Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I found a couple of projects that interest me, but it seems that the projects in the TSW are all experiments that you have to reverse engineer to find the question that you are testing.

For example, the Using a Laser to Measure the Speed of Light in Gelatin project is an interesting project idea, but how would I reverse engineer that to find a question and hypothesis to test.

Also, do you have any knowledge if a student has done a Science Buddies project and gone on to place high at the fair? The state science fair is located in my hometown, but we are judged against a standard, not peer-to-peer, but I'm not sure if the judges at this level would subtract some originality points if I design a question to test with my experiment, not vice versa.

Self-imposed deadline for a (new) project idea is today (Jan 3), but I can push it a bit.

I really want to place high, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi there!

Glad to know you've found the TSW helpful so far. I just went and checked out what you must have seen, and I believe you can click on the "Background" tab to find out a basic intro to this project. Upon reading this, I think you can gauge a fairly good idea of what your question would be. Try to think of a specific goal you have in mind (the Procedure section may help you determine this), and then yes, you can work backwards to think of a question to address this goal.

From my science fair experience (I'm a four-time state science fair participant), I'm sure originality is important, but this doesn't mean your project doesn't fit the bill. What plays a much larger role in my opinion is the level of understanding you have of your topic, your involvement, and the data you can collect and display. Another idea could be to look at the "Make it your own" section to do a creative spin off to existing ideas.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

So, would my question be something directly pertaining to a project like "How can I measure the speed of a laser?" or "Is it possible to use gelatin to measure the speed of light?" Or, would I need something more "creative" or...

It just seems like with the questions that I come up with, you can tell that I'm coming up with the question for the experiment, not the opposite. How can I make this more subtle?

Yes, those sound like appropriate questions for a science fair project! Good job!

I understand your concerns where you feel like your question is "contrived." However, if you keep your question a bit more general and explore options, for example, to measure the speed of a laser and then decide on this one, that would make it more original. You could look into something like how the mechanism behind your project works/try varying conditions and noting results, etc. for more originality if you like.

scibuddyAK wrote:You could look into something like how the mechanism behind your project works/try varying conditions and noting results, etc. for more originality if you like.

What do you mean by "trying varying conditions and noting results?"

Actually, I was thinking about doing this project:
Measuring Sugar Content of a Liquid with a Laser Pointer
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p028.shtml

In that case, my question be something like:
"How can I measure the sugar content of a liquid?", "What is the effect of different concentrations of sugar on the angle of refraction?", or "What is the effect of different liquids on the path of a laser?"
Am I right?

Also, will this (Sugar Content) project work if I tested the effect of the viscosity of a liquid? Or, would that be too much effort to have to calculate the viscosity of the liquid , given the amount of time I have?

Thanks scibuddyAK for all the help!

On a side note, I just realized that these projects (that I'm talking about) are all physics projects - it would be nice if someone can move this thread to the Physical Science forum, so that I'm not an "apple amongst oranges."

If you look under the "Make It Your Own" tab, those may give you ideas for variations to test! Sorry if varying conditions was a bit vague, I just meant variations and different tests to ensure originality.

For example, your concentrations tested could be varying conditions if you test different ones than the ones recommended.

Awesome, those questions look fantastic! Exactly how you should start off a science fair project.

No problem, happy to help! If you repost these questions in Physical Sciences, you may get some more advice there. Good luck!