Areas of Science Materials Science
Difficulty
Time Required Short (2-5 days)
Safety Adult supervision required.
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Abstract

Do you ever go camping with your family and roast hot dogs and marshmallows over a campfire? If you want your campfire to burn long into the evening, what is the best wood to use? Do research on the necessary conditions/materials to sustain a fire and on the properties of different types of wood. Which properties do you think will be most important for determining how fast the wood burns? For example, how do you think density would be related to burning rate? Why? Measure the density and burning rate of equal-sized samples of different types of wood. For controlled burning conditions, you can either use a torch (with adult supervision) for a specified amount of time (weigh the samples before and after to determine burn rate), or place the wood samples over an evenly-spread bed of white-hot charcoal briquets (time the samples to determine burn rate). (Morgan, 2004; Johansen, 2005; Kelly, 2005)

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Science Buddies Staff. "Which Kind of Wood Burns Slower?" Science Buddies, 20 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/MatlSci_p026/materials-science/which-kind-of-wood-burns-slower. Accessed 23 Jan. 2021.

APA Style

Science Buddies Staff. (2020, November 20). Which Kind of Wood Burns Slower? Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/MatlSci_p026/materials-science/which-kind-of-wood-burns-slower


Last edit date: 2020-11-20

Experimental Procedure

For this science project you will need to develop your own experimental procedure. Use the information in the summary tab as a starting place. If you would like to discuss your ideas or need help troubleshooting, use the Ask An Expert forum. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions and offer guidance if you come to them with specific questions.

If you want a Project Idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk (*) at the end of the title.

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Related Links

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:

Materials Scientist and Engineer
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What makes it possible to create high-technology objects like computers and sports gear? It's the materials inside those products. Materials scientists and engineers develop materials, like metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites, that other engineers need for their designs. Materials scientists and engineers think atomically (meaning they understand things at the nanoscale level), but they design microscopically (at the level of a microscope), and their materials are used macroscopically… Read more

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