Science fair questions

[deleted-769135]

I need help with my science fair project for school!!!!
I'm doing fingerprints pattern my variables and hypothesis
hypothesis: If fingerprints are inherited among family members? Then I believe that fingerprints will change
Independent: Do fingerprints change when your getting older.
Dependent: Measuring fingerprints and how long they are
Control:
Experiment:


leanna

[deleted-748903]

Hey there Leanna!
Sounds like an awesome start to a pretty cool science fair project!!
From what I'm reading, it seems you might need to revise your project just a touch... Would you please explain what you mean by "fingerprints will change"?
Also, keep this in mind, for a science fair project that spans a few weeks to a few months, how will you determine how someone's prints will change as they get older? It might be a bit unrealistic of a time frame, but no worries, we can help you through this!!

Have you seen Science Buddies' many resources on fingerprinting? I'm sure this would help you out a ton!!

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/fam ... ngerprints
This is a blog post about genetic inheritance related to fingerprints that you might benefit from reading. You could use these sources in the "Background Research" portion of your science fair project, too!

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/fin ... e-activity
Here is another blog post about fingerprints, but includes an activity that you could base your experiment plan off of.

PLEASE read this one, I really think you could pull some great info for your project!!
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ?from=Blog
This one gives you an experiment plan on top of background research, but the coolest part is the "Make this project your own" tab. If you explore this, it has suggestions like testing all ten fingers, or comparing different family relations' fingerprints!

As for the control variable, you could use things such as: ink color remaining the same, same type of paper used, participants being the same age, etc.
This should be anything that you DO NOT change when you're doing your experiment.

I really hope this helps, if you have any more questions or are still stuck, please don't hesitate to contact us again.
Best of luck!

Stay nerdy!
lmp1341

[MadelineB]

Hi Leanna,
In addition to the excellent advice and links provided by the expert Imp1341, you will find some useful discussion on independent, dependent, and control variables in the "Constructing a Hypothesis" section in this Science Buddies Project Guide:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ience-fair

Good luck with your project!