Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

i am making my own experiment to test how the intensity of a video game effects a persons heart rate.
how should i set it up?
how long should i test?
and how do i do the posterboard?

Hi,

You should take a few minutes and read through Science Buddies' guide to science fair projects, here: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndex.shtml . It talks about experimental design and even posterboard set-up.

As for how long, experts generally suggest people exercise for at least 20 minutes at a time because it can take 5-10 minutes for the heart rate to increase to exercise levels. So, I would suggest having people play for at least 15-20 minutes.

Please let us know if you have any other questions after reading through the guide.

Hi,

This sounds like a great project. You might want to have people play different types of games to see which kind of games gets people's heart rates the highest. You will probably want to use a fairly large group of people, as some people become excited more easily than others. An explanation of heart rate and how to measure it can be found at this website: http://www.nemahealth.org/programs/heal ... _pulse.htm

I hope you have success with your project

Hi wabbafet2,

What an interesting topic!

Depending on your budget, one great way to measure heart rates is to use a heart rate monitor. The kind we use for research is made by Polar (http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/). However, watch-based monitors are also sold at retailers from Target to REI. Of course, you can always resort to the *free* method: a stopwatch and a person counting heartbeats. You should make sure that someone other than the subject playing the game (i.e., you) actually takes the heart rate measurements if you do it manually.

Good luck!

Heather