What's a good science fair project for a high school student in advanced science?

Answer 1

A project that would be fun would be to explore
"Parafin wax as a storage medium for collecting solar energy (day time) for use at night to heat private homes."

Given the crisis our planet is in with global warming, we are looking to science to find good alternative energy solutions to reduce greenhouse gases and our dependence on foreign oil.

Solar energy is an abundant renewable energy source. It is available every day.
Given that most people are away from their homes during the day at work and school, what is a cost effective way to capture solar energy for use in heating homes at night?
Parafin wax is an excellent heat resevoir given that the state change from solid to liquid requires energy, however it occurs at relatively low temperature. Also, parafin undergoes very little change in volume despite the conversion from liquid to solid and back. Unlike water that freezes at -32 F and increases in volume as a solid versus a liquid.

The project would require a solar panel. A small one is fine since you can scale the experimental results. A modest amount of parafin wax, which you can get from candles.

Create a heat source with the solar panel. A simple , low voltage, incandescent light bulb will work. To make the experiment portable, you can simulate sunlight with a flourescent light bulb. Given the wide availability and low cost of compact flourescent, you can use a common house lamp with one as the "sun".

Now to measure the energy gain, make an insulated vessel for the parafin. Get an electronic meat thermometer to measure the temperature of the wax. You can use the info from the following site to help you with the calculations:

http://www.hotwatt.com/paraffin.htm

To expand on the experiment, you could create a forced air heating system with a simple muffin fan and another thermometer to show the use of the heated wax in a home heating system.

Good luck

j

Answer 2

If you are confused on what science project that you would like to create then this site is for you http://www.eeweb.com/project/circuit_projects/electronic-thermometer-project-by-lm35-and-lm3914 I'm sure by reading on this topic you can think a good idea for your science project.. :-)

Answer 3

In our college, a technological know-how straightforward project must be "on going". it style of feels to me that what you're doing is an illustration resembling what we use to do im center college. what's the "consequence" of warmth on "iron"? The previous iron ball and ring undertaking the place you pass an iron ball by way of an iron ring. then you extremely warmth the hoop and the ball won't in great condition by way of. warmth instruments the molecules interior the iron ball in rapid action inflicting it to improve.