An experienced chemistry professor used to say that it took about one explosion per week to maintain college students' attention in chemistry lectures. At that rate, we'd get in pretty big trouble with a lot of parents and teachers! Don't worry, our list of chemistry science and engineering projects still has lots of bubbles, fizzes, bangs, and color changes for you to explore.
You know that water can exist in three separate phases: solid (ice), liquid (water), and vapor (steam). To change from one phase to another, you simply add (or remove) heat. When water boils, what happens to molecules (for example sugar or salt) that are dissolved in the water? Do they boil off too, or do they stay behind?
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Expanding gases are everywhere, from the kitchen to the cosmos. You've tasted their pleasures every time you've eaten a slice of bread, bitten into a cookie, or sipped a glass of soda. In this chemistry science fair project, you'll capture a gas in a stretchy container you're probably pretty familiar with—a balloon. This will allow you to observe the gas expansion and contraction as the temperature changes.
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Chem_p077
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Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Very Low (under $20)
Safety
People with a latex allergy should not do this project. Use caution, as latex balloons are the leading choking hazard for children under 6.
Have you ever had a refreshing bath using a bath bomb? A bath bomb is several ingredients mixed and molded into a shape, which becomes fizzy when it touches the water. It can be quite a relaxing experience, especially if your bath bomb has a nice fragrance or includes some bath salts. The fizz is the result of a chemical reaction taking place between different ingredients within the bath bomb. In this science project, you will get to make your own homemade bath bombs and explore how changing…
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Chem_p105
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner
.
See the Materials section for details.
The ingredients in Alka-Seltzer® tablets undergo a chemical reaction that produces carbon dioxide gas as soon as the tablets hit water. Do you think you can cause the tablets to produce gas faster by breaking them into smaller pieces before dropping them in water? Find out for yourself with this project.
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Chem_p030
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner
.
See the Materials section for details.
Did you know that cosmetics companies employ teams of specialized scientists to develop and test each new line of makeup, perfume, lotion, or soap? This science project lets you be the cosmetics scientist. You will create your own lip balm right in your kitchen using a short list of ingredients, then test it, and follow up with some creative cosmetics science of your own!
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Chem_p022
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
This project requires a few special materials. See the Materials list for details.
Pennies are bright and shiny when they are new, but become quite dull with time. What causes such a drastic change? Oxygen in the air combines with the copper in the penny to form copper oxide, which makes the penny look dull and dingy. You can make the pennies look like new again by soaking them in water that is corrosive enough to strip off the copper oxide layer. It turns out, however, that the same process that makes the pennies shiny has bad consequences when it comes to copper pipes: it…
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Chem_p090
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Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A copper test kit and other specialty supplies needed for this project are available through our partner .
This is a straightforward, fun project to measure the rate of the chemical reaction that occurs when Alka-Seltzer® tablets are plopped into water. You will track the volume of carbon dioxide gas produced at regular intervals after the reaction begins. How does changing the temperature of the water affect the production of gas?
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Chem_p026
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner
.
See the Materials section for details.
The clothes you wear are made of fibers that come from many different sources. Some fabrics are made from natural fibers, and some from manufactured or totally synthetic fibers. In this science fair project, you will explore how different fiber types react with dye.
Are you dye-ing to find out which works best?
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Chem_p019
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Specialty items: fiber-reactive dye and soda ash are necessary. See the Materials and Equipment list for more details.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Safety goggles and rubber gloves are needed for some steps. See the Procedure for more details. Additionally, items that come in contact with soda ash should not be used with food afterward. See the Materials for more details.
Some plastics undergo an unusual transition, from a hard, glassy state to a soft, rubbery state, with increased temperature. For this project, you should do background research on the effects of temperature on different types of plastics. Make sure that you understand the difference between thermosetting and thermoplastic polymers. You should also look for information on the glass transition temperature (Tg) for different plastics. Pure polyvinyl acetate has a Tg of 28 C (about…
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Chem_p034
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
Material Availability
Cost
Safety
Adult supervision required for experiments using boiling water.
Have you ever left your bike outside in the rain? If so, you might have discovered unpleasant surprises afterwards—reddish-brown patches, known as rust, and your wheels, brakes, and gears might have stopped working so smoothly. In this chemistry science fair project, you'll learn why rust, a type of corrosion, is a serious problem. You'll also discover that not all rains are the same! Find out which ones can speed up the rusting process.
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