Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Does anyone have any ideas for a science fair project idea that a 4th grade (9 yr old) girl could handle? Any ideas???

You could do a project based on the ice... whether it is fresh or skated on
or, Girls ice skates vs. Boys hockey skates
you can also use the topic selection wizard from Science Buddies: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... gister.php
or look in the Project Idea Directory: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... deas.shtml
hope this helps

Hi Stricklet,

I'm not sure if you've already settled on a project idea; the topic selection wizard is really great! However, I thought it might be a fun experiment to examine the effects of pressure on ice. The reason we can ice skate at all is because of one of water's unique properties: the liquid phase is more dense than the solid phase. This is only true for water, not any other material. What this means is that the pressure put on the ice by the person's ice skate makes the water go into its denser phase - liquid. It's the liquid that makes skating smooth. When the pressure is released, the water freezes again. An experiment could look at the amount of pressure necessary to force ice into the liquid phase, and also look at how it relates to the width of the blade on the ice skate. The reason for the second part is that the force (the skater's body weight) is constant, but the small area over which the force is applied is what makes the pressure so high.

Here is the Wikipedia article on phase diagrams, to illustrate the properties I described: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagram

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Cheers,
Heather

Hello !Just to add to some of the other great ideas the experts provided you with here are some more that I though might be helpful
1. Does mass have an effect on glide? You could have one or more skaters stand in a T-position and push as hard as they can and glide across the ice. Then measure the distance. Then add mass such as have the skaters hold weights or other objects and push with the same strength. Measure the distance and compare with the distance without weights.

2. Do skaters exhibit greater explosive leg strength than non-skaters? Get several skaters to jump (off-ice) near a wall. They can hold a piece of chalk and mark the wall at the top of their jumps. Then have a group of non-skaters do the same. Compare the jump heights and determine if the skaters have greater leg strength.

3. How fast do skaters spin? Get skaters to do a fast scratch spin. Time them during the spin and count the number of revolutions. You can then divide and determine the average revolutions per second in a fast scratch spin. If you do several skaters and calculate an average. You could also do variations on this one such as do female skaters spin faster than males or do taller skaters spin faster.

I wish you luck!And hope that you are able to find an interesting and appropriate topic