High School, Chemistry Science Projects (Page 4)

Remove Silver Tarnish with a Homemade Battery

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever wondered why silver jewelry that starts out nice and shiny turns brownish-black and dull over time? The brownish-black stuff is called silver tarnish, and it is the result of a chemical reaction on the silver's surface. Luckily, there are many ways to clean tarnished silver and make it shiny again! In this science project, you will explore how to clean tarnished silver using electrochemistry. The electrochemical silver cleaning reaction requires aluminum and a salt solution. Your… Read more

Salt Oscillator

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Fill a jar a little more than half full with fresh water. Make a solution of salt water, and add a drop or two of food coloring to it. Pour the salt water solution into a plastic cup with a small hole in the bottom, and then place the cup in the jar with fresh water. (The only connection between the fresh and salt water should be via the hole in the bottom of the cup.) With the right combination of hole size and salt concentration, you will see an oscillating current develop in the jar. … Read more

Saturated Solutions: Measuring Solubility

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Many essential chemical reactions and natural biochemical processes occur in liquid solutions, so understanding the chemical properties of liquid solutions is fundamentally important. This project asks the basic question, how much of a substance can dissolve in water, for three different substances: ordinary table salt, Epsom salts, and sugar. Read more

Scintillating Scents: The Science of Making Perfume

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever watched your parents dress up for a big evening? They may even splash on a bit of aftershave cologne or dab on some perfume since it is special occasion. But did you know that using perfume and scents is an ancient activity? Perfumes and the art of making perfume is an art that is thousands of years old. In this chemistry science fair project, you will learn more about one way to make perfume, called enfleurage, and experiment with it to extract your own floral scents. Read more

Study Chirality with a Homemade Polarimeter

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Some molecules can be either left- or right-"handed." The left- and right-handed molecules have the same number and type of atoms, and their chemical structures look identical, but they are actually mirror images of each other. Many naturally occurring molecules have this property, called chirality. Chiral molecules can interact with polarized light in an interesting way—they rotate the plane of polarization. This chemistry science fair project describes how to make a homemade polarimeter… Read more

The Chemistry of Clean: Make Your Own Soap to Study Soap Synthesis

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Soap comes in many varieties and forms—from bars to bottles to boxes. The uses for soaps are just as expansive—from cleaning our hands, hair, and faces to a variety of household cleaning jobs, such as dishes or laundry. One thing all these different soaps have in common is their chemical origin; they were all made by mixing fat or oil with a strongly basic solution, such as lye. In this chemistry science project, you will carry out the chemical steps needed to transform coconut oil… Read more

The Chemistry of Hair Highlights

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever tried to make parts of your hair lighter than the rest of your hair? Perhaps the way you tried to do it did not lighten it or maybe it turned out a weird orange color? With this science project you can understand why. Read more

Use a Calorimeter to Measure the Heat Capacity of Water

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Along with its many other interesting properties, water has the ability to absorb a lot of heat energy, while only experiencing a relatively small change in temperature. One way this property affects us directly is that our bodies don't change temperature rapidly on hot or cold days, since we are made up of mostly water. In this chemistry-with-an-electronics-flair science fair project, you will determine how the temperature of a small volume of water changes as you add precise amounts of heat… Read more

Water to Fuel to Water: The Fuel Cycle of the Future

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Solar cells are popping up on rooftops everywhere these days and are a model for clean, renewable energy. Did you ever look at those solar panels and wonder how we can get electricity produced by solar cells when the sun is not shining? It is a great question because solar panels do not produce electricity when it is dark outside. One strategy to overcome this challenge is to store the energy produced by solar cells during the day in the form of a fuel that can be used at a later time. In this… Read more

What Sugar And Tea Does a Kombucha Biofilm Prefer?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

You may have seen kombucha at the grocery store marketed as a healthy food choice. Did you know this drink is made with a special biofilm that ferments sugar into the tangy, fizzy drink? How does it do that? In this experiment, you'll learn how to make your own kombucha from a biofilm and what tea or sugar substrates you can change! Read more

High School, Chemistry Science Projects (41 results)

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