PLEASE HELP!!IDEA DUE THURSDAY!

[pinkbear]

hi! i am interested but not yet set on this project:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... A&from=TSW

and have questions pertaing it.

1. What are the independent & dependent variables?
2. What category would it qualify under?
3. What would make up the quantitative and qualitative data?
4. What would be the title of my sfp board??
5. What’s the point of doing this project, and how do i make it 1st place worthy?
6. What other projects in the 8-10th grade age group focusing on forensic science, and botany do you suggest? THANKS A MILLION!

[pinkbear]

ok, so im on what sfp i should do this year and im DETERMIND to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get first place, and im considering these three.

SFP IDEAS






http://www.crystal-clear-science-fair-p ... oject.html



http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... p037.shtml





http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... p028.shtml

Project #1: Forensic Science: Building Your Own Tool for Identifying DNA

Project #2: How Vines Find Their Spines: Thigmotropism in Morning Glory Tendrils

Project #3: Fear Science Project

PROS AND CONS OF EACH

Project #1: Pros: Definetly very orginal, "smart" sounding (as said by my friends)
Cons: Not very intresting, hard to identify variables, overall kinda confusing, but willing to do it.

project #2: Pros: Did botany and got 2nd place last year, not a lot of competition, overall easy and simple to understand and do.
Cons: Not very "complicated", or necessarily "first place worthy"

Project #3: Pros: Incredibly intresting (or at least to me), easy to explain
Cons: the Sociology department is cut throat competition, complicated logistics wise (how many people)several entries(possibly the most, other than physics)Note:if i do pick this, what do you suggest to make it a first place project(how would you construct a journal, & what would be included in it, journal is major part of sfp)



SO PLEASE PICK THE PROJECT THAT YOU WOULD CONSIDER "FIRST PLACE" WORTHY AND LIST THE VARIABLES! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH

[donnahardy2]

Hi Pink Bear,

Welcome back! Congratulations on your second place in last year’s science project. It sounds like you’ve put a lot of work and effort into choosing a project so far.

Here are just a couple of comments that might be helpful. You should definitely pick a project that you are interested in. To have the winning project, you will probably have to do something a little more than what is outlined in the project guide, but once you decide which project you are going to do, perhaps we can help you think of something to make the project idea more challenging and creative:

1. Forensic science. It doesn’t sound like you’re really interested in this project, which involves building an electrophoresis unit. However, this is a great project, and if your only concern is that you don’t understand the variables, don’t worry. We can explain this to you. However, if this is not intrinsically interesting to you, I would recommend doing one of the other projects/.

2. Botany project. You’re experienced in botany, so you could build on your success by doing this project. However, is it going to be warm enough for you to grow morning glories for this project? If not, then you won’t be able to get results. You absolutely need results for a winning science fair project. Since this is a kit, you would need to do more background reading and do something to make the project more creative. But if you like botany, go ahead and pick this project.

2. Fear project. I agree with you. This is an incredibly interesting project. However, in my experience, science projects that involve measuring blood pressure generally do not give good data, and since you will be entering a category with lots of competition, you need to have really good data. Blood pressure is notoriously variable, so I would recommend finding another dependent variable to measure in addition to blood pressure, or instead of blood pressure.

Also, since you will be working with humans, you will need to check with your local scientific review committee and plan to get informed consent from all of your subjects.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... _src.shtml

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... ects.shtml

It’s your project and your decision and I think you could be successful with any of these projects. Once you decide, reply to the post, and we’ll try to give you specific suggestions that will help make your project a winner.

Good luck!


Donna Hardy

[donnahardy2]

Hi Pink Bear,


1. What are the independent & dependent variables?

Here is the explanation for independent and dependent variables from the Science Buddies website:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... bles.shtml

As written, the independent variable is the specific color of ink you are testing, and the dependent variable would be the different colors that separate from the ink and the distance traveled from the origin.

2. What category would it qualify under?

What are the choices for categories at your local science fair? This is a basic physical sciences project, but the category could change if you decide to test a different type of sample.

3. What would make up the quantitative and qualitative data?

The quantitative data is the distance that each colored molecule travels from the origin. The qualitative data could be the description of the various colors.

4. What would be the title of my sfp board??

You have time to decide what the exact title will be. The decision will probably depend on the answer to your question number 5.

5. What’s the point of doing this project, and how do i make it 1st place worthy?

To make this a first place project, you need to do background reading on electrophoresis and understand the science behind the project and to explain this really well in your background section.

You will also need to use your electrophoresis unit to test something other than ink. This could be challenging because most samples don’t have color, so you will need a method to detect the sample. This can be challenging; you need to do more background reading to identify a sample.

