I know, I know… school’s out, and the last thing you’re thinking about is last-minute projects in science, of all subjects. But this is just a quick note to let you know that we had such great feedback from the people that have used our online Science Fair Project Kits information that we’re going to add several additional topics for the 2009-10 school year, so be on the look-out for robotics, lasers, and rocketry!
See you in fall!
Aurora
We get a lot of emails asking for the best science fair project idea so their child can blow away the competition. Have you ever noticed which science fair project topics actually win? We checked into a few of these science fair project winners ourselves just to be sure, and here’s what we found:
Science Fair Project Winners:
“Static Electricity in Different Materials”
“Blowing Up Bubble Gum – Sugarless or Regular?”
“Which Toothpaste Makes Your Smile Shine the Best?’
“Building Better Airplanes”
“Which Additives Make the Biggest Bubbles?”
So – do these science fair project ideas sound like rocket science? You don’t have to build a nuclear reactor in your garage or find the cure for colds in order to score high with the science fair judges. It’s not what you say, it’s how you do your experience and present your ideas to the crowd that really count. So while you’re purusing the internet for science fair project ideas, just note that it is more important how you carry out your experiment and deliver your message that will make or break your chances to the science fair project winner’s circle.
If you need help with that area, then be sure to check out our winning Science Fair Projects which include step-by-step instructions on how to cover all your bases and get it right the first time. Otherwise, best of luck with your science fair project!
What happens if you belch in Antarctica?
Truth is, part of it would freeze into a solid chunk.
In our atmosphere, every gulp of air contains about 21% oxygen. With every breath you take in, your lungs transform about 20% of that oxygen into carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide freezes below -109 deg F, and in Antarctica, it can get below -140 deg F. Dry ice, anyone?
But you can make burp gas without using a kid. Did you know that the bubbles formed from combining vinegar and baking soda are also carbon dioxide? And when you crack open a fresh bottle of soda, that PSSST! is also carbon dioxide? And the combination of mentos and soda gives you the same thing.
What can you do with carbon dioxide? You can carefully fill a container with it and ‘pour’ the invisible gas over a lit candle the extinguish the flame. You can make a balance and see which weights more – cup of ‘air’ (an empty cup) or a cup of carbon dioxide.
What happens when you freeze the cup of air and cup of CO2? Does that change the weight measurement?
If you need more help, like how to pull together a written report and make a display board, be sure to visit our Science Fair Porject kits.
What else can you do? Have fun!
We received this email from a subscriber, and we wanted to pass it along for you to read! Congrats to you both!
Dear Aurora,
I am writing to tell you that I won second place in the high school division (IÂ am in 7th grade)Â with your help with my Gauss rifle project! My brother also had a terrific time with his project – fruit batteries. We were both also on the team that won first place with a study on capillary action in paper towels. Thank you so much for your great projects and patience in teaching them. We love science!
I am attaching photos of our science fair projects.
Thank you for the help!
Your friend,
Kerrick Sullivan
P.S. – Do you have any ideas on how to make spelling fun…yuck!
Okay, so if you’re a nut about physics, this is one I can sketch out fo you, but you’ll need to fill in the gaps on your own. If you want an easier method, check out this post here.
You can recreate Galileo’s mountain-top experiment by arming yourself and a friend with identical digital watches and flashlights. At a specified time, one of you flashes the light, and the other records the time when the flash is seen. The trouble with this is at unless you’re on different planets, you’re going to have a hard time seeing a less-than-instantaneous result.
You can modify this experiment so that you set up a mirror (instead of a friend) far away, and bounce a beam of light off the mirror and record the mound of time it takes for the light to travel the set distance. And instead of using your eyeball to record “when” the flash of light returns, you can use a strip of film on a spinning wheel. A further step is to split the initial beam in two, and have one beam take a longer path to return home, and record the time difference on film (which you can back-calculate to get the time difference).
The first successful speed of light measurements were made by a Danish astronomer using an eclipse of Jupiter and Io.
Fill a plastic container (such as a water bottle) about one-third full of water. Add one-third oil (so the bottle is now two-thirds full) and cap the bottle. Shake it up and see if you can get the two to mix. (If you add blue dye to the water beforehand, it makes this experiment easier to view.) Which is on top, the water or the oil? Stick the bottle in the freezer overnight (stand it upright and remove the cap first). Now which is floating on top? What else can you test out?
Chemistry Experiment: Indoor Rain Clouds Making indoor rain clouds demonstrates the idea of temperature, the measure of how hot or cold something is. Take two clear glasses that fit snugly together when stacked. (Cylindrical glasses with straight sides work well.) Fill one glass half-full with ice water and the other half-full with very hot water (definitely an adult job – and take care not to shatter the glass with the hot water!). Be sure to leave enough air space for the clouds to form in the hot glass. Place the cold glass directly on top of the hot glass and wait several minutes. If the seal holds between the glasses, a rain cloud will form just below the bottom of the cold glass, and it actually rains inside the glass! (You can use a damp towel around the rim to help make a better seal if needed.)
You can turn this into a science fair project by testing the effects of water temperature… what is the ideal water temperature to really ‘make it rain’?
When you warm up leftovers, have you ever wondered why the microwave heats the food and not the plate? (Well, some plates, anyway.) It has to do with the way microwaves work.
Microwaves use dielectric heating (or high frequency heating) to heat your food. Basically, the microwave oven shoots light beams that are tuned to excite the water molecule. Foods that contain water will step up a notch in energy levels as heat. (The microwave radiation can also excite other polarized molecules in addition to the water molecule, which is why some plates also get hot.)
The following experiment is a quick example of this principle using a naked bar of Ivory soap. The trick is to use Ivory, which contains an unusually high amount of air. Since air contains water moisture, Ivory also has water hidden inside the bar of soap. The microwave will excite the water molecules and your kids will never look at the soap the same way again.
| Toss a naked bar of Ivory soap onto a glass or ceramic plate and stick it into the microwave on HIGH for 2-3 minutes. Watch intently and remove when it reaches a “maximum”. Be careful when you touch it after taking it out of the microwave oven – it may still hold steam inside. You can still use the soap after this experiment! |  |
We’ve posted this before, but here’s a recap in case you missed it:
Happy Experimenting!
We’ve had more than a few emails asking WHEN our crystal radio project would be out… so I wanted to be sure to let you know that it’s ready right now! We cover several different crystal radio designs, including tuning coils and variable capacitors, in this one project. If you’ve ever wanted to make a radio that doesn’t require batteries, this is the perfect project for you. Here are the latest images from the radios we cover in the kit:
