Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi my name is Sofia,

I'm in 6th grade. I really enjoy participating in school opportunities, including science fair projects. This year I want to try to get to state competitions. I'm finding myself stuck on producing a project though!! I want to do an environmental science experiment.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ir-quality this is one that I'm eager to do something with, but how can I upgrade this, and produce it into a science fair experiment? hope to get some replies!!

Thanks for your time,
Sofia

Moderator note: removed personal info per Science Buddies guidelines.

Hi Sofia! This seems like a super cool project!

I think this project could definitely be used for a science fair! I would recommend performing the project according to the procedure and then making a poster to present your data/conclusions. You could add your data table, graphs, and photos to the poster.

This article here (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... lay-boards) provides some more information on science fair posters. Always make sure to check the requirements/recommendations for your particular science fair.

Good luck with your project! Feel free to reach out with any other questions.

Best,
Chloe

Hi, this is Sofia again

I having trouble developing my Air quality project. I need some clarity on how I can do this. I have a good understand of how to catch the air pollution, but need a lot of clarity on where to place them, indoors?, outdoors?, around cars?. After I get this figured out I will be completely settled of my project
Hope to hear a response soon, Sofia

Hi Sofia,
You ask where to put the sensors to catch the air pollution? The project suggests putting 3 sensors at each location, so if you made 12, then you can pick 4 locations. Which locations you choose should depend on what sort of air pollution you want to measure ... if you are interested in indoor pollution at your school, you could pick 4 classrooms, and put 3 sensors in each classroom. If you are more interested in pollution from cars, you could select busy streets and hang the sensors (3 per location) on a nearby tree.

In each of these scenarios, you have 4 sets of 3 measurements. Following the project instructions, count the number of visible particles on each sensor. Then I suggest making a bar graph showing the 3 measurements at each of the 4 chosen locations. Looking at the 3 measurements at a given site shows you how much the counts vary at a given site. Comparing the measurements across the 4 sites lets you see how much the measurements vary from site to site.

I hope this helps! Be sure to ask if you have more questions. Good luck with your project!

Madeline