Researchers usually use electrophoresis to separate DNA and protein samples. Do a search for electrophoresis for DNA and proteins to find more information on this topic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serum_prot ... rophoresis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gel_electrophoresis

6. What other projects in the 8-10th grade age group focusing on forensic science, and botany do you suggest?



I think you have looked at the science project ideas on the website, but try looking again. There are lots of project ideas to choose from:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... deas.shtml

Good luck on making a final decision!

Donna Hardy

[pinkbear]

haha suprised you remembered me, you were a great help last year! ok, so i decided on doing the fear science fair project, but your right, i can understand that blood pressure is a very sketchy, and hard to really determine(not to mention all the factors that it includes) so what would you suggest? i was thinking of comparing the girls results vs the mens results, to show some contrast. im very open to changing the dependent variable.also, how many people should i test on, and how would i set up my board, last year it was easy because my plant pictures took up the whole middle section and part of my journal(i think thats what set me over the edge in my schools science fair and what got me first place, judges didnt seem as *amazed* at regionals) But now im kinda considering changing the whole project (the ideas not set in stone until this friday)to my runner up, "make your own dna thingy" because it seems a lot simpler logistics wise... PLEASE HELP


THAAAANK YOU!

[donnahardy2]

Hi Pinkbear,

I think I found the project you were thinking about doing. Is this it?

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... p024.shtml

Why don’t you do a search on “measuring fear,” and see if you can think of anything else that would be measurable with friends at an amusement park. According to the write up, the students did see if difference in pulse rates with different rides, so maybe it would be possible for you to get results with the project as written. In the setting of an amusement park, it would be difficult to get other measurements while the test subjects are on the rides, but pictures of faces might help. Also I have noticed that on scary rides, that gripping really hard on the rails and screaming really loud can help, but I don’t know how you would measure these dependent variables during the ride. Think about what you can do.

Another way to distinguish this project from others would be do to statistical analysis of the results, but that would require having the data. This project is going to be difficult to manage with just two or three friends at a time, so getting data from 10 friends would be a major accomplishment.

Do you have an amusement park that is going to be open during school time that you can visit? Also, this project could be really expensive.

Let me know if you have any comments.


Donna Hardy

[pinkbear]

well i asked my teacher, and she said that id need at least 50 test results in the sociology section, and this is getting much more complicated in terms of just getting results soooo, i think ill go with my runner up, what category do you think it would qualify under? thaaaaaaaaank you!

[donnahardy2]

Hi Pinkbear,

Here are some suggestions for you:

1. It’s too early to give up on the fear project. Instead of doing amusement park rides with a few friends, perhaps you could set up a scary scene for Halloween or work with a local haunted house and measure the fear response caused by the experience. You could compare response by age or gender. You would need to get approval from the scientific review committee and you would have to be very organized and efficient, but it would be easier to get 50 data points with this type of experiment.

2. If you can’t organize an experiment by Halloween, perhaps you could design an experiment on arachnophobia, again comparing results with different age groups or by gender. Perhaps you could work with a local natural science museum that features spiders or buy extra rubber spiders before Halloween

With either of these experiments, you could take pictures or videos and document behavior or expressions associated with fear in addition to the pulse rate.

3. Building the electrophoresis cell is a basic physics project. Using the unit to separate molecules could be an organic chemistry or biochemistry project.

Here is an example of an application using electrophoresis to isolate chloroplasts. Read through the details here; there are lots of things to do here and lots of different materials required.

http://nutmeg.easternct.edu/~adams/Reso ... DSPAGE.pdf

Here is a high school level experiment on separation of hemoglobin by electrophoresis:

http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/bi/1995 ... resis.html

Here is a method for separating anthocyanin plant pigments:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10784434

Perhaps you could do a study of plant pigments in a particular tree or shrub as the fall season progresses.

There are many other potential protein separation projects, but most proteins are not colored, so you would need a stain to see your results.

You need to do more background reading to confirm the exact project, but any of these projects would be good. Why don’t you do an internet search for “electrophoresis” and a potential topic of interest. You need to develop this into an application with a real purpose.

I hope this helps.

Donna Hardy

[pinkbear]

What other things could i test in the gel thats pigmented?

[pinkbear]

ok, so i saw something about flowers, and strawberries for testing in an electrophoresis gel chamber. what would be the procedure to do that? also how would you pigment it? thaaaaaaaaank you!

[donnahardy2]

Hi Pinkbear,

Do you want to post the links that you found? Here’s what I found:

Here is a project from the Science Buddies website on the analysis flower colors using paper chromatography. This would be an interesting study in plant pigments that would involve some chemistry.
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... p035.shtml

This is an abstract of a high school science fair project on plant pigment analysis using electrophoresis
http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2009/Projects/J0403.pdf

Perhaps you could compare paper chromatography and electrophoresis results for your samples.

