Science Buddies'
tenth grade science projects are the perfect way for
tenth grade students to have fun exploring science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Our
tenth grade projects are written and tested by scientists and are specifically created for use by students in the
tenth grade. Students can choose to follow the science experiment as written or put their own spin on the project.
For a personalized list of science projects,
tenth graders can use the Science Buddies Topic Selection Wizard.
The wizard asks students to respond to a series of simple statements and then uses their answers to recommend
age-appropriate projects that fit their interests.
This is a straightforward project on glucose metabolism in yeast. You will grow yeast under aerobic and anaerobic conditions and measure carbon dioxide output to assess metabolic efficiency.
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MicroBio_p009
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- Less Details
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.
Wouldn't it be nice to avoid those nasty electric shocks you get after you have walked around on carpet and then touch a doorknob? These shocks are caused by static electricity. In this project, you will build a super-sensitive charge detector to investigate the electric fields created by static electricity. The detector can sense invisible electric fields before you touch something and get zapped, so try this project to avoid the shock of shocks!
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Elec_p050
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
Familiarity with using a solderless breadboard, or willingness to learn.
Material Availability
For your convenience a kit is available for this project from our partner
.
If you have ever tried to hit a target (such as a trash can) with a wad of paper, you know that aim is everything. But it is not always easy to get it right every time! Missing is not that big a deal with a wad of paper, but what if you were in an invading army in the Middle Ages, using a catapult to hurl huge stones and knock down castle walls? For a successful invasion, it would be important to know exactly how far, and how reliably, a catapult could launch a projectile. In this project you…
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Math_p046
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
An introductory-level understanding of statistics (mean, standard deviation, and the normal distribution) is helpful, but not required for completing this project.
Material Availability
A kit is available from our partner .
See the Materials tab for details.
Cost
Average ($40 - $80)
Safety
Do not aim the catapult at people or breakable objects; minor injury possible.
How easy is it for you to walk along and follow a line that is painted on the ground? Simple, right? You might be able to follow a line without giving it much thought, but how could a robot do that? In this project, you will build your own automatic line-following robot that can race around a track that you create. This technology has plenty of real-world applications—maybe one day you could help design self-driving cars!
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Robotics_p023
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- Less Details
Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
You will need to know how to use a breadboard to do this project. See the Science Buddies reference [# ProjectGuide Name="Breadboard.Tutorial" Value="HtmlAnchor" #] if you have not used a breadboard before.
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner
.
Cost
High ($100 - $150)
Safety
Short circuits can get very hot and present a burn hazard. Be careful to follow the directions in the Procedure in order to avoid short circuits when building your robot.
In the animal kingdom, many different critters use whiskers to help them find their way around in the dark, through murky waters, or even to help them hunt prey. Whiskers can be very useful when the animals cannot rely on sight. Did you know that you can also build a robot that uses "whiskers" to find its way around? This project will show you how to build a simple robot that uses whiskers as "bump sensors" to help the robot detect when it is about to bump into an obstacle, so it can turn…
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Robotics_p028
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- Less Details
Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
You will need to know how to use a breadboard to do this project. See the Science Buddies reference [# ProjectGuide Name="Breadboard.Tutorial" Value="HtmlAnchor" #] if you have not used a breadboard before.
Material Availability
A kit is available from our partner
.
Cost
High ($100 - $150)
Safety
Short circuits can get very hot and present a burn hazard. Be careful to avoid short circuits when building your robot. See the Procedure for more information.
Have you ever wondered how nutritionists know how many Calories a certain food contains? In this project you will learn a method for measuring how many Calories (how much chemical energy) is available in different types of food. You will build your own calorimeter to capture the energy released by burning a small food item, like a nut or a piece of popcorn. This project gives a new meaning to the phrase "burning calories!"
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FoodSci_p012
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- Less Details
Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
Basic understanding of chemical reactions is helpful
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner .
Cost
Average ($40 - $80)
Safety
Fire hazard: Adult supervision required for burning food.
Have you ever made your own ice cream? If you have, you probably know that you need to get the ice cream mixture really cold to freeze it quickly. Ice cubes alone will not do the job, but if you add chemicals, such as salt or sugar, to the ice cubes that surround the ice cream container, the mixture gets cold enough to freeze. Why does that work? How does adding salt or sugar affect the freezing point of water? Find out with this ice-cold science project and use your results to make your own…
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FoodSci_p013
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
Understanding the concepts of molecular weight and moles.
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner
.
Cost
Average ($40 - $80)
Safety
Be careful when handling the glass test tubes. Exposing them to very cold temperatures or rapid temperature changes makes them more vulnerable to breakage, especially when they get bumped or handled roughly.
Ultraviolet light can damage DNA molecules. If a cell's DNA repair mechanisms can't keep up with the damage, mutations are the result. As harmful mutations accumulate, the cell eventually dies. How much ultraviolet light is too much for a bacterial cell?
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MicroBio_p017
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- Less Details
Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
To do this project, you will need access to a laboratory with facilities for culturing bacteria. You should be familiar with sterile technique and proper handling of bacterial cultures.
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner .
Cost
Average ($50 - $100)
Safety
Adult supervision required. Read and follow the safety note on ultraviolet light. Follow the general safety precautions for handling microorganisms outlined at the end of the Procedure for this science project.
Do you like to analyze stuff and finding out what it is made of? An analytical chemistry method, called chromatography, allows you to separate mixtures of compounds and to identify each individual compound within the mixture. Chromatography is used by many scientists, for example food scientists, forensic scientists, or organic scientists to analyze all kinds of mixtures such as food, blood, or medicine. In this project, you will be using paper chromatography to analyze the pigments from…
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Chem_p010
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- Less Details
Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
For your convenience a kit is available from our partner
.
Are oranges highest in vitamin C when they are fresh from the tree (or, in a pinch, the grocery shelf)? Does the amount of vitamin C in an orange change over time, after it has been picked? In this science project, you will find answers to these questions by measuring the amount of vitamin C in a solution using an iodine titration method.
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Chem_p043
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- Less Details
Time Required
Long (2-4 weeks)
Prerequisites
Ideally you would have your own citrus tree with ripe fruit for this science project. The second-best option is to use citrus fruit from a store.
Material Availability
Titration equipment and supplies are needed. A kit is available from our partner . See the Materials tab for details.
Cost
High ($100 - $150)
Safety
Adult supervision required. Concentrated iodine is poisonous if swallowed. Read and follow all safety guidelines in the Procedure. More information is available from the iodine .
