The White House science fair was created to inspire curiosity, and one project in particular piqued President Barack Obama's interest so much he couldn't resist testing it out.
Obama was thrilled to see a marshmallow launcher in the State Dining Room, which was designed by eighth-grader Joe Hudy. Obama asked if he could give it a go.
"The Secret Service is going to be mad at me about this," he said. According to the White House Pool Report, "With that, he pumped up the compressor and shot a marshmallow across the State Dining Room, where it narrowly missed a window and smashed against the wall near the entrance to the Red Room. The students thoroughly enjoyed this spectacle. "
This isn't the first time Obama's dirtied the White House in the name of innovation. The president told students that he once assisted his daughter Sasha with an egg drop project for school, and to test her invention they dropped the egg from the Truman balcony. Sasha went on to win the contest. "I'm hip to the whole egg thing. It's tough," Obama said.
The president spent a few minutes with each of the students and their projects, praising their hard work and ingenuity. He told one student who created dissolvable sugar packets, which are in the process of being patented, that Starbucks should look into buying the product, adding, "Tell me when I can buy stock.
- See a collection of political cartoons on Newt Gingrich.
- See a slide show of GOP spouses on the 2012 campaign trail.
- See pictures of Michelle Obama.
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