Comment by paulcole | Hacker News Reader

Comment by paulcole | Hacker News Reader

When I was 16 I did a project on whether plants could be used to remove heavy metals from soil. I don’t know why I did this but I did a nitrate test on the plants (because I had been putting lead nitrate into the soil) and drew the conclusion that it must’ve worked.

About 2 weeks before the city science fair I realized my error (none of my teachers had said anything).

So in an attempt to lose, I made my backboard as bad as possible. I didn’t use scissors or glue, I just tore the paper and used masking tape.

Long story short, I have no idea how, but despite my best efforts, I won the city science fair including an HP-48 graphing calculator and a trip to the state science fair.

At the state science fair my backboard (you had to use the same one as the city contest) was mocked by much more studious 8-year olds. I found out that teachers weren’t allowed in the exhibition hall so I just abandoned my space and went to the beach.

I did not win the state science fair.

why would you try to lose instead of just writing about the null hypothesis? why even make a submission?

I am not sure it shows the null hypothesis either, unless I am missing something because it was not chance or sampling error.

I was 16 and didn’t want to do any more work. My school was making me submit my project.

In hindsight, obviously there was a lot I could’ve done differently.

Also, I didn’t know what a null hypothesis was then. TBH I still don’t!

Did you tell the judge or could you get a sense of what they thought?

I probably talked to 3 or 4 judges and explained to all of them exactly what I did and never lied. But I also wasn’t forthcoming about the error. I just explained the experiment and the result. None of them asked any questions that I couldn’t answer.

I remember I was sitting next to a girl who had an amazing project. At the end of the day they called her name for 2nd place and I remember thinking, “Wow, who beat her?!” And then they call my name…

I thought it was either all a mistake or that maybe the judges thought I was mentally challenged on account of my backboard and it was a pity situation? In hindsight, perhaps an emperor has no clothes situation where everybody sees the error but nobody wants to be the first one to call it out?

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