Assistance on how to prove a hypothesis

[mooredm]

Good afternoon,
My son was assigned a Science Fair project to prove if bugs were attracted to light or the heat from the light. My question is how can we prove this with the cold weather upon us? I don't believe that I have noticed moths or flies for several weeks. Can you help us. Thank you for any guidance you can provide. DM

[ScienceExpert123]

To get bugs, I would suggest going to your local pet store. They will probably have flies that are used to feed reptiles. Flies are really easy to work with and I would suggest googling how to work with them. There are also certain state and local rules about releasing and keeping flies, so I would check those laws out.
With the flies I would suggest setting up three experiments. In all three, use the same flies, which should be placed in a container (basically any plastic container). I've seen people put the flies in plastic test tubes (you can buy them on amazon) and put cotton on top of the test tube, so air comes in and the flies don't come out. also, i would suggest doing all the experiments at night, so there is as little light as possible to mess up the experiment. To observe the flies when not experimenting with light, I would suggest leaving a nightlight or something like that on, so that you can visually observe if the flies move.
three experiments:
1. flies are just in their container, no light or heat applied
2. flies are in their container and a light is placed on a specific place on tube/container. Maybe use a flashlight, or some fluorescent light (fluorescent lights don't emit a lot of heat)
3. flies are in their container and you apply heat to a specific place (ex. heating pad, cup or bag of hot water, something hot)

do these tests multiple times to get statistical data. you can even take pictures of the experiments if you want.
let me know if you need any help and if you want to know more about working with flies

good luck,
scienceexpert123

[mooredm]

Thank you so much for your suggestions. We will definitely try this. I hope that you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!