Students from schools across the city are taking part in the 2013 Calgary Youth Science Fair and are displaying their projects and conducting experiments at the Olympic Oval.

The 51st science fair got underway this week and for the second year is at the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary.

Students in grades five through twelve are taking part in the competition for science supremacy.

The fair is the largest of its kind in the country and the goal is to promote an appreciation for scientific principles and method in Calgary’s youth.

“It’s an opportunity for the students from the City of Calgary to exhibit all this amazing work that they do with science and technology,” said Amberly Dooley, Fundraising Chair for the Calgary Youth Science Fair. “There are students that are inventing new things. There are students that are coming up with new research projects, they’re looking at innovative uses for things. It’s impressive, some of the students that we get here.”

About 1000 students have entered 670 projects in this year’s event.

Joe Willis is a Grade 6 student at Springbank Middle School and spent over a thousand hours on his project.

“I really did have help from the mentors,” said Joe. “They thought of it and designed it and gave me the parts.”

The students are exploring a wide range of topics on and off the planet.

“I’m trying to find out how we can live on Mars by using electrolysis,” said Tyler Ronhaar a Grade 6 student at River Valley School.

The Calgary Youth Science Fair is open to the public on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. and the awards ceremony goes at noon.

For more information, visit the 2013 Calgary Youth Science Fair website.

(With files from Kathy Le)