The main theme of the Earth Day activities at Ohio University Southern on Wednesday was science, as a large group from Russell Middle School and juniors and seniors from Raceland High School came to take part.

Ohio University Southern science students and student workers in the science department had a table set up with experiments and demonstrations to show visiting students about potential difference of voltage, solar power and other things, while there were do-it- yourself stations set up in which the students got to make their own homemade lava lamps and bouncy balls.

The students made lava lamps with a water bottle filled a third with water, two thirds vegetable oil a few drops of food coloring and an Alka-Seltzer tablet and bouncy balls with glue, water, Borax and food coloring.

Upstairs, there was an interactive CSI demonstration with a lab experiment and “fun with pyrotechnics,” a demonstration and experiment in the chemistry lab for the students to do.

“We set up a hypothetical murder scene at OU,” Olivia Casto, OUS science department student worker, said. “I’ll show a presentation and the students will do a lab experiment about it at their tables.”

At 10 a.m., the day started with information to the visiting students on the science program and admissions, followed by campus tours at 11 and then all of the science activities starting at noon where each group of students got to spend time at each station.

“This is the first time that we’ve ever done anything like this,” OUS recruiter Eric McLaughlin said. “We also had a tree planting yesterday in collaboration with Ironton in Bloom.”

The science department also had Earth Day T-shirts available for $10.