School of hard science

Does the temperature of a tennis ball affect how high it bounces' Which gender has the better sense of direction? Does rock candy form faster than rock crystals?. These were some of the queries Elizabeth Gallardo paused to consider as she perused the research posters on display at the Jackson/Mann K-8 School. Gallardo, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in applied physics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), served as a judge during the Boston school's annual seventhand eighth-grade science fair. While listening to seventh-graders Oumar Barbe and Rodrigo Barbosa, Gallardo was interested to learn how temperature affects a tennis ball's bounce. Gas molecules have more energy when they are warm, which creates more pressure inside the tennis ball, causing it to bounce higher, Barbosa explained. 'This information could be useful for people if they are playing tennis in different types of weather,' Barbe said.