Hello!

The Science Buskers Festival Busking Round ( semi-finals ), just ended yesterday. The thrill of getting into the finals was just superb! Tristen, Joseph and I formed a team, which we call Pyro-Cyro! Joejyn, Bok Woon and Jia Peng also entered the competition. Although this competition means a lot to us, we still want to play fairly, but mostly, have fun!

Our group entered a video with us acting in Medieval Times, about a cold-blooded wizard torturing innocent lives. It was really an interesting video, because we used chemicals and could change the colour of a burning fire, and also placed our arm above a flame, without burning or injuring ourselves. We named it "The Human Torch"!

Joejyn's group got in too, and we met again on the Audition Round. On that day, we performed a skit, where an innocent life was captured to serve an evil master. The master's servant, was tired of the cruel acts he was forced to do and thus, betrayed him by adding magic to his master's dessert, which reacts to water! We call this, Negative X. While performing, we were too nervous and could not remember our lines and the explanation for the experiment.

Still, we shall remain optimistic that we got in! Continuing, there was a meeting for all successful groups called a Crucible. Don't get the name mixed up with the play by Arthur Miller! It is a one day camp to help us to know about our fellow contestants and their ideas. This way, we can get inspiration and get along better during the Busking Round! We presented an idea we call the Nimbus 2001. The name was Harry Potter's broomstick's name in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. We cut a whole at the base of a bin and secure book wrapping around the mouth of the bin with tape. By hitting the wrap, we can force air out of the hole at the base and direct it at objects. It is fun and easy to make.

So for the Busking Round, we did the Nimbus 2001, Negative X, The Human Torch and something else, "The Polymer Ball"! Despite its simple and uninteresting name, it was the best experiment we did, getting the votes of many! Adding two chemicals together creates a rubber-like ball, which could be bounced as a toy. Children absolutely loved it!

We faced problems such as running out of chemicals, not allowed to do The Human Torch (due to safety reasons) and saddening the voters when we told them, "Sorry, we are out of Sodium Silicate..."

"Improvise!" We said. So we came up with an experiment, to replace the Polymer Ball, we call the "Magic Invisible Fire". It is so simple, a child could do it. Well, maybe not. The fire is invisible, which means you cannot see if the mixture is burning or not, hence if you are not careful and topple the plate over onto someone...... let's just say that it's not safe and should not be done at home.(Instead, do it at your friend's place - a little joke we came up with)

Votes were rather slow (for us) on Friday and Saturday, but it boomed on Sunday, with support and help from our parents, siblings and teachers.

Our group and Joejyn's group are preparing for Saturday, the 17th, which is the finals! We really need support from our peers and teachers. We will do our best to get that first place and make the school, our family and most importantly, ourselves, proud. Despite what happens on that day, we will enjoy ourselves and proove that Science is an interesting and educational subject!