By JODI WOLFE
Staff Writer

READY TO RACE – Steve Provost prepares his car to race down a short track as Danielle Upham and Grayel Farris look on. The three students worked as a team to try to build the car in the magnetic levitation competition at Pembroke Academy. (Jodi Wolfe Photo)

Pembroke Academy students are learning the ups and downs of civil engineering through a magnetic levitation competition judged by employees of New Hampshire Department of Transportation.

Over 300 students in 14 physical science and physics classes learned how to build cars to compete in the competition that took place on Wednesday, Nov. 17.

The cars were made of foam with magnetic strips at the bottom that repel against the magnetic track, causing them to levitate and create speed.

Before the competition, students tested the dynamics of their cars to determine how much magnet they need to carry their passengers, which were pennies, to create optimal merit, said Wendy Johnson from the state Bureau of Traffic, who helped with the competition.

Merit is based on an equation that comes from the number of passengers multiplied by the speed of the car and divided that by the amount of magnet in the car, said Johnson.

Materials for the competition were funded by the American Association of State and Highways Transportation Officials as part of its Transportation and Civil Engineering program, which was designed to teach high school students about civil engineering.

The organization found that high school students didn’t know about civil engineering, so the program gives them exposure, said Liz Mueller, a science teacher at Pembroke Academy who worked with the state transportation employees to put the event together.

“It gets the kids interested in transportation careers while in high school,” said Mueller.

The competition was divided up into two sessions on Nov. 17. Before each of the sessions began, Anthony King, a civil engineer with the state Bureau of Highway Design, gave a presentation on civil engineering to the students.

“I tried to keep it interesting, but not overpowering,” he said.

Through the program, King has worked with students from Pembroke Academy as well as Belmont High School and Merrimack High School. He previously helped those three high schools with a competition where students built bridges out of popsicle sticks, and broke them to see how much weight the bridges could stand before they broke.

This was his first time doing the magnetic levitation competition with the students.

“Working with the kids, it’s always a lot of fun,” he said.

Freshman Danny Bouchard, 14, and his competition partner Conner Falzone, 14, said they enjoyed racing their cars and are interested in civil engineering.

Bouchard, who is from Pembroke, said he likes how civil engineering allows you to come up with your own ideas.

“You can construct your own things,” he said.

The morning session of the competition went well, but during the afternoon session, the laser beam reading the speed of the cars didn’t work and the competition was put on hold.

Bouchard and Falzone had to run their car down the track several times to get a speed reading because the laser beam kept bouncing off their car.

Derek Olson, 14, a freshman from Epsom, built a car called The Green Machine, which also had difficultly going down the track.

“It’s hard,” he said.

Olson said he is interested in being a mechanic, but he is possibly interested in being a civil engineer.

“The students enjoyed designing these very much,” said Harold Elliot, a physical science teacher.

Designing and creating the cars didn’t take up a lot of class time, she said; magnetism and electricity are part of the physical science curriculum.

“This was an interesting application, so they can produce some type of product,” she said.

Elliot said he thought the competition went well overall.

“Aside from the frustrating computer issue, it think it was a very positive experience,” said Mueller. “I think was very worthwhile.”