Why do somethings sink and others swim? That’s a topic that makes for an interesting science fair project. Iron is a heavy metal and a small coin made out of iron will sink. Paradoxically a huge boat made out of iron manages to float well enough to cross vast oceans.So what makes this same metal act in such different ways? And more importantly how do we make this into a science project?

It is all a matter of displacement as Archimedes told us. Archimedes principle states that a body immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid.So as long as enough water gets displaced the object will float and if its does not then the object sinks.

Essentially this means that a certain diameter needs to be maintained for the object so that it will float. So we will make spherical shaped boats out of foil to check what the ideal diameter to float is. Now once the size is unable to push away enough water the boat will lose its buoyancy and sink.

So start from a specific size and then keep making larger sized boats out of foil till the largest one sinks. Then work backwards to see the smallest size that manages to float. Record all the data you generate. Take photographs for the display board and also ensure that you make some tables from the data that you have collected. It is a simple and interesting science fair project.

When you think of a parachute the first image that comes to mind is that of a skydiver. The canopy of the parachute overhead as the sky diver gently floats down to earth, but what makes the parachute a device safe enough to trust a life with? Can the size of the parachute matter? How about the material it is made from?What about the weight?

These are a few questions which when answered can translate into a good science fair project. The variables that you can consider include the load that parachute must carry. How heavy or light is the load? Is it a small stone or a big stuffed toy? Then think of the height from which it is to be dropped. Will you throw it down from the first floor or the top of the school roof?

What material will you use to make the parachute? Is there a specific length of string that you will be adhering to? How about the material of the string? The shape of the parachute can also be varied. In case of the sky diver we usually see a rectangular shaped one. However the parachute can be circular, or even triangular in shape.

The shape and weight of the parachute will affect the way the parachute functions.So keep all that in mind as you set out to build the ideal parachute for you load in the science project. Tabulate all your attempts and share the data on the display board to show how you got the best parachute for you load going.

The dream of every transportation engineer has been to make a small private car fly. While it would be a science project with many interesting possibilities, it is not one which can be undertaken in high school. Still we are going to attempt an experiment in aerodynamics by making small car models fly.

What we intend to do is construct catapults using three different types of elastic materials and then use them to launch our toy cars into flight. Essentially we will turn the potential energy of the elastic material into kinetic energy transferred to the cars launched by the catapult.

The object of the science project is to find which of the three different elastic materials has the most potential energy. This will be measured by how high the cars reach when launched by the different materials. The catapults can be used to launch five different car toys of different weights and sizes.

The data that you collect will then be compared to see which of the three given elastic materials managed to send the most cars soaring highest. That is the material which has the most potential energy out of the ones used in the science project. Make sure that all the data is tabled properly and displayed well.

The dangers of space exploration are many. The excitement will still draw humans to learn more about outer space. Wouldn’t it be nice if humankind could indulge its passion for space exploration in a safe and secure manner. There is a new set of science projects in the works which may just allow humans to explore space by proxy.

There has been considerable progress in the field of robotics. The new generation of robots are smarter, more efficient and more flexible than the initial attempts a decade or so ago. Giant strides have been made in the programming of robots. There is a good chance of teaching a robot how to learn for itself.

An ongoing project has taught a robot to access the internet and learn how to do tasks that it is not programmed for. This kind of instant tutorial may eventually help develop Artificial Intelligence in the robot. The sensitivity of the robotic arm has also been improved drastically.

The robotic arm can now handle soft and fragile items with far greater ability and dexterity than before. It is able to handle complicated electrical repairs in outer space that would usually necessitate a space walk for a human astronaut. So with all these improvements thanks to different robotics based science projects it may soon not be necessary for the human beings to leave earth to explore space.

The call of the great unknown has always beckoned humankind. Now with all the terrestrial areas having been mapped the boundaries of the unknown have got pushed into outer space. The ongoing science project which is called space exploration is a dangerous business indeed.

Lives are at stake in every mission that seeks to send humans out into the hostile reaches of outer space. The point was driven home very effectively when the Space Shuttle Columbia crashed killing all seven crew members on board on February 1, 2003. The tragedy served an important purpose in reminding all of us of the frailty of human life and the strength of human spirit.

As the 106 metric ton weighing Space Shuttle Columbia re entered the over Texas there was anticipation at the completion of a mission well done. However shortly after the controlled, destructive reentry of the shuttle pieces of the space vehicle broke up. This happened when the left wing shielding during launch allowed hot gases to enter the wing structure of the shuttle.

The disintegration of the Space Shuttle Columbia saw pieces of debris scattering all over northern Texas and eastern Louisiana. The media covered the event extensively and it was humbling to learn that the best laid plans could really go astray. Not that it affected the science projects dedicated to exploring space as new missions still are being planned each day.

In the previous blog post we read about some of the satellites that have re entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It may seem like a waste of the science project for it to end up in little broken down fragments all over the Earth. However what we are trying to ascertain is if the fiery end of these monuments of science is dangerous to the denizens of earth.

