A Magnifying Discovery
Have you ever looked through a magnifying lens? Why do things look bigger when you look at them through the magnifying lens? Even though the object appears to get larger, it really stays the same size. Each lens has its own unique power of magnification, which can be measured with a ruler. How powerful is your lens?
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Levitating Magnets: Floating Isn't Just for Magicians
Have you ever seen a magician float an object in the air? If so, you might think that levitation (making things float) is just a magic trick, but the truth is you can use an invisible physical force to levitate a magnet! Try this science project to find out how.
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Centripetal Force
What keeps you in your seat of a giant loop-de-loop roller coaster? Surprisingly, it is not the seatbelt but the seat! It works because of something called centripetal force and it does much more than make a great roller coaster. It keeps a satellite in orbit and you in your bicycle seat during a turn. How does it work?
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Magnets and Charge
Has anyone ever told you that you have a magnetic personality? Have you ever heard that opposites attract? These common phrases are both based on the properties of magnets and magnetic electricity. In this science fair project, learn how to make your own magnets out of nails and batteries. How does changing the wrapping of the wire change the strength and properties of the magnet?
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Slip Sliding Away: Experimenting with Friction
As you headed up the mountain to enjoy your last ski trip, you may have noticed a sign reading: Hazard! Icy Roads Ahead—Put On Your Chains. Putting chains on car tires increases the resistance between the tires and the road allowing the car to "grip" the road. This resistance to sliding is called friction. In this experiment, you will be investigating how to increase and decrease the friction between two surfaces.
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Balancing the Load: The See-Saw as a Simple Machine
Have you ever tried to pull out a nail out of wood with your bare hands? Or have you tried to shove a staple through a stack of papers without a stapler? A hammer's claw, a stapler, a pair of pliers and a shovel are each examples of everyday tools that use levers to make our work easier.
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What Goes Up, Must Come Down: Conduct Galileo's Famous Falling Objects Experiment
Standing on a balcony near the top of the 179-foot tall Tower of Pisa, a young scientist dropped two iron balls into the crowd below. The scientist, young Galileo, was not trying to knock his fellow professors on the head, but was trying to prove his theory that all objects fall to earth at the same rate, regardless of their mass. In this experiment, you will repeat Galileo's experiment from the top of a ladder. Look out below!
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Swing Low: Investigate the Motion of a Pendulum
"Swing me higher, Mommy, higher!" Kids love to ride the swings at the playground. The back-and-forth motion of a swing demonstrates the physics of a pendulum. In this experiment, you will investigate the factors that affect the speed and duration of a pendulum's swing.
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Outer Space, The Silent Frontier: An Experiment on Sound Waves
In outer space there is utter silence. There are no sounds of traffic jams or thunderstorms or crashing waves. No buzzing bees or babies crying. Just silence. In this experiment, you will discover why empty space is void of sound.
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Give It a Lift with a Lever
Did you know that you can lift an object that's heavier than you are? Just use a lever! In this science project you'll build a tabletop lever and measure how much effort it takes to lift an object using it.
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Index of Physics Project Ideas |
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