Is the next Albert Einstein among us? - KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, Sports

Is the next Albert Einstein among us?

NewsChannel 10

Amarillo, Texas - There wasn't any rubber burning at the Pantex car races Saturday... In fact, there wasn't anything burning at all.... The only fuel being used was hydrogen.

Dozens of middle-schoolers from across the area came out to flex their science and design muscles, creating model cars that depend solely on hydrogen running in a fuel cell.

B&W Pantex's Greg Cunningham says, "We really want to foster a love of science with these kids. With building the car we actually get to test their hands on skills, their engineering skills. They get a kit that has the fuel cells and everything they need in it, but the cars they come up with are completely on their own. They use their creativity with that. And it gives them an opportunity to understand some pretty complex science of what goes into making one of these fuel cell cars work."

Seven different middle schools were represented.... Each team fueled up their cars by using electrolysis to extract hydrogen from water... Then off the cars went down a ten meter track.

The overall victory goes to the fastest car, but there are also awards for car design, craftsmanship and car appearance.