How Electricity Changes pH

[hannahbear1030]

Hi!
I'm thinking about doing the project Salt Bridge Over Electrified Waters: How Electricity Changes pH.
Do scientists already know the effect that electricity has on pH, so this is a project to 're-prove' their findings?
Or is this an experiment to actually try to find this effect?

I also wonder the same thing about the Purification Strategies experiment.

Thanks!

[bradleyshanrock-solberg]

Short answer: Yes, you're replicating somebody else's work in both experiments.

Longer answer, and maybe more to the point....

Most science fair projects that you get from a list of suggestions involve science that is "known". The idea is to teach the student how to set up an experiment, to experience how messy real science is when you try to do it in the real world and to learn how to explain results (quite often you don't get exactly what the project said you should expect).

Replicating existing work is called "Peer Review" and it is a fundamental part of the scientific method, which is unfortunately not done as much as would be desired because it is a lot easier to get scientists (and the organizations that fund the science) interested in something new rather than making sure that the results another person got are really true, not just a misinterpretation of the data or a fluke based on something that mattered, but wasn't understood by the person who did the experiment.

If you have never done a science fair project before, the example projects can be a big help. You can be pretty sure that you won't run into a financial or technical roadblock, many stages of the fair (eg, "coming up with a hypothesis" and an idea of what to show when presenting results) are provided for you, so you can concentrate on just doing the process correctly and learning how this style of science works. It is similar to playing a computer game with the strategy guide in hand - helpful so you don't miss any of the game, but many people enjoy playing without such a guide, and risking missing some of the content or even failing repeatedly just to get the satisfaction of eventually learning "the hard way".

If you are more willing to risk complete failure to do something truly original OR if you've done a science fair or two with example projects and want to strike out on your own, then I recommend picking a topic you're enthusiastic about - a question you've always wondered about. Then try to work with your instructor, or other experienced people on how it is possible to do something exploring that topic in the narrow limits of a science fair project (with time, money, format etc limits).

In my life, the most rewarding science I was ever paid to do started with me and a buddy driving in traffic and wondering why traffic jams just sometimes end for no reason, and also why when it is "stop and go" traffic the cars make patterns kind of like a slinkie. It was a very different experience from the kind of science you do in the classroom, where the experiments are pre-planned and will probably work pretty much the way the textbook says they should. But without some experience and training of that sort, I probably could not have framed the questions and experimental procedure to do the original research, nor could I have communicated my results in a useful way. In my opinion, both approaches to science fair projects have merit and which is best for an individual depends on the support they have and what motivates them personally. I would strongly recommend getting advice and help if doing something original - but also recommend if you do choose a project from a list of examples, picking one that really fascinates you. Both approaches will get you to the end...enough motivation to see it through, and enough structure to have a fair chance of success.