors Paul Sherrouse, Will Vick, Dustin Pierce, Jason Pappafotis, JD Morris, Todd Jackson, Ksenia Kuznetsova, William Yue, Larissa Wenren, Mika Osborne and Rebecca Hofmeister worked alongside Penny Oliver and Betsy Harbin and many more members of the UTSI faculty and staff, to make the week such a great success. The Hands-On Science Center and the Tullahoma Utility Board also brought several exciting experiments, which contributed to the contagious fun of camp.

BATTLE OF THE AIRZOOKAS–Campers Tanner Underwood and Ryan Rampy take aim against Camp Counselor Rebecca Hofmeister in a battle of the “airzookas,” a toy that uses science to really “blow your hair back.” Hofmeister holds the purchased model, while campers created their own with latex gloves and plastic cotton candy containers that they enjoyed emptying! Also shown, in the front row, is Kayla Smith, and James Amacher in the back. Other counselors shown are William Yu and Ksenia Kuznetsova.
–UTSI Photo by Shanna Relford

MAKING ICE CREAM?—Camp Volunteer Bill Boss pours in liquid nitrogen as Ashley Gipson with the Hands on Science Center stirs the ingredients to make some space-age ice cream for anxious and amazed mad science campers. The liquid nitrogen is so cold that the process took only a few minutes for the ice cream to freeze.
–UTSI Photo by Shanna Relford

RIDING THE HOVERCRAFT—Camper Lucas Moore enjoys a wild ride on a hovercraft as Camp Counselor JD Morris guides him around the court. A hovercraft is designed to travel over any sufficiently smooth surface – land or water – supported by a cushion of slowly moving, low-pressure air, ejected downwards against the surface close below it.
–UTSI Photo by Shanna Relford

RIDING THE HOVERCRAFT—Camper Lucas Moore enjoys a wild ride on a hovercraft as Camp Counselor JD Morris guides him around the court. A hovercraft is designed to travel over any sufficiently smooth surface – land or water – supported by a cushion of slowly moving, low-pressure air, ejected downwards against the surface close below it.
–UTSI Photo by Carole Thomas