Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I have a student in co-op class who wants to do the geodesoic science fair project.
I'm not following how to form a hypothesis...."determining the strength to weight ratio of the resulting dome."
How is an appropriate question asked? An educated guess as to how many magazines before the dome
collapses?
Is this more of a demonstration/activity than a science fair project? Should they build a square or rectangular
"building" of the same dimensions and see which collapse first?
I feel like I'm missing something and am not sure how to guide my student. Help!
Thanks!

Hi histing,

I'm assuming that you are working on the project described here:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ild-a-dome

This is an example of an engineering project. As such it doesn't have a hypothesis or research question. Instead it has a design goal of making a dome using the materials described. Building and testing domes made with different shapes, weights or other specifications as you suggest is appropriate for this project.

The Science Buddies Engineering Project Guide contains information about how to conduct this kind of project. The guide is located here:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... cess-guide

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

A. Norman