Saturn S-II-13 was not exactly a satellite but the second stage used on the massive Saturn V rocket, famous for launching Apollo astronauts to the moon. This 49 metric ton projectile had a free fall, uncontrolled re entry into the atmosphere of the Earth on January 11, 1975 over the Atlantic Ocean. There were no known casualties.

The Cosmos 1402 was a nuclear spy satellite. The 4 metric ton satellite fell to the earth on January 23, 1983 in an uncontrolled re entry. It broke up over the Indian Ocean. Satellite nuclear reactors are usually jettisoned to a safe parking orbit when the satellites re enter the atmosphere but this did not happen in this case.

Mars 96 was a Russian Mars probe that was meant to send four probes to Mars. The science project mission was a disaster and the satellite fell to earth in an uncontrolled re entry on November 17, 1996. The 7 metric ton weight of the satellite was demolished as it entered over South America. Parts of the fragmented satellite fell in Bolivia, Chile, and the Pacific Ocean. No parts of the spacecraft, including its 200 grams of plutonium-238 fuel was recovered.

The International Space Station or ISS is probably the largest artificial satellite of the earth right now. There are plans to have the ISS crash in to the Pacific ocean soon. Many people are worried about the big satellite’s re entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Do they have cause to?

Not if you go by historic data on falling satellites. The Skylab re entered the atmosphere over the South West Australian region on July 11, 1979. It was a 79 metric ton weighing satellite which had an uncontrolled re entry and managed not to kill or injure anyone when it fell burning to Earth.

Salyut 7 was a Russian satellite which re entered the atmosphere on February 7, 1991. The entry point into the atmosphere was over Capitán Bermúdez, Argentina. It weighed 40 metric tons and yes the residents in a small town in Argentina did get some shower of debris. But the large satellite was an uncontrolled re entry which again did not represent a danger to human life.

The Russian Mir satellite was the first of the controlled re entries of a satellite in to the Earth’s atmosphere. This science project is interesting as despite wanting to save the 120 metric ton satellite it broke down into fragments over the Pacific Ocean. It re entered the atmosphere over Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean on March 23, 2001.

The rather tragic end of a grand science project such as a space satellite is the re entry which practically demolishes it. We heard a lot of noise about the recent satellite crash to earth. People were searing that parts of it fell near a small town in Canada, while Forbes (dot) com insisted that the satellite fell in the Pacific ocean and no where near Canada.

The natural preoccupation that we have with space includes the fascination of something akin to the “sky falling on our heads” rather like Chicken Little. Of course in that story it really was a piece of an alien ship. Wonder what the Canadian would have to say if that happened.

Any how, to get back to the point in question. Is there any real danger when we hear of satellites falling to the earth? Not much. As with any science project you have a number of people working out the data of the orbit and crash landing site well before the satellite is allowed to re enter the atmosphere.

However as with all science projects there is also the element of risk. Something that has not been thought up of can often go wrong and often does. Still there no grave physical danger in most such cases as most of the large satellites that have fallen to earth have managed to do so without any major incident.

This has to be one of the more bizarre science projects undertaken. At the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Skara a research team headed by Patrick Zimmerman is studying the meaning of true bliss for chickens. They are doing this with an experiment where they prepare the chickens for a pleasant and an unpleasant event using a particular acoustic signal.

In one case the sound is followed by the chickens being released into a yard where meal worms are waiting for them. In case of the second sound the chickens are hosed down with water. The research team has observed that the chickens who know that they will get the meal worms begin to flap their wings and clean their feathers while clucking.

While the ones anticipating a cold shower were more subdued and hardly clucked. The research team feels that the chickens don’t just want to be fed but also want to actively participate in the worm hunt. They look forward to the process and find it a pleasurable one which they do not mind repeating.

Of course the chickens may not be all that keen on getting fed if the meal worms keep showing up even before they have a chance to digest the last one, but that may be the makings of another science project altogether. Would you be interested in conducting this one about over feeding chickens?

We have never been closer to finding out about interplanetary biodiversity than at the present date. With the planet Mars being part of an important, ongoing science project there is a lot we are learning about our closest planet. Thanks to data being collected over the last few years by the twin Mars rovers we know a lot more about the planet conditions today than we did a decade ago.

The collected information by the Mars rovers has been studied by scientists across the globe and many have come to the conclusion that there may be life on Mars. Not the little green men kinds that we see in science fiction comics or movies, but some kind of water based primeval life is a definite possibility.

Mars may have also supported terrestrial life of extremophiles or creatures which could adapt to extreme ranges of temperature, low level of oxygen and next to no supply of water. Life on Mars or any other planet in the galaxy would definitely not have followed the same rules as the ones it followed on Earth.

So we should be prepared to find some form of life that we may recognize exactly as being alive. Think of the intelligent rock crystals in Star Trek? Still it would be quite a thrill to actually find life on Mars. It would be a science project whose mission was well achieved.