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While sipping a Sierra Mist and brainstorming ideas for his first science fair project, inspiration bubbled up and burst from Mark Leibensperger's lips.

The Pine-Richland Middle School sixth-grader decided to test six brands of soda to determine which was the most heavily carbonated. For this, he became the youngest winner of a 2005 Carnegie Science Center Award for Excellence.

"We were sitting at the table and drinking a soda and it just kind of came to me," said Leibensperger, 12, of Pine. "Carbonation -- I like it because it makes you burp. It just lets everything out."

To determine which soda is the fizziest, Leibensperger mixed 20-ounce bottles of Coke, Sprite, Pepsi, 7-Up, Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew with eighth-cups of salt to release the sodas' carbon dioxide. He then capped the bottles with balloons to capture the gas.

By letting the gas escape into an upside-down beaker filled with water and submerged in a bucket, Leibensperger measured the volume of gas in each balloon.

Sprite was the fizziest, with Coke coming in second. Mountain Dew had the fewest bubbles.

He also found out that while more carbonation increases your chances of burping, it isn't the only factor. How much air is swallowed with the soda also plays a role.

He did the project -- titled "Pop Your Top with Soda" -- following the scientific method: ask a question, gather information, develop a hypothesis, experiment, re-experiment and analyze the results. His science teacher, Andrea Peck, said was so impressed that she gave him an A-plus.

"He got it in before it was even due," she said. "You could tell he was working hard; you could tell he was excited."

After his school's sixth-grade science fair, Leibensperger decided to enter his project in the 66th Annual Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair -- along with 700 other students from 92 schools in 12 counties.

"They put all this energy and excitement into doing research and then they are able to communicate that research to people who actually work in that field," fair director Lisa Kosick said about the students.

Leibensperger won in the Consumer Science category of the junior, or sixth-grade, division. That got him nominated for the Carnegie Science Center Award for Excellence in the Junior Division, which he was awarded April 27.

"We were all very surprised," said his mother, Pam Leibensperger. "I think what made Mark's project extra special was the research behind it and his ability to communicate what he learned."

Margaret Schervish, an eighth-grader at Carlow Campus School in Oakland, won in the intermediate, or seventh- and eighth-grade division. Megan Conroy, a home-schooled 11th-grader from Export, Westmoreland County, won in the senior, or ninth- through 12th-grade division.

In addition to his glass trophy and $75 check, Leibensperger met and received an autograph from Mike Fincke, an Emsworth native who served aboard the International Space Station for six months last year.

During the ceremony's downtime, the budding scientist caught up on his science homework about volcanos.

"We were there since four (o'clock) and I had to get my homework done," Leibensperger said.

Leibensperger is going to enter his project in the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge. If accepted, he'll go to Washington, D.C., and be eligible for a $20,000 scholarship.

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