Hello, I would like an opinion on what to do

[deleted-330919]

For my science fair, I have decided to research about the leidenfrost effect. The problem is that I am unsure whether to make my project about the leidenfrost effect of several liquids, or to make my project about how the surface would affect the leidenfrost point of a certain liquid. I just want to have some opinions to see which one is more interesting, and which one would be the better project in general to make. Thanks for your time!

[deleted-2131]

Hi johnyungz,

Sounds like an interesting project - however, you will want to check with your teacher to make sure that you submit all the paperwork needed to do a project like this. While very interesting, this project could also have some pretty significant safety hazards. So, talk with your teacher and make sure you have a safety plan in place before starting. (It would be a bummer to start a project and then later find out that you needed pre-approval for it.)

I think either of the options you suggest could work, but that the second one would be easier to make into a science project. The key difference is what you choose for your independent variable. In the first case, the independent variable would be the type of liquid. In the second case, the independent variable would be the type of surface. I'm personally inclined to go with the second possibility because if you choose the first option then you also have to reckon with the different Leidenfrost points of the different liquids, which, essentially, introduces temperature as another independent variable. Then you would have two independent variables (type of liquid and temperature) instead of one.