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Central And South Coast Children Can Interact Directly With Scientists Using Online Tool

ScienceLine

Kids in the Tri-Counties who are curious about anything science-related can get their answers from real-life scientists.

It’s called ScienceLine. It’s a website in which students and teachers from local elementary, middle and high schools submit science questions, and UC Santa Barbara scientists answer them.

“It’s a good way to encourage kids not only to learn science but to develop curiosity and think about how to do science,” UCSB Emeritus bio-physics professor Helen Hansma said. 

10-year-old Jordan Kowalewski recently asked a question.

“What happens when you mix sodium with bleach?,” she asked.

She received this answer: "Pure sodium normally reacts with chlorine (in bleach) to make sodium chloride (table salt), but sodium reacts even more strongly with oxygen, which is in the water that the bleach is dissolved in, to make sodium oxide."

Kowalewski said she plans to ask many more questions.

“I always had so many questions to answer and I never knew what the answers were, so I found out I can now ask them on ScienceLine,” she said.