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STEM Activity
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Have you ever wondered how fast a heavy object falls compared to a lighter one? Imagine if you dropped both of them at the same time. Which would hit the ground first? Would it be the heavier one because it weighs more? Or would they hit the ground at the same time? In the late 1500s C.E. in Italy, Galileo was actually asking some of these same questions and did some tests to answer them. In this activity, you’ll do some of your own tests to determine…
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A technique often used in wind tunnels is to introduce smoke in front of the airfoil that is being tested. The smoke comes from regularly-spaced point sources, and the wind flow in the tunnel spreads it out into parallel lines, called streamlines. The streamlines make it possible to visualize the airflow over the airfoil. When the lines continue smoothly over and past the airflow, they show that the flow remains laminar, and that the airfoil is creating very little drag. When the…
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Have you ever made a leaf rubbing or imprint using paper and crayons? What do you think would happen if you got dirt or sand on the leaf? Would it mess up the result? In this project you will find out and learn about how this is related to the process of making the microchips that run our phones, computers, and other electronic devices. Check out this page for more science projects related to this process.
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Plants have evolved many clever mechanisms to ensure that their seeds will wait for appropriate conditions before sprouting. Some may only germinate after a fire, others only after going through a cold spell. This project explores one important variable among many that determine the ideal conditions for seed germination.
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Do you like skeletons? One of the more interesting jobs at a natural history museum is the creation and care of the skeletons and bones. How do the curators clean and put together the skeletons? Many curators use the carrion beetle, Dermestes vulpinus, to quickly clean off the dead animal tissue from a corpse to reveal the skeleton. These insects do such a good job that sometimes the skeleton remains intact! Another method is to slow cook the carcass until the meat falls off. You can use…
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You can model this with an ice cube sliding down a plank: how high do you need to lift the end of the plank before the ice cube starts to slide? Try this with one side plain wood and the flip side waxed wood (use paraffin wax, candle wax or ski wax). Make sure both sides are equally smooth to start with. Do at least three trials. More advanced: using what you know about the forces acting on the ice cube, derive equations to calculate the coefficient of friction for each case. Variation: chill…
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Did you know that the world record for the greatest number of jumps in a minute is more than 340? That's more than five jumps a second! How close do you think you can get to that number? If you are going to try to break the record, it might be important to figure out how jump rope length affects your success. Try your hand at this skipping science fair project and jump-start your chances for a jump rope record. If you have a smartphone available, you can use its accelerometer and a sensor app…
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Have you or one of your pets ever been sprayed by a skunk? Hopefully not, but if you have, you probably know that the smell can be very unpleasant and hard to get rid of. There are many "folk remedies" for getting rid of skunk scent, but if you ever do get sprayed by a skunk, how will you know which one to try? In this science project, you will test the ability of various mixtures to remove the bad scent from rags that have been contaminated with bottled skunk scent, and determine which one…
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Want to do a project with a toy your parents, or even grandparents, might have played with? Slinkies are fun toys that also make great physics and engineering projects. In this science project you will investigate how changing the angle of an inclined plane affects how the Slinky walks down it. What angle will enable the Slinky to go for the best walk?
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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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