By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

Most children these days know that disposable diapers are fairly good about holding liquid.

They just probably aren't sure why.

Now, several youngsters in Ellis County -- and all across the country -- do.

On 4-H National Youth Science Day, youngsters in Victoria, Ellis and Hays took part in the National Science Experiment Wednesday.

The focus was to teach youth about the importance of water conservation, and one part of the experiment was dissecting a disposable diaper.

While youngsters turned up their noses at that suggestion at the Hays Public Library, Susan Schlichting assured them they would be clean diapers.

Schlichting, 4-H and youth Extension agent for Ellis County, monitored the experiment in the county throughout the day as it was taking place in similar venues around the country.

After each session, she then plugged in the results to the Web site, www. 4-h.org, where experimentalists in other parts of the country were doing the same thing.

"I hope this will continue a conversation for them and see what other students in other places learned," Schlichting said of the county classrooms that took part in the experiment.

The particular component explored was hydrogel, which holds water and is used in disposable diapers.

Schlichting asked questions as she guided them through the experiments, and she got some interesting answers.

The youngsters combined a teaspoon of the hydrogel taken from a diaper and a half cup of water.

"It looks like apple sauce," 5-year-old Derek Eichman said as he watched the hydrogel absorb the water.

The two different groups at the library then poured water over two different types of soil -- one was potting soil alone and the other, potting soil with hydrogel added to it.

"It looks like your dirt got bigger," 9-year-old Sierra Eichman told her younger brother as he curiously watched the hydrogel absorb his water.

Schlichting deemed the experiments a success, saying she was surprised with some of the innovative ideas the grade school children came up with for uses of hydrogel.

"One said that we could put (hydrogel) in sandbags for use during a flood, and another suggested using it in roof shingles," Schlichting said. "Now that is practical application -- absolutely."

Luca Peters, 10, and his younger sister, Riley, 7, often walk to the library after school at Lincoln Elementary and take part in various activities there.

The experiments were to Luca's liking.

"Today we wouldn't have had anything to do but homework," the fifth-grader said while naming different activities he and his sister do throughout a normal week. "So this was fun."