Experiments rev up science classes

The weather has not been kind this year to Charlotte Zaremba’s

science class at Orange Coast Middle College High School.

Each of the last two years, Zaremba’s students have started the

fall quarter by building and running hydrogen fuel-cell cars --

small, plastic models that operate through chemical reactions. Last

autumn, the class raced the cars outside, using solar panels; the

sunlight fired up the cells.

This time, faced with one overcast morning after another, Zaremba

kept her students indoors and charged the cars with batteries.

“We’ve only done it outside before,” she said Tuesday as her

students set up cars on cardboard sheets around the room. “If

rainwater gets in these cells, it’ll damage the membrane, and we

won’t have years of use out of these expensive fuel cells.”

So her students may not have witnessed the power of the sun, but

they still learned a novel way to operate a vehicle.

A fuel-cell car works by separating distilled water into hydrogen

and oxygen -- a reaction instigated by an electrical current. The

hydrogen and oxygen are then used to provide energy for the motor.

Middle College High, located on the Orange Coast College campus,

serves students who want to do college-level work away from a

traditional high school setting. Zaremba is the only science teacher

at the school, which employs just four teachers.

Last year, she successfully applied for a $5,000 grant from a

program called A+ for Energy, sponsored by BP America. The grant

netted supplies for the fuel-cell car projects, the first major class

project of the year.

As students ran the cars in circles on the cardboard Tuesday, they

tied markers to the rear bumpers to count the number of laps. Rosalba

Mathus, 17, got 20 laps out of hers before it petered out, although

she ran into difficulty when she tried running it alongside other

vehicles.

“We had a few crashes,” she said. “It’s like the 405 Freeway.”

Some students who were in the class last year said the solar

panels worked more efficiently than the batteries. However, the

experiment still held their interest.

“It’s fun just to see it go -- just to see the hydrogen separate,”

said Stephen Lovett, 17.

Throughout the year, Zaremba plans other hands-on experiments for

her students -- and hopes for more agreeable conditions. One upcoming

project will involve building wind turbines to power the model cars.

“Hopefully, we’ll have wind for that and we won’t have to bring in

blow dryers,” Zaremba said.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Michael Miller visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about his experience.