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Middle School, Aerodynamics & Hydrodynamics Science Projects (38 results)

You've seen for yourself, or in videos, planes flying, rockets hurdling towards space, boats racing through the water and submarines exploring the depths of the ocean. Have you ever stopped and thought about the aerodynamics and hydrodynamics involved in their operation? There is a lot of interesting science that goes into how they work!

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Make the Wind Work for You!
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Alternative energy sources are a big deal these days. One such source is the wind. Find out how a wind turbine can use the power of the wind to generate energy in this science fair engineering project. You'll design various blades to find out which produces the most energy, and put the wind to work for you! Read more
Bottled-up Buoyancy
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Do you dream about making deep, undersea voyages? Let this project take you 20,000 leagues under the sea! Investigate how submarines dive and surface by changing their buoyancy in this fun project. Read more
What's The Best Way to Land a Model Rocket?
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
What's the best way to land a model rocket? What makes the rocket hit the ground safely at a low speed? What prevents the rocket from drifting too far if it's windy? In this project, you will make your own rockets from paper towel tubes and drop them to test different recovery methods like parachutes and streamers. What method do you think will work the best?  Read more
Take a Candle Carousel for a Spin
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Have you ever ridden on a carousel, or a merry-go-round, at an amusement park? On a carousel, you usually get to take a seat on a wooden horse or other animal that spins around and around as the carousel is turned on and powered by electricity. Another smaller type of carousel that people can have in their homes is a candle carousel, which is powered by heat from candles. In this science project, you will get to make your own candle carousel and investigate how the spinning speed of the… Read more
Butterfly Wings: Using Nature to Learn About Flight
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Have you ever seen butterflies fluttering around outside, gliding through the air and landing on flowers? While they are delicate and fragile, butterflies are actually excellent flyers. They are so good, in fact, that scientists at Harvard University studied butterfly wing shapes as an inspiration for building a miniature flying robot. In this science project, you will do your own version of the Harvard scientists' experiment to measure the flight performance of butterfly wings. Read more
Archimedes Squeeze: At What Diameter Does an Aluminum Boat Sink?
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Where do you get your best ideas? At school with your friends? When you are out for a bike ride? Over 2,200 years ago, a scientist named Archimedes got one of his best ideas when he sat down in his bath. Eureka! He went running through the streets without even bothering with his clothes. What was he so excited about? He had discovered that when objects, like his body, are placed in water, water is pushed out of the way. Have you noticed that, too? The weight of the water that is pushed out of… Read more
Rocket Science: How High Can You Send a Payload?
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Rockets are definitively an engineering challenge. These amazing gravity-defying machines have lifted test material, people, and even animals into space. Feel like building one yourself? In this science project, you will transform a water bottle into an aerodynamic bottle rocket with two compartments, one for the fuel and one for a payload. You will then test how well it performs when lifting mass vertically up into the air. Ready, set, soar! Read more
Rocking the Boat
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
When a ship rocks back and forth, it can make people seasick. Even worse, it can make it dangerous for jets to land on aircraft carriers. For these reasons and many others, it's important for engineers to design bilge keels (or fins) to keep boats from rolling back and forth. Become an engineer for a day and discover the best way to keep from rocking the boat in this engineering science fair project! Read more
How to Control a DIY Mini Drone with an Arduino™
Science Fair Project Idea
Engineering Design Process
Most drones fly with a mix of human input and autonomous control based on feedback from electronic sensors. This allows the drone to fly up and down when the human operator presses a joystick on a controller, but automatically hover at a fixed distance above the ground when the operator lets go of the joystick. In this project, you will explore drone programming with an Arduino. What types of inputs and sensors can you make your drone respond to? What behaviors and responses can you program… Read more
Do Submarines Need Fins?
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
What keeps a submarine from spinning out of control? In this science project, you can investigate how submarines use stabilizing fins to move forward. You might even figure out the secrets to maneuvering a submarine! Read more
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