Cool Science Fair Projects

[Shuboxlover 478]

My daughter (3rd grade) wants to do the science fair...which I'm STOKED about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have 3 or 4 ideas in mind, but wondered what you guys have done it the past....maybe you did something really cool that I haven't thought of.

Whatdoya got???

[Rooster 191]

http://www.education.com/science-fair/third-grade/

What does she like to do...what interests her?

[Butch 194]

I've seen the volcano done several times. It's pretty awesome. I had my kids make an electric motor using winding wire and a nail for the armature.

[Rollerman 290]

How about a Tesla Coil?

http://www.wikihow.c...ke-a-Tesla-Coil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wHkk_EgCxA

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,256]

A classic is a Potato lamp / clock. I took a serving tray, hot glued 3 pyrex cups to it (to hold 3 potato's) cut electrodes out of galvanized sheet metal (for the zinc) and copper sheet. Coiled wire nicely, then wired up a 3v LED to a 2 position knife switch all mounted very nicely on the tray. On the other side of the switch, I hooked up an inexpensive multimeter to show the actual electricity generated.

If you do this, make your electrodes wide, as it's important to have a lot of surface area. Most of these they just use nails which will generate electricity for a short time then usually quit. Our electrodes were 2" wide.

An added twist is to have fun using different fruit and veggies. Which fruit / veggie will generate electricity and why?

Another fun idea is hydraulics. How to lift a heavy object with minimal effort.

[AMC RULES 37,126]

Well...the hands down favorite of my wife's experience volunteering for her employer's annual science camp for girls is always Gak, or polymer slime...and is routinely voted #1 experiment by the kids.

http://video.about.c...-Make-Slime.htm

Make sure you've covered all your talking points before they start making the stuff, as you'll immediately lose them once they put hands on. :happy-jumpeveryone:

One tip though, if you can figure out the single serving amount to allow each participant their own ziplock bag...things will go much easier for you. I'm just sayin'. LOL.

Remember, it's all about the kids, and making learning fun. Good luck.

[1maidenfan 202]

Could always do the E-tank, maybe get some parts cleaned in the process?

[1maidenfan 202]

Well...the hands down favorite of my wife's experience volunteering for her employer's annual science camp for girls is always Gak, or polymer slime.

http://video.about.c...-Make-Slime.htm

Make sure you've covered all your talking points before they start making the stuff, as you'll immediately lose them once they put hands on.

One tip though, if you can figure out the single serving amount to allow each participant their own ziplock bag...things will go much easier for you. I'm just sayin'. LOL.

The slim making is cool. :handgestures-thumbup:

[AMC RULES 37,126]

:text-bump: Had the science fair yet, how'd it go? :dunno:

[Shuboxlover 478]

Sorry, guys.....no fair yet, just gathering ideas.....I'll keep you posted!!!!!!!

Thanks

[Kelly 1,029]

My son was a little older but we made a electo magnet fishing pole, to see how many paper clips it could pick up, we use a old golf club for the pole, I got a piece of high carbon steel from a buddy for the core, and we wound the wire on that, installed a switch and hooked up I think 2 D batts on it, he won, but at home we hooked up a car batt to it and picked up 15lbs of steel with it, we still have it in the barn hanging on the wall.

[KC9KAS 4,741]

We made a "Morse Code" key....see attached link.

Ours was a little different looking, and we used a 6 Volt dry cell battery.

http://www.chss.montclair.edu/~pererat/perbuild.htm