Sophomore Science Fair?

Question

hi all, I'm in honors chem at my school, and i need a cheap/easy science fair experiment that looks like a lot of work was put into it. thanks bunches!

PS- the only reason why i said "looks like work was put into it" was because i have been looking for an experiment all day (quite literally) and dont really care what i get anymore

another detail.. sigh
anyway, i'm interested in pyrotechnics, and forensics if that helps anyone.

Answer 1

I find this phrase particularly telling,
"[...] that looks like a lot of work was put into it. "
Why one which just "looks" like you put a lot of work into it....why not one which you actually do put a lot of work into?

You should pick a topic/project which interests you. This may seem obvious, but perhaps it is not. It is more important to pick a project and do a good job (following scientific method and all) than to simply do some cookie-cutter project you don't care about just so it will win some award.

If you like chemistry (and I assume you do), then do a chemistry project, same goes if you like Physics, Biology, ....
What aspects of chemistry do you find most interesting? Electrochemistry? Thermodynamics? Equilibrium? Perhaps something which is more practical in terms of applying a section to a real life situation?
One idea might be to look through your text book and figure out what interests you, then try to develop a project around that.
For example, if you are interested in electrochemistry...then you might do a project on building a galvanic cell out of different materials.


EDIT:
So you are interested in pyrotechnics, huh, that is certainly a topic around which you could build a project. However, a lot of the 'interesting' pyrotechnics experiments would involve the use of substances which might not be the most common, everyday items (and certainly not ones the government would like you using). Do you have any oxidizers to use, or other pyrotechnics material?

And, of course, before one even thinks of doing a project involving pyrotechnics, one needs to skill and expertise to do it correctly and safely. Do you have those skills? What experience do you have? How can you back up those skills when you teachers says, "no ___, a bomb is not a valid science fair topic". On further consideration, pyrotechnics is probably not the best idea, or at least one needs to be very careful on the exact choice of problem one is trying to solve.

Answer 2

I don't know about the work part, but I had a science question that it would be interesting to find the answer to.

There is a sugar substitute called Splenda, that is chemically derived from sugar but is claimed to have no calories.

My question is, what effect would Splenda have on roaches?

I suggest 3 groups, 1 with a normal diet of flour and water, another with Splenda and water, and a third with a mix of 1/2 flour and 1/2 water.

Can roaches get calories from Splenda, if they can live on it they should show a weight gain (as long as water retention is ruled out), but you would have to weigh the individual members of each group and follow them.

I don't know much about roaches, this is where you would need to do some background work before you started the experiment (is flour a good enough food source for the control group?).

Answer 3

> perhaps you are able to hit upon out if the temperature decrease value is today proportional to the quantity of salt (If a million/2 tsp lowers the temp by ability of one degree, it extremely is the case that one tsp will cut back it by ability of two stages, a million a million/2 by ability of three stages, and a selection of of others Or is there yet another consistent dating between "volume of salt" and "volume of temp decrease value"? > perhaps you are able to test diverse components to evaluate their very end result on temp in assessment to salt's very end result? (How do salt, sugar, and sand have an result on boiling element? What approximately vegetable oil? Antifreeze? broken glass debris? Plant fertilizer?) > perhaps you would be waiting to assume the quantity of salt in water samples you carry at the same time from somewhat a selection factors by ability of figuring out their boiling aspects? (rain water, ocean water, inspite of the incontrovertible fact that water corresponding to a pond, strolling water corresponding to a brook, faucet water contemporary from the mains, faucet water from the sizzling water tank, aquarium) difficulty: the quantity of salts in those waters is going to be rather small. perhaps you would be waiting to "hear" the salts by ability of boiling down the samples from a million gallon to a minimum of a million cup, and then finding out them for boiling element?) > Are there any technological know-how or commercial courses that place self belief in a cut back boiling element?