Go ahead and thank Lucas Kniska in advance, if you don’t mind.
You know: For 20 years from now.
When you get from here to there in record time — not to mention safely and in a vehicle that doesn’t spew harmful emissions into the atmosphere as part of the commute.
“This is eventually going to change everything,” the Trinity Christian School student said.
Lucas, a seventh grader at the school in Sabraton, was doing some intellectual posturing Thursday night.
So were his classmates.
The occasion was Trinity’s annual Science and Social Studies Fair — which, in terms of the width and breadth of the topics presented — most definitely wasn’t the fare of the fairs you had when you were a kid.
No baking soda-and-vinegar volcanic eruptions.
No copy machine cutouts on poster boards.
“Yeah, they did it again,” Lois Campbell said with a chuckle.
She’s Trinity’s Purdue-trained STEM advisor who oversaw the science projects.
“I’m impressed,” said John Fowkes, her social studies colleague who helped guide the presentations on that end.
“They did exactly what I asked them to do,” he said.
“They took history and social issues and went beyond the textbook.”
Lucas’ presentation, meanwhile, was a dissertation unto itself.
“The Effect of Diamagnetic Properties of Pyrolytic Graphite on Neodymium Magnets,” was his topic.
If you’ve ever been a tourist on a bullet train in Japan, you have experienced the above.
All of the elements and components in Lucas’ title are what keeps those trains “levitating” on their rails, which is how they go so fast.
The idea, said Lucas, is to make all those chemical and engineering sequences even more efficient, so as to save the environment.
And yes, he does want to be an engineer.
“Pretty much,” he said, grinning.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Vikings could be pretty nice guys when they wanted to.
That’s from Trinity sophomore Daphne Tennant, who gave an overview of the misunderstood marauders for her project.
When they weren’t sacking and pillaging things, Vikings were pretty good craftsmen, said Daphne, who is planning on a career as a historical anthropologiste.
They even know how to turn on the charm, she said.
Vikings, surprisingly, were quite cordial when they were trading their wares.
“And they were clean,” she said.
“They were meticulous about their appearance. They would bathe once a week, which was pretty amazing for the time.”
Ethan Tomlinson (below) shows director of school advancment Jeannine Kelley “The Effect of Sling Length on a Trebuchets Projectile Distances” at the Science and Social Studies Fair at Trinity Christian School on Thursday.
Tweet @DominionPostWV
