Science Fair Projects
The most important thing about a good science fair project is that you should propose a hypothesis and test it to see whether it is really true. You need to show that you understand that's how science works: a scientist has a question about how something works, and then makes a prediction, and then does an experiment to see whether her prediction is right. Here are some suggestions (none of these require any expensive equipment):
- Do water molecules move faster when they are hotter?
- Does water freeze faster or slower when it has salt in it?
- Does water expand when it freezes into ice?
- What is the best temperature for getting yeast to reproduce so bread will rise?
- How much difference in solar energy is there between a sunny day and a cloudy day?
- Do old cars or new cars burn gasoline more efficiently? Does it matter what kind of car? How about trucks?
- What is the best way to keep apple slices from turning brown in your lunch?
- Do plants need a lot of fresh air to grow well?
- How about sunshine? Do plants grow better with more sunshine?
- Do plants grow better if they get more nitrogen? How much is too much?
- How much chlorine will kill bacteria effectively?
- What makes iron rust faster - if it is wet? if it gets fresh air? if it has oil on it?
- Which is the best tool for stirring a pot - a wooden spoon, a copper pipe, a plastic spoon, or a steel spoon? Does copper really conduct heat faster?
- Which things catch fire easiest? What happens when you heat things that don't catch fire?
