The Greater Latrobe Chain Reaction Team placed 2nd out of 27 teams at the Chain Reaction Contraption Contest recently held at the Carnegie Science Center.  This competitive academic event challenges students to build a simple machine that performs an assigned task using at least twenty steps. Rather than relying on electricity, the machines are powered by gravity and various sources of potential energy.  The event is sponsored by Westinghouse and is designed to generate interest in engineering by exposing high school students to the application of scientific principles. With the help of local engineer Tom Irwin, Greater Latrobe students built a machine that won second place at the competition on December 10.  In addition to the machine itself, students were judged on a verbal presentation given the day of the competition. During the presentation students were expected to answer various questions related to the scientific principles behind the machine they built.