GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — An exploding balloon. Pressure tests. Even a tube of fire. That’s how students at Lombardi Middle School learned about natural gas from demonstrators from WPS.
“When you see natural gas being used to inflate a balloon or lift the lid on a metal tube, it reinforces those concepts,” WPS Spokesman Matt Cullen told WTAQ.
Those concepts include what natural gas actually is and how it produces energy…and how its byproduct, carbon monoxide, can be dangerous.
“We feel like it’s important to show students exactly what natural gas is. It’s not something you can detect with the naked eye,” said Cullen. “Those can be hard concepts to understand for students in middle school. So being able to provide this sort of demonstration does help reinforce those things to them.”
WPS utility specialists Kurt Sheedy and Matt Schoenwalder demonstrated how carbon monoxide detectors work and explained concepts such as pressure measurement.
It’s part of WPS’s ongoing awareness and safety campaign.
“These presentations are part of our core commitment to safety,” Cullen said. “They allow us to share information with students in a hands on way to help them understand the science behind natural gas.”
About 300 students saw the presentation Monday.
