High School, Materials Science Science Projects (11 results)
Materials science is a fascinating area of research that is often at the cutting edge of science and engineering. It involves both developing new materials and improving on existing ones, and has important applications both for improving daily life and for advancing other fields of research. You can try your hand at making and testing all kinds of substances from plastic to slime.
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Can you imagine clothing, handbags, or shoes made from seaweed or spider silk? To become more sustainable, the textile industry is looking for ways to develop more eco-friendly fabrics. Biofabrics derived from living organisms such as seaweed or bacteria have been proposed as a potential alternative to conventional fibers. In this science project, you will make several biofabrics from alginate (seaweed) and conduct tests to find out which one is most suitable as a textile replacement.
Plastics are made of polymers, chemical structures containing many repeated subunits. How does the polymer type of a plastic affect the biodegradability of the plastic? Do research on how plastic is made and what types of polymers are used for making different plastics. Can you learn to make your own plastic? What materials can you use for making plastic that is biodegradable? Test biodegradability by burying plastic samples for different lengths of time. (Kadar, 2004) Reducing solid waste…
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What happens if you hold a magnet next to water? You might think that water is not affected by magnetism, but in fact, the water is slightly repelled. Believe it or not, if the magnet is strong enough, you can use this effect to levitate objects that contain water, including insects and even small frogs! In this science project, you will learn about diamagnetism. Materials that are repelled by both poles of a magnet are called diamagnetic. The magnets you will use are not strong enough to float…
Does your hair go crazy when the weather turns damp? Did you know that strands of hair can relax and lengthen when the humidity increases and then contract again when the humidity decreases? In fact, hair strands can be used as the basis for a hygrometer, a device which measures the humidity level in the air. Can a human hair hygrometer also detect changes in hair structure caused by chemical lightening? This project shows you how to find out.
It's hard to imagine a world without paper. You wouldn't have things like books, cards, comics, newspaper, construction paper, notebooks, cereal boxes, or that nice sound of shredding wrapping paper on your birthday. There was a time, though, when the only thing people had to write on were slabs of soft, squishy clay. When these slabs dried in the sun, they preserved simple ideas, but they were heavy, like carrying around a load of rocks. Not exactly easy to put in your pocket and carry around.…
Here's a project for a budding architect or structural engineer. Can you make a strong, lightweight tower using only uncooked spaghetti and white glue? In this project, you'll learn about materials testing and apply what you learn to building and testing structures that are both strong and light.
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If you like to fish and you'd rather not be telling the story of "the one that got away," then this is a project for you. What combination of properties makes for the best fishing line? Here are some suggestions for getting started on your background research into fishing line properties: knot strength, abrasion strength, shock strength, tensile strength, limpness, controlled stretch, and desired range of visibility (Dodson, 2006). Choose the properties that you think are most important, and…
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In the fairy tale of the three little pigs, the wolf huffed and puffed and blew down the first pig's straw house. But in reality, straw, tied into bales, is a viable building material that, when used properly, makes sturdy and energy-efficient buildings. Straw is a renewable resource that is available all over the world since it is the byproduct of growing grain. In this science fair project, you will test a straw bale covered with stucco to see if it's water resistant, and evaluate if it's…
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What are the best materials to use for blocking out unwanted noise from the environment? You can build a test box (or test frame) around an audio speaker. Use a sound level meter to measure the speaker output. Use different materials to cover the walls of your test box (or frame), and see which materials do the best job at blocking the sound. For a more advanced project, perform your tests using different sound frequencies. Are some materials better at blocking certain frequencies than…
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If you'd rate yourself high on the bacteriophobia scale, just keep on scrolling down to the next project. Bacteria are all around us, and normally our body's defenses keep us blissfully unaware of them. If you don't mind finding out where they're lurking in your house, then you might find this project interesting.
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