Middle School, Environmental Engineering Science Projects (Page 2)

How Flocculation Cleans Up Drinking Water

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Your drinking water probably started out brown and muddy. Are you surprised? Maybe you were picturing it flowing from a clean mountain spring instead? All over the world, including in 68% of American homes, people get their drinking water from rivers, lakes, and other surface waters. This water is filled with dirt, debris, and other contaminants as it travels hundreds of miles. So, how does your drinking water go from brown and muddy to crystal clear? Often, flocculants—substances that… Read more

Can Nanotechnology Help Clean Up Ocean Oil Spills? Try It Yourself with Ferrofluid

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

The enormous task of cleaning up oil spills in oceans and seas has burdened industry, government, and environmentalists for decades. The cleanup is almost always difficult. It involves great amounts of time, resources, and money to remove the oil from the water, and the cleanup is often only partially successful. Today, however, scientists are coming to the rescue, developing a new technique that combines nanotechnology and magnetism. In this science project, you will test the proposed… Read more

Do Your Storm Drains Keep the Ocean Trash Free?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Did you know that there is plastic in the ocean? It probably isn't too hard to imagine that some of the plastic that litters roadways, sidewalks, and parks finds its way into the ocean. So, how much do you think is in there? Hundreds of pounds of plastic? How about thousands of pounds? No one knows for sure, but estimates, based on scientific surveys, suggest the amount is in the range of millions of pounds of plastic! Of course, the ocean is big, over 300 million square kilometers, so… Read more

Clean Up The Water with a Trash-Skimming Robot

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Engineers are trying to tackle the world's ocean pollution problem using robots. Some robots, like Mr. Trash Wheel and the ship featured in this Mark Rober video, are stationary and collect trash as it flows out of rivers before it gets into the ocean. Others, like the Jellyfishbot, are mobile and can squeeze into narrower spaces to collect trash: Can you build and test your own trash-skimming robot? If you do not have access to a natural body of water to test it in, you can use a bathtub or a… Read more

Alternative Sources for Paper Fiber

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

If you're interested in arts and crafts, you might like this project. It uses several alternative, renewable sources of fiber to make paper, and compares the resulting papers for strength and writing quality. Read more

Do Plants Promote Pesticide Breakdown?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

When pesticides are applied to protect crops, run-off of potentially harmful pesticides is a major problem. Can water plants such as hardstem bulrush, common cattail, parrotfeather and smooth scouring rush promote pesticide breakdown? If so, diversion of irrigation run-off into plant-filled ponds could help reduce pesticide pollution. Mix malathion at 12.5% of the recommended application strength (to simulate dilution by rain or irrigation water). Use 5-gallon buckets for testing various… Read more

Cold Room? Heat It Up with A Homemade Solar Air Heater

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

What do humans need to survive? We need food, water, and warm shelter. We all need a warm place to live, particularly when it's chilly outside. How do many of us warm our houses or apartments? We depend on fossil fuels to supply gas and electricity to our heaters. But burning fossil fuels to create energy is harmful to the environment. What if there was a way to warm our homes without burning fossil fuels and it was free? In this science fair project, you will build a solar air heater and see… Read more

Water-Wise: Building a Rainwater Collection System

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

We are all familiar with the nursery rhyme, "Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day...", or the song "Singin' in the Rain." Numerous songs and stories describe our feelings about rain. Why so many? Because we humans understand how important rain is to our well-being. Rainfall, as part of the water cycle, brings water back to Earth that had previously evaporated or transpired from the surface. When water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into clouds and falls back to Earth as rain,… Read more

Rooftop Gardens: Are They a Cool Idea?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Would you like some sky vegetables for dinner? How about some fresh-cut roof flowers to put in vases in your house? Around the world, rooftops are being transformed into living green expanses. Besides beauty, rooftop gardens have a number of advantages, including growing food and taking carbon dioxide out of the air while releasing breathable oxygen. But can rooftop gardens also keep your house cooler and lower your energy bill? Try this science fair project to find out. Read more

Water from Air: Experimenting with Dew Traps

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Most of us live in areas where sources of water exist nearby as oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, reservoirs, wells, or even underground streams. But in some places, like the desert, water is hard to find and a precious resource. In this environmental engineering science project, you will investigate one way that people living in arid regions can collect water inexpensively: dew traps. Read more

Middle School, Environmental Engineering Science Projects (27 results)

Explore Our Science Videos