Interview an expert

[smilin66]

I am in 6th grade...I have to interview an expert for my science fair project. My topic is can a liquid substance be instantly changed into a solid substance....how to make hot ice?

What made you interested in chemestry?

How do you keep from getting frusterated when your experiments don't work?

How many years did you have to go to school?

What advice would you give someone just starting in this field?

Thank you!

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

I will go ahead and answer your questions so you can continue with your science project. My degree was in Microbiology, but my minor was in chemistry and in my current job, I do lots of chemistry.

I became interested in chemistry in 7th grade because I had a really good teacher who inspired me to become a scientist. My 8th grade science teacher was even better, and I never thought about pursuing any other career. Science and chemistry were always so much more interesting compared to other topics.

Experiments that work are nice because the results confirm that you are on the right track for solving a problem. However, you can sometimes learn even more from experiments that don't work if you think about what happened and figure out why they didn't work. Sometimes it's because you made a mistake, but sometimes a failed experiment helps you make a discovery.

I went to school for 7 years after high school, 4 years for a BS degree, 2 years for an MS, and 1 year for a teaching credential.

To become a chemist, you need to make sure you are really interested in chemistry. You will need to study hard and make sure you get a good background in math and English. Doing a science fair project can help give you experience to confirm you've made the right choice for your career.

Your science project topic sounds very interesting. Let me know if you have questions about doing your experiment.

Donna Hardy

[Willow]

I am doing a research project on mice. Seeing if one control group(group A) of mice fed regular mice food gain the same amount of weight as mice (group B) gain with mouse food and sugary cereal supplement(Trix)

1. How important is nutrition in a mouse's diet?

2. How much food should a juvenile mouse(3-6weeks of age) eat each day?

3. Do you think a juvenile mouse that has eaten regular and sugary cereal will gain weight?

4. Why do scientists usually test mice in groups?

5. Why should I weigh them everyday?

6. Do mice get diabetes?

7. Should I give them food everyday?

8. How do you think I should do research for this project?

9. What should I mainly research ?

10. How do scientist compare mice to humans in regards to the use of testing?

[deleted-71827]

Hi,
So you can definitely find a lot of information online about mouse nutrition. Here is just one example:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/Mo ... rition.htm

I'm not quite sure how you would like to carry out your procedure- will your mice have the same amount of food - except one group will get 100% "normal" food and the other group get 50% "normal" food and 50% trix? You don't necessarily have to weigh them every single day, but it would be advised to weigh them after the same (pre-established) duration of time. So, it doesn't matter whether you measure every hour, day, or 2 days, just as long as the length of time is the same. While you shouldn't cite this wikipedia article, this will give you an overview of the most common "diabetic mice" strain:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOD_mice

In order to learn more about mice as a laboratory model, you might want to browse through this page to see why mice are such a good model for human diseases.

http://www.genome.gov/10005834

I would recommend starting with Google searches and Google Scholar searches! Best of luck with your project!

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

Staryl13 has given you some good advice and links to information to get you started on your project. Please do the background reading so you will be able to design a good experiment. Please note that you will need approval to do a project on mice Please refer to the Science Buddies website for information on this:

http://www.sciencebuddies.com/science-f ... _src.shtml

http://www.sciencebuddies.com/science-f ... mals.shtml

You definitely need to feed your mice every day and provide them with unlimited water. Maybe you could try weighing their food. Using groups of 3 or 5 mice will help make your results more significant and eliminate results that are due to individual variation.

Good luck!

Donna Hardy

[deleted-425060]

I am doing a science fair project on trying to find out whether a white candle would burn faster or slower than a colored candle. I have to include ban interview as one of my research credits. I would very much enjoy if you could respond to me soon because it is due tomorrow. I would like to know how candles burn and how color could effect the burn rate or any other information you can provide. Thank you!