This year, seniors Haley Gilliam and Rachael "Red" Mullins received the opportunity to work with NASA. Alongside Mrs. Jane Carter, their prior physics teacher, they developed an experiment which will be included in a rather prestigious event conducted at NASA's upcoming balloon campaign in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. However, only the experiments, and not the students, will be at the event. This particular event is titled "Cubes in Space," and it is a program where experiments are shipped to New Mexico and put into cubes. Haley and Rachel found out about this program from Mrs. Carter, who was knowledgeable about this opportunity.
Scheduled to begin August 31, this experiment is designed to compare the behavior of latex and nitrile when exposed to saline during the changes of pressure and temperature. This will occur on board a balloon that is just one of four different balloon flights experiencing altitudes upward of 120,000 feet, which is above 99.5 percent of the Earth's atmosphere. Yes, that does sound very scientific and maybe a little confusing, but it is basically just saline solution going rather high in the air while the changes in pressure and temperature are observed. Even though there are a few other events taking place during the balloon campaign, this event is going to be Burton's favorite.
When talking to Haley and Red, they both seemed really excited and honored to be chosen for this event. There will be 100 of these cubes all sent from students ages 11-18. Each cube is only about four centimeters, or 1 1/2 inches. They both noted how difficult it was to choose what substance they wanted to send up because they weren't given a guideline; it could have been anything. They told Cody and I that they thought about various foods, but soon realized that since the substance had to be left over the summer, that it would spoil. That is how they started thinking about more simple, yet interesting options; therefore, the idea of using saline solution was conceived.
There has already been tons of hard work and dedication from these two girls and they are still in for a long journey ahead. Good luck from Burton's Blog, Haley and Red! We hope to see this experiment go well for the two of you and, of course, Mrs. Carter!
Co-written by Taylor and Cody