Ninth Grade Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 39)

The Impossible Arrow Illusion

STEM Activity

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33 reviews

Make your own 3D printed "impossible arrow" illusion in this fun activity. No matter how many times you spin the arrow around, it always seems to point in the same direction—but its reflection in a mirror points the other way! How does it work? Try it and find out! Read more

The Leaning Tower of Pasta

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Here's a project for a budding architect or structural engineer. Can you make a strong, lightweight tower using only uncooked spaghetti and white glue? In this project, you'll learn about materials testing and apply what you learn to building and testing structures that are both strong and light. Read more

The Power of Suggestion

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Can an authority figure make someone question their own memory? How reliable is eyewitness information? This project looks into these questions. You'll need a poster-sized image that includes many faces, and a volunteers to act as "eyewitnesses." The volunteers are tested individually. The instructions are that they have one minute to examine the poster, and then a fixed amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes) to write down brief, accurate descriptions of all the faces they can remember. They'll… Read more

The Science of Spin: A Baseball Pendulum

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

For this project, you'll use a baseball as a pendulum weight, studying the motion of the ball with and without spin. Wrap a rubber band around the ball, and tie a string to the rubber band. Fasten the string so that the ball hangs down and can swing freely. Mark a regular grid on cardboard, and place it directly beneath the ball to measure the motion. You can also time the oscillations with a stopwatch. Lift the ball along one of the grid axes, and let it go. Observe the motion and record… Read more

Train a Reinforcement Learning AI to Play Minesweeper

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Have you ever played Minesweeper? Did you start clicking around randomly until you hit a mine? What did you think the numbers meant? Do you think a computer program can play Minesweeper better than a human? In this project, you will explore how to train an AI agent to play Minesweeper. Read more

Use an Arduino™ to Control a Color-Changing Infinity Mirror

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

This project is a follow-up to the Science Buddies project Explore Optical Illusions: Build an Infinity Mirror, which shows you how to build a basic infinity mirror using light emitting diodes (LEDs) and arts and crafts materials. What if you wanted to build an infinity mirror that could change colors, like the one in Figure 1? Figure 1. A color-changing infinity mirror. You can do this by using special RGB (red, green, and blue) LEDs. Just like the pixels… Read more

Use DNA Sequencing to Trace the Blue Whale's Evolutionary Tree

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

The first land animals took their tentative steps out of the ocean and onto solid ground around 365 million years ago. Over millions of years, these early ancestors developed into tetrapods, including amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, and mammals. Then, around 50 million years ago, the reverse process occurred: the mammalian ancestor of today's whales returned to the ocean. In this genomics science fair project, you will use mitochondrial protein sequencing to trace the evolution of… Read more

Water Striders & Surface Tension

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Water striders (also called water bugs, pond skippers, etc.) are insects that can hop around on the surface of water (Figure 1). Unlike boats or other floating objects that are partially submerged and held up by the resulting buoyant force, water striders are held up by surface tension. Figure 1. Water striders (image credit Isaka Yoji). You can build your own water striders using thin wire (Figure 2 and summary video). Do some background research about… Read more

What Sensors Are Best for Self-Driving Cars?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Self-driving cars use a variety of sensors to evaluate and navigate their environment. Each type of sensor has advantages and disadvantages. In this project you will evaluate two common types of distance sensor (ultrasonic and infrared) and compare their performance in different scenarios. Read more

A Cure for Hooks and Slices? Asymmetric Dimple Patterns and Golf Ball Flight

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever wondered why golf balls have a pattern of dimples on their surface? The dimples are important for determining how air flows around the ball when it is in flight. The dimple pattern, combined with the spin imparted to the ball when hit by the club, greatly influence the ball's flight path. For example, backspin generates lift, prolonging flight. When the ball is not hit squarely with the club, varying degrees of sidespin are imparted to the ball. A clockwise sidespin (viewed from… Read more

Ninth Grade Projects, Lessons, Activities (792 results)

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