Whats a topic I can do for my 8th grade science fair....?

Question

I want one thats not really common and I want one that can win me 1st or 2nd place....any ideas???

Answer 1

First off, winning an 8th grade science fair generally depends far less on the topic of your project than on how well designed it is, and how well you write it up. Just about any topic you could think of has the _potential_ to win - you just have to do an outstanding job with that topic. Now, on to possible topics...

Any idea what general area of science (biology, physics, chemistry, psychology, computer sciences, astronomy, etc) you're interested in?

I think that biology is one of the easiest areas to do a good science fair project in, but maybe that's just because I'm majoring in biology in college. If you want to go with biology, here are a few things you could do:

-Look at the different types of bacteria on different surfaces. If you can get hold of agar plates to grow them on, just wipe whatever you want to test (ex. door knobs, hands, etc.) against the plate, and leave it grow for a day or two (be sure the plates are covered so they don't get contaminated with bacteria from the air). If you don't have agar plates, you can use chicken broth instead. Just boil it first to kill any bacteria that are already there, and sterlize some containers to put it in by putting them in boiling water. Put the chicken broth in the containers, expose them to whatever you want to test, and leave them to grow for a couple days (be sure they're covered). Record the color, size, and shape of the bacteria colonies that grow on the plates/broth exposed to different things, and compare them.

-Look at the distribution of some species of animal (frogs or salamanders are particularly easy) in a local park or wild-life preserve. It's best to divide the area you're looking at into a grid, and see how many of the animal you can find in that space during a fixed length of time (so you'd search one square for 5 minutes, record how many salamanders you find, then move on to the next square for 5 minutes). Depending how much time you have, you could even back a couple times and see how the population changes over a couple months. [Incidentally, we did an experiment very much like this in my 1st year college biology class, so you'd be way ahead of the curve with this one]

-Observe the behavior of a species of animal in a local park, or even a family pet. Record everything you see the animal do, including as much information as possible (time, place, etc.), and try to find patterns in the behavior.

If you want something to do with chemistry:

-Test the effectiveness of different laundry detergents on different types of dirt/stains and different fabric. Get a bunch of pieces of different types of fabrics, put different things on them (chocolate, grass stains, mud, tomato sauce, etc.), then wash them in different detergents and see how much the stain fades. Be sure to get each possible combination of soil and fabric in each detergent.

-Make your own fabric dyes. There are lots of different ways to do this, and there are plenty of websites that can give you some tips on how to do it.

-If you can figure out a way to get some liquid nitrogen you can make liquid nitrogen ice cream by mixing milk, sugar, and the flavorings of your choice, pouring liquid nitrogen on them, and stirring really fast while you pour. The science behind it isn't terribly complex, but I'm sure free samples would be popular with the judges.

I've seen a few psychology projects, too:

-You can do all sorts of things with memory, by testing classmates and family friends. You might want to look at how smells, tastes, sounds, or sights impact memory.

-You can test ways that people interact give certain conditions. For a class at my high school, a few of my friends tested the way people play a game in which they can chose one of two options, and if everyone in the group choses one, everyone gets one M&M, if two or more people choses the other option everyone who chose two loses one M&M, but if only one person choses the second option, then that person gets two M&Ms and everyone else loses all of theirs. Basically, it tests whether people will work together so everyone gets something, or screw everyone else over for a chance to get more for themselves.

Physics is a little too far from the areas of science I know best, but I've seen people do very nice science fair projects that involved building machines, models of buildings, even computer chips, cameras, or telescopes. You can also do all sorts of things involving measuring the speeds of objects, or blowing this up and measuring that heat that's released.

Incidentally, if you fill a soda bottle with dry ice and seal it, then put a trash can over it, you can send the trash can really high in the air. If you tie a kite string to it, you can measure how high it goes. I think that could be turned into a really nice way to measure the straight of an explosion, if you put the explosive under a metal trash can and measured how high it went.



A couple of final notes:
-Whatever the poster above me might say, don't do anything involving radioactive material unless you'll be closely supervised by a qualified professional (ex. if you know someone who works in a science lab and can help you with it). Radiation is extremely dangerous.

-If you want to do anything with live animals or human subjects, you'll probably need special approval from your teacher, but as long as you're just observering, it shouldn't be a problem.

Answer 2

A good way to approach it is to think about your interests. The best projects are ones that the students enjoy doing. Have you ever thought "Wouldn't it be great if I had a..." or "I wonder why..." These would be great things to explore. Make sure you consider your resources, grade level, and time available. Also, there are many people willing to help you out, so don't be afraid to contact companies and universities, and anyone else who might have expertise in your area. You can win first or second place with almost any topic as long as you are thorough, follow the scientific method, and do your research.

Answer 3

2nd place? what are you a loser? come on aim for first not for second...........I've won tons of trophies for sports but I always threw my runner-up ones in the back of my basement, as they're crap.

As for your project, I don't know what do you like, what are you good at?