A woman in a lab coat casually ignited a $20 bill Saturday afternoon as 101 Thomas Building erupted in gasps.

"Last time, they used a 50," said Kristina Williams, a seventh grader at Park Forest Middle School in the State College Area School District.

Williams was watching a demonstration on exothermic and endothermic reactions performed by two members of Science Lions, a Penn State club whose goal is to make science more accessible and exciting for children. She saw the same experiment performed at Park Forest earlier this year at the club's first show.

On Saturday, Kristy Ainslie (graduate-chemical engineering), president of the Science Lions, and member Jason Feick (graduate-chemical engineering) performed experiments related to different types of energy to a group of sixth- to eighth-grade girls taking part in "Expanding Your Horizons," an event sponsored by Women in the Sciences and Engineering Institute.

Started last spring by Ainslie, Science Lions is an outreach program composed primarily of graduate students in the sciences who travel to local schools, scout groups and other organizations within a 50-mile radius, performing science experiments. They try to use science equipment that the schools might not normally have access to and also do experiments that interest their younger audiences.

"I really enjoyed seeing how excited kids got about science," said Ainslie, who got the idea for Science Lions when she was an undergraduate at Michigan State University. Ainslie volunteered for a similar group at Michigan State called Science Theater and, finding the experience fulfilling, she brought it to Penn State.

"I very much like how we've been embraced by the Penn State community," Ainslie said.

The group boasts about 30 members. Although most of the members are graduate students in sciences, the club is open to everyone; Ainslie would like to have more education and theater members in particular.

The group's first large show was at the 35th annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, where it had a booth with demonstrations and hands-on activities that focused on everything from chemistry to ecology.

"Kids were very, very excited at Arts Fest," said Alexandra Surcel (graduate-life sciences consortium), who is the public relations and scheduling chair for the club.

So far the response from children, parents and teachers who have seen the Science Lions in action has been positive, Ainslie said. Following a show at Park Forest Middle School, Ainslie said the group received thank-you cards from students. Teachers seemed to be very excited, she added.

The organizers of Saturday's program also seemed enthused.

"Kids would like to see action, color, things happening," associate director of the WISE Institute Nüket Acar said, adding that the institute would like to utilize the help and expertise of the Science Lions in the future.

The club planned three shows for this semester, all of them free for their audiences. The club relies on funding on a show-by-show basis from the College of Engineering, the Life Sciences Consortium and private organizations.

"We're hoping for a really solid grant next year," Surcel said.

Along with doing the demonstrations, Ainslie said the group also would like to print an "Ask Science Lions" column in local newspapers, in which club members would answer science-related questions asked by area students.

The audience and the demonstrators at Saturday's show were excited about science. "That is so cool" seemed to be the collective phrase from the audience, who applauded loudly after the various chemical demonstrations.

After the show, several girls crowded to the front of the room, eager to ask questions of the two Science Lions who agreed that seeing kids excited about science was the best part of the job.

"Its like magic to them," Feick said.