High School Science Projects (Page 22)

Seeing Beyond the Visible: Photography with Near Infrared Illumination

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have an extra sense? What if you could hear above the normal range (ultrasound) like dogs or bats? What if you could see ultraviolet light, like bees or juvenile trout? What if you could see infrared light, like a rattlesnake or boa constrictor? This project shows you how you can use a phone or camera, tripod, and a special filter to take pictures using near infrared illumination. It's a whole new way of looking at the world. Read more

Interpreting Area Data from Maps vs. Graphs: An Experiment in Visual Perception

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Graphical methods of data presentation are a key feature of scientific communication. This project asks the question, "What's the best way to compare the land area of states: a map or a bar graph?" You'll be measuring performance on two different visual discrimination tasks: comparison of areas vs. comparison of position on a common scale. Which method is more accurate? Which method is faster? This project will get you thinking about how to find the best way to communicate scientific… Read more

A Bright Idea for Saving Energy

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

In the United States, lighting for homes accounts for about 14% of all residential electricity usage (EIA, 2014). That's billions of dollars worth of electricity per year. The U.S. has passed legislation to phase out older, more inefficient incandescent light bulbs, and they are being replaced with newer, more-efficient bulb types like compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). How much energy (measured in kilowatt-hours [kWh]) and how much money could be saved by… Read more

Under Pressure: Sand Under Lateral Compression

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Here's a project that involves a different kind of sandbox than the ones you usually think of. This one has a moving wall inside, acting like a piston, to compress the sand. You can make layers using two different colors of sand, and then see what happens when you compress the layers with the piston. If you're handy with woodworking tools, this is a good project to give you a feel for the effects of geological forces that deform the Earth's crust. Read more

Which Team Batting Statistic Predicts Run Production Best?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Here's a sports science project that shows you how to use correlation analysis to choose the best batting statistic for predicting run-scoring ability. You'll learn how to use a spreadsheet to measure correlations between two variables. Read more

'Make Mine Medium-Rare': Heat Conduction in Steak

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

How do you like your steak? The internal temperatures for beefsteaks at various levels of "doneness" are as follows: medium-rare, 145°F; medium, 155°F; medium-well, 165°F; and well-done, 170°F. What factors determine how long you have to cook a steak to reach the desired temperature? The temperature of the steak before you start to cook it will clearly be important. The temperature the steak is cooked at will also be a factor. And of course, the thickness of the steak will… Read more

Programming NANORGs in a Virtual World

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Imagine yourself as a software engineer, a decade and a half from now. You are called upon to help solve the world energy crisis by programming nano-organisms (NANORGs) to extract energy from industrial sludge. Your program must be small enough to fit in the NANORGs' tiny processors, yet at the same time meet several challenges. First and foremost, your NANORGs need to navigate on their own, extract energy from the sludge, and find collection points to deliver the harvested energy. Second,… Read more

What's the Fastest Way to Sort a List?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Imagine that you have a list of names of all the people in your class. Someone asks you to put them in alphabetical order. How would you go about doing it? Would you first go through the entire list and look for all the "A" names? Then go through it again and look for all the "B" names, and so on? Do you think going through the list over and over again for each letter would be inefficient? What if you had hundreds, thousands, or even millions of names? How would you ever alphabetize them… Read more

Honesty: How Prevalent Is It?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

How trusting are you? Do you think people are basically honest, or do you think people are usually honest only when they think someone is watching? This project explores how well the honor system works for a bake sale-type charity donation. Find out if your hunch is correct. Read more

Mean & Green: Fruit & Vegetable Hardening

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

When you open a can of green beans, have you ever wondered why the beans are not mushy, or more like a puree? Canning requires boiling the beans for a long period of time to kill bacteria, so why don't the beans fall apart into small pieces? Some fruits and vegetables—like cherries, apples, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, beans, cauliflower, and tomatoes—have the ability to undergo hardening, or firming of their plant tissues. A special enzyme, called pectin methyl… Read more

High School Science Projects (254 results)

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