Any ideas for a really good, creative H.S. science experiment?

[G50]

My son has a really tough HS science teacher. Needs to do a HS Science Fair type experiment that is scientifically sound, but interesting and creative.

Anyone have any good ones?

How about a $25 Pelican gift card to whoever comes up with something we use!

[bmcuscgr94]

Originally Posted by G50

My son has a really tough HS science teacher. Needs to do a HS Science Fair type experiment that is scientifically sound, but interesting and creative.

Anyone have any good ones?

How about a $25 Pelican gift card to whoever comes up with something we use!

google five second rule. you let food hit the floor and then see if it grows germs. My son did that a few years ago using various foods and length of time on floor. Took second place in his division at county science fair.

[PorscheGAL]

What science? Chemistry, Bio, Physics?

[Hugh R]

Take a one pound bag of granular pool chlorine shock and pour a Coke into it. You'll kill everyone in the room.

I'll PM you my address for the gift card.

[krystar]

analyze thc content of hemp and demonstrate that smoldering hemp doesn't get everyone high in the room :P


ooo actually there was a recent article
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/08/27/teenage-marijuana-use-may-hurt-future-iq/

take sample set of mice. divide into control and experiment groups. subject each group to various amounts of pot. test intelligence with maze memorization.


if pot is an issue, do alcohol instead. teach those teenagers that binge drinking is bad for IQ

[Noah930]

Was just talking to a friend about childhood science experiments the other day. She did one to answer the question of what factors influence the ripening of a banana. Where do bananas ripen faster? If left on the counter in the kitchen vs. in a brown paper bag vs. in the 'fridge vs. wrapped in cellophane vs. in a cool and dark pantry, etc.

My son (admittedly in 1st grade) did one on Hotwheels, inspired by the question of what makes one Hotwheels car faster than another? So we kept it simple and measured distance traveled instead of actually timing cars. He taped coins onto cars and noted that the heavier the car, the farther it traveled.

[Zeke]

So what is the answer to the banana question?

I've got one: loop into the instructor's car throttle position sensor and ICV valve and see if you can play the Star Spangle Banner out of his tailpipe through a whoopee cushion.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Zeke

So what is the answer to the banana question?

I'll ask her when I see her tomorrow.

edit: Banana kept in a brown paper bag on the kitchen counter aged the best. The banana left in the 'fridge avoided brown spots the longest, but then would suddenly brown way quicker than normal once brought back to room temp.

[Seahawk]

Get him to present the future of Geo-spacial Information, just like my company is doing.

Hawkeye Americas is my company, affiliated with these folks: Home - HAWKEYE UAV

Ride the wave.

[G50]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

What science? Chemistry, Bio, Physics?

It can be in any field.

[krystar]

build a pulsejet. have your son do research and maybe math for tuning harmonics of the valve body.


or isopropyl alcohol and water jug. put it on a bathroom scale and measure the applied thrust. vary nozzles designs and fuel mixtures
isopropyl rocket engine - YouTube

everyone likes rockets right?
Rubbing Alcohol Rocket Mark 2 - YouTube

[URY914]

I've done two with my daughter over the years.

- Carbon fiber vs Fiberglass which is lighter and stronger?

- Helium vs Air vs Argon filled volleyballs. Which bounce higher?

[id10t]

Build a chronograph, and calculate the velocity & trajectory of a bullet - I recommend 22 short or CCI Quiet since they'll be slow enough to actually measure drop over short distances. Need a *straight* 3/16" dowel, some level bubbles, some hot glue, target stand, large cardboard backing (tall and wide), gun, ammo, place to shoot, calculator, micrometer, long measuring tape, lab notebook, etc.

Make a bore level by hot gluing one of the bubble levels to the one end of the dowel. Clamp gun in padded vise, put your bore level down the bore and get it level (duh). Put the target so the cardboard backing is as close to exactly 5 meters from the face of the muzzle. (metric makes the math easier). Use your laser, a piece of string (checking with one of the other level bubbles), etc. mark the spot the bullet would hit if it went in a perfect straight line. You can be off a little left to right if needed. A few inches above your mark, draw a level line across the target backing. Call the range hot, fire one shot, call the range cold, and go make another level line across the backing a few inches below the hole. Shift the target backing a few inches in either direction, re-check all alignment, go range hot, fire another shot. Repeat this until you have a good selection of holes to measure (statistical sample). You should now have a lot of parallel to gravity lines, with a mark near the top one and a hole near the bottom one.

Next move the target to 10 meters (remember, we're trying to figure out how fast it slows down), and repeat. Then 15 meters, and then 20 and 25.

You now have the amount of movement the bullet made (down), at several known distances. You know how fast it moved in a downward direction (9.8m/s^2). Which tells you the rate of travel over those distances. The rest - muzzle velocity (and then mean & standard deviation to make pretty graphs with), sectional density and ballistic coefficient should be published, and all of that and some math will allow you to determine the trajectory


I did this when I skipped 17 days of physics class in high school... told him I was either fishing or skeet shooting depending on the day of the week... since we covered gravity during that time in the class, I had to show him what I knew about gravity. Got an A for the term

[herr_oberst]

Hmm, I was going to suggest a volcano where you mix vinegar and baking soda inside to simulate an 'eruption'. Wrong crowd.

[kanadary]

this might not be hi tech enough for high school but i help my daughter build a windtunnel and drilled a small hole in the middle of it, placed a digital balance under it. found several different airfoil profiles, built mini airfoils out of balsa wood and tedlar coated the foil and tested each one at varying wind speeds to determine which foil provides the best lift what what speed. it was easy to build, home depot sells polycarb sheet.

[porsche4life]

4x4x4 LED Cube?

LED Cube 4x4x4

[stealthn]

I built the only working volcano in my class once, lava and everything. Red colored plaster of paris hardened in he bottom of a can (volcano mouth) then 1 cup sugar 1cup salt peeter sp? Mix, light a wooden match and stick it right in the sugar, smoke lame and red lava.

Another fun one is coffee mate, don't know what science it is but put some in your had a light a match own low and let the coffee mate stream from your hand and stand back

Potatos running a light bulb

Magnets are always fun

[fanaudical]

My son's sixth grade science fair experiment was to compare the effect of winglets on small "aircraft". He build a small windtunnel and force gauge, made various paper airplanes with/without winglets, and then measured drag.

[Rick Lee]

I got honorable mentions twice in science fairs. One project was building a simple periscope and explaining how it worked. Another was explaining how different colors conduct heat. I put a simple light bulb and socket in the middle of a square board with four cans of water, each painted red, black, white or green and then with a small themometer in each one. When walking around and checking out the winners, it seemed the judges were more interested in how well you explained and demonstrated some law of science rather than how sophisticated the build was.

[mikester]

Use a Neon style light to demonstrate how JPL/NASA create lightweight propulsion systems for space craft by charging xenon gas and directing their energy for thrust.

Or if you can use project to show how telescopes work build a dobsonian telescope and document the process including the glass grinding and then demonstrate the results with pictures of what it you can see through it.