Science Fair Project

[WhyDontWe]

Have an idea for project, but is it good?
-Testing tap water versus bottled water
-Testing different properties such as pH
-Grade 8 level
-Winner?

[lmp1341]

Hi there and welcome to Science Buddies!

What makes a project "good" depends on many different factors.
- Are you passionate about the project and the issue you're experimenting with?
- Do you have (or can you easily obtain) the neccessary tools and materials to make the project work?
- Do you truly understand the background science for your project?
- Is it creative and did you have fun??

If you answered yes, then sounds like you're in a really good spot!

Your idea sounds neat, but in order to get this up and running, you'll need to expand on it a little.
In order for a project to be "science fair material", it needs to follow certain steps and include certain components. In order for you to bend your project into form, here's a link I highly suggest reading. Please let me know if you understand everything in the link or if you need help clarifying certain parts:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ience-fair

Within the link, there are sub-links that you'll need to click, and I recommend starting from the very top and working your way down.

As far as pH goes, here's a little video to get you thinking about your "background" section:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5eUOXm-wiE

Let me know how it goes and when you're ready to discuss the next step of your project, formulating a hypothesis.

Best of luck and stay nerdy!!
lmp1341

[cnoonan180]

Hello!

In addition to the great advice provided by a fellow mentor, it sounds like you're interested in a water quality project. You can search the Science Buddies website for "water quality," but here are some projects you may be interested in:

With this project you'll test for the different characteristics such as chemicals in rainwater, which you can compare to rainwater from different areas or the tap water in your home:

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

This project demonstrates how filtering water can increase quality:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... er#summary

And this project tests how effective different filters are on cleaning water:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... king-water


You can also design your own project and procedure. Remember to start with a question that can be tested by changing variables and cannot be answered with a "yes or no." Your question should be able to be answered by following the scientific method and performing tests that change one of your variables. So for your project, you can choose a few characteristics of water to test each of your water samples according to, and compare this data. For example, testing the pH, temperature, and iron (or other chemicals) content of water from different locations. The variable you would be changing is location. You could also test the characteristics of different types of water such as tap water, pond water, and rain water.

Here's another resource you can use to further understand the scientific method:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... fic-method

Hope this helps!
-cnoonan180