For a prize winning project, you need a really good purpose for your project. Here are some examples of plant pigment research projects that include a good purpose. I have included recent abstracts from scientific articles. Try reading these to see if you can understand why the authors were doing the project:

1. Identification of new plant pigment that could be used to develop camellias with blue flowers:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19522813

2. The lab exercise from a college biology class explains how gene activity develops during flower production. You can use electrophoresis to document gene expression in plants.

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/bio183de/La ... nt2_4.html

3. This summary of a long-term research project on a group of plant pigments called betalains includes a list of applications for plant pigments including botanical classifications, new food dyes, remedy for cancer, food and pharmaceutical freshness indicators.

https://www.uzh.ch/oci/ssl-dir/efiles/betalain.pdf

4. This is an article by a professor of food science who describes the health benefits of anthocyanins, the plant pigments found in many plants. Anthocyanins are being investigated as possible natural food colorants or as possible antioxidant food supplements.

5. And, here is an abstract that reports the use of anthocyanin analysis to detect adulteration in fruit juices.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-2007-0952.ch010

So, I think this could be a really great project. The electrophoresis cell (and paper chromatography if you decide to include this) would give you the basic tools to obtain data and your selection of the sample type and purpose would give a real meaning to your project.

Generally, there are fewer entries in biology compared to physical science, so I would recommend entering this in a category with fewer potential entries.

Donna Hardy
.

[pinkbear]

I actually really like the idea from the #5 abstract. What would be the 'problem" /topic, would the project be under "biotechnology, or maybe even botany ,and is the project basically the same, just inserting plant pigments (will they show up, or would i have to tint them? and what flowers should i test on? )instead of dye? Thaaaaaaaank You sooooooo much!

[donnahardy2]

Hi Pinkbear,

Great! You’ve picked a problem to solve using naturally colored plant pigments that should separate with electrophoresis. The colors will just be there and you should be able to separate them into different pigments, or verify that migration patterns are identical or different in your samples.

So, the problem for your project might be to develop a method for testing adulteration in pomegranate juice (or other juice, for example) by analyzing the plant pigments. You would develop an electrophoresis method using a real sample, and then analyze similar juices to show that your method could be used to definitely identify pomegranate juice and differentiate it from other red juices.

I recommend writing down your research question so you will be able to focus on developing an experiment that will answer the question. For example, one possible question is:

“Does pomegranate juice contain real pomegranates?”

You should stop and do more background reading at this point. You need to learn more about:

1.Anthocyanins and other pigments in the juice sample that you select for your project.
2. All methods that have ever been used for anthocyanin analysis
3. Electrophoresis
4. The problem of adulterated fruit juices
5. Development and validation of analytical techniques.

Your project will be based on the history of the subject as found in the scientific literature and your experiment will answer a unique question that has not been asked before.

This project would fit into botany or biotechnology. Look at the history of entries in these categories and enter into the category that usually has fewer entries.

Let me know what your research question is and I’ll have more suggestions.


Donna

[pinkbear]

URGENT URGENT URGENT
ok im suuuuper sorry but i kinda mind flubbed, i know you might not answer but i really ment this project
http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2009/Projects/J0403.pdf.

not the other one... What would be the 'problem" /topic, would the project be under "biotechnology, or maybe even botany ,and is the project basically the same, just inserting plant pigments (will they show up, or would i have to tint them? and what flowers should i test on? )instead of dye?

omigosh though, im really sorry for making you put the effort. thaank you SO MUCH

[donnahardy2]

Hi Pinkbear,

That’s OK. I'm sorry I misunderstood your choice. However,changing projects at this point is not much more effort since it’s still the same basic topic.

Molecular migration of plant pigments is a good project also. Actually, it would be similar to the project which I proposed; however, the purpose and samples would be different.

In this experiment, the results are similarly colored flowers are compared with electrophoresis. The purpose would be to show a possible genetic relationship between flowers based on the type of pigments found. So you would pick several red, purple, pink, or yellow flowers and develop an electrophoresis method to analyze the number of pigments and migration patterns.

I don’t know what flowers you would test. Do you have any flowers locally available that have similar colors? You want to test as many as possible.

You would still need to do the background reading that will develop the scientific basis for your research question and the experiment that will be used to answer the questions.

Except, instead of investigating the problem of adulterated fruit juice, you need to learn more about:

4. The chemistry of pigments found in the flowers that you choose.
6. The use of plant pigment analysis to determine the relationship of different flowering plants.

1, 2, 3 and 5 would still apply to this project.

This is more of a basic botany project now, rather than biotechnology.

Donna