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Project Summary
| Difficulty | 7 – 8 |
| Time required | Short (several days) |
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Sponsor
| Sponsored by a generous grant from Symantec Corporation |
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| * Note: This is an abbreviated project idea, without notes to start your background research or a procedure for how to do the experiment. You can identify abbreviated project ideas by the asterisk at the end of the title. If you want a project idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk. |
Abstract
| Before You Start: The sun has periods of increased, solar maximum, and decreased, solar minimum, sunspot activity. This 11-year cycle has effects on many types of space weather. Before starting this experiment you should read a bit about the sunspot cycle and determine where we currently are in the cycle. During a solar minimum you may need to rely on historical data (which we tell you how to obtain in the Experimental Procedure) to complete this project. |
Sunspot activity has been monitored continuously since about 1700. The historical data shows that sunspot activity rises and falls in a roughly 11-year cycle. This project shows you how you can use a spreadsheet program to perform both graphical and statistical analysis to look for patterns in cyclical data. You'll learn how to use a t-test, which is a measure of statistical signficance. Sunspot Cycles.
Variations
- For more science project ideas in this area of science, see Computer Science Project Ideas.
Last edit date: 2009-07-15 19:06:07
Career Focus
If you like this project, you might want to think about career opportunities in
Computer Science.
Computers are essential tools in the modern world, handling everything from traffic control, car welding, movie animation, shipping, aircraft design, and social networking to book publishing, business management, music mixing, health care, agriculture, and online shopping. Computer programmers are the people who write the instructions that tell computers what to do. Learn more about this career: Computer Programmer.
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