Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello, good afternoon. I have a project basically about determining how carbon dioxide pollution affects the heart, specifically exercise heart rates, resting heart rates, and blood pressure. Is this good, would I be able to do an experiment to show them how, or am i just able to find info. But I do want to get a good grade, so I do want to catch the judges eyes. PLEASE HELP! MY FIRST PART IS DUE IN 2hours.

Hi,

Oh dear. I’m sorry that we did not reply in time for your deadline. Generally the volunteers at Science Buddies able to respond to inquiries within a day or two, but unfortunately we don’t have staffing that allows an immediate response.

Here is some information that should be helpful for this project: Your idea to do a science project on air pollution is a really great idea. Unfortunately, I don’t think you could get approval to do this type of experiment on humans. I don’t know exactly what you were thinking about doing, but please read the information on rules for doing projects with humans. You have to do an experiment that complies with all of the rules:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ects.shtml

Also, in my experience, using heart rate to measure the effect of an independent variable such as exercise is difficult to do. The problem is that there are so many variables that affect heart rate so it is difficult to get reproducible and statistically significant results.

There are several good project ideas on air pollution on this website. You could do one of the projects or adapt one of the ideas for something that would be pertinent to your local community. I recommend looking over these ideas to decide if you want to change projects at this point.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p015.shtml

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p009.shtml

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p022.shtml

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p012.shtml

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p016.shtml

Please post again in this topic to let us know what project idea you will be working on and we will be happy to provide advice that will help you complete an excellent project. Please do post at least a couple of days before the next deadline.

Donna Hardy

Thank you for replying, its okay our teacher postponed our part 1. Thank you so much for finding these projects I chose Acid rain and Aquatic life.

I dont get how to do a hypothesis for this project, its so confusing....

Would a good hypothesis be like:
If acid rain is poured in an aquatic ecosystem , it causes a cascade of harmful effects.

Hello OneTwo,

"If acid rain is poured in an aquatic ecosystem , it causes a cascade of harmful effects" is a good, but too general hypothesis.

Your hypothesis should be specific and definite enough that your experimental result will prove or disprove it.

Please study this link for more ideas about making your hypothesis.

Good luck, WW

Hi,

Wendell has given you some good advice. Try to be specific in your hypothesis and refer to your dependent variable when predicting what will happen in your experiment. In the project guide, the directions call for adding drops of vinegar to the water to lower the pH. This is your independent variable.

Since this is a science project, you need to measure the effect of the pH. What are you going to use for a dependent variable? Animals or plants? Or both? How are you going to measure your results?

Donna Hardy

Hey, thanks for your help. It turns out that this science project is against the rules of the science im in. They said no to my project. I need to restart.

Hi,

It should be OK to do this project with plants or invertebrate animals, but not with vertebrates like fish. But, your local science fair rules may be different compared to my local rules.

Have you found another project that sounds interesting to you?

Donna

Nothing i need help. Im going to fail this, eveytime i find an idea i feel its not good or i dont have the materials.... Please can you guys give me help, something interesting that i can do. Not alot of money. Please and thank you!

Hi OneTwo,

I can understand that this is discouraging, but it's better to find out about a project that cannot be approved now rather than later. And, you are in the right place to find a science project. There are hundreds of project ideas to choose from on this website and all project ideas include a cost estimate so you can pick a very low cost project.

Go to the project selection wizard, and answer the questions to find something that will interest you.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndaproject

I'm sure you will be able to find a new topic in a short time. Let me know what you can find. There must be something else you would be interested in.

Donna Hardy