Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I need a science fair idea soon. My science teacher rejected my first 2 ideas and I need a new one by next week. I was thinking of a project that has to do with biology or life science, not involving animals. It should be complicated and concise. If anybody out there has any ideas, please post a reply. Thanks!

Hi Drew,

Getting a science fair idea is one of the harder parts of a science experiment but when you ask all people with successful science fair experiments they'll tell you that what they did was what they wanted to do. They pursued whatever they were interested in.

Its unfortunate that your teacher just rejected your first two ideas. May I ask what they were? In the field of science you can almost always analyze any specific part or add a twist to your original 'rejected' idea to make an idea that can be 'accepted' but also is in your interests. The fact that you have come up with those ideas means that you are interested in the topic.

In addition, have you tried out http://sciencebuddies.com/science-fair- ... deas.shtml. This has a very comprehensive list of many science fair projects. Life sciences is a very broad topic -- if you can't do animals, you can always do microbiology or plant biology. There is a topic selection wizard [http://sciencebuddies.com/science-fair- ... gister.php] where the website can pinpoint science fair projects according to your interest.

Remember, do what you are!

Hi Trader,

My first idea was which type of windmill design (savonius, helix or conventional) could generate the most electricity to light up an LED bulb. My teacher said that this idea was unconventional and not original enough.

I talked to her before my 2nd proposal and my idea was this: Is there a significant impact on the human body on the type of drink consumed. I will use a plant to demonstrate the impact of soft drinks, energy drinks, and water on the plants, which should reflect what the drinks do to the human body. She said that this idea was done before.

For my second proposal, my hypothesis was: If light does affect the initiated growth of bacteria in daily food products, then the poultry, raw meat, and fish should show a significant impact of bacteria on the food through sight, smell, and a microscope. My teacher said,

refrigerator light does NOT cause substantial rotting-pick something more relevant.

I checked the 2 links before, but some of the science projects are too easy. I want to do something with microbiology and disinfectants/bacteria. I also was also thinking of investigating the different SPF's in sunscreen. If there is a real difference in the SPF of different sunscreens. I can't think of a way to map out the experiment and the different procedures, and I fear it might be too original.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please post a reply as soon as you can. This is to anybody out there also.
Thank You!!

Hey Drew it's Bryan!
First of all, thanks for your suggestion about the CO2! I definitely need to look into that. Now for your project, if you're interested in bacteria/microbiology/plants, you could try researching Agrobacterium tumefaciens (my dad told me about it) - it's a type of bacteria that causes crown gall disease (tumors) in plants. You might be able to do an experiment with this. Maybe test which growth conditions either deter or encourage the growth of the tumors.

Thanks for your help!

Hi,

Here's a Science Buddies project on testing the effectiveness of sunscreen you could probably adapt for your SPF idea: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p015.shtml

and here's a whole section on microbiology: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... a=MicroBio . I suggest you click the link saying 'show harder ideas' in the latter; some of the listed projects are quite complicated!

Here's one project that seems to link your two ideas (sunscreen--which blocks UV light--and microbiology):https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... v&from=TSW