Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi! I'm planing to have this as my science fair project and I can't wait to start it! I looked through it and it looks so fun. I know this maybe an easy project, but I feel that I may make mistakes... Anyway, I have a few questions for this project. I have to write a 10-20 page research paper and I'm not really sure what to research about. I'm having trouble of thinking of what to put on my paper. As I mentioned before, this may look easy, but I was wondering on how I can make it a little bit more complicated. Any ideas?

Thank you!


[Administrator note: project can be viewed here: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... alorimeter]

Hi naguin,

“Burning Calories” should be a fun project and it's great to hear that you can't wait to start.

The background section of the project includes information that you may want to expand in your research paper. For example, some questions that you might want to consider are:

What is the main reaction involved when burning food in the calorimeter?
What factors influence the energy release from combustion reactions?
How does a bomb calorimeter work?
What are the differences between the homemade calorimeter and a bomb calorimeter?
How do food calorie measurements relate to nutrition?
What food composition factors influence energy content?

You may want to take a look at the Science Buddies Project Guide section on research papers. The following link has some guidelines for making an effective plan for your paper:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... earch-plan


I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

Does the thermodynamics formula, Q = mc∆T and the formula that is posted on this page, which is Qwater=mwaterc(Tf−Ti) the same with each other? If it is, which formula should I put into my research paper?

Thank you (:

Hi naguin,

The two equations you posted are the same. The equation from the project background has the subscript “water” added to the heat (Q) and mass (m) terms to clarify their meaning. And the temperature change is written as a difference.

You can write the equation either way in your research paper. It is important to include definitions of all the symbols in the equation (Q, m, c, T). The project background includes these definitions and you could use a similar format for this in your paper.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

You should look into how accurate and precise your calorimeter is. Burn a fuel with known energy content, and see if your measurements agree with the published values (For example, burn a known amount of ethanol or wax). Do repeats with the same conditions and see how close your results come out. Find out what the differences are between burning a cheeto and eating one. Come up with ideas on how you could improve your setup