Asking a Scientific Question

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kat09
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2016 12:22 pm
Occupation: Student

Asking a Scientific Question

Post by kat09 »

I'd like to find a good scientific question for a science fair project involving finding the epicenter of an earthquake with archived information from seismometer stations. It's actually a ScienceBuddies project: "Locating an Earthquake Using a Global Seismic Network." The question should follow the layout of: "How does changing the (independent variable) affect the (measurement) of the (dependent variable)?" I'm afraid I picked a bit of a bad project for a question like that, but please give me any suggestions you might have!
donnahardy2
Former Expert
Posts: 2671
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2005 12:45 pm

Re: Asking a Scientific Question

Post by donnahardy2 »

Hi kat09,

Welcome to Science Buddies!

I think you are doing this excellent project from this website:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p018.shtml

I think the problem you are having is that normally you would write your project problem in advance of doing the experiment; with an earthquake that has already happened this is nor possible. However, In your project, the independent variables are the overlap of the S and P waves, the dependent variable is the epicenter of the earthquake. So you might write a project question like this:

If a seismogram is available, then it will be possible to use the S and P waves to identify the epicenter of an earthquake.
You should try writing the question in your own words also. Here is a discussion on writing the project question from this website:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tion.shtml

I hope this helps! Let us know if you need any additional information. .

Donna
kat09
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2016 12:22 pm
Occupation: Student

Re: Asking a Scientific Question

Post by kat09 »

Thanks! Your response got me to think a little more clearly about how scientific questions need to reflect the project they're about. I think I'll discuss the flexibility of the question with my teacher, and I have an idea of what I want to do. I really appreciate your help!
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