Have you ever been told to avoid certain foods because they contain too much fat? Almost every food we eat has some amount of fat in it; often in an invisible form so we do not even notice. However, eating healthy does not mean getting rid of all fat in your diet. On the contrary, fat is an essential nutrient for your body! Only consuming too much of certain fat types creates problems. Are you curious about how to determine the fat content of different foods? Gather some chips, chocolate, and…
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FoodSci_p077
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
Some familiarity with basic organic chemistry including hydrocarbons and the different types of carbon bonds would be helpful, though it is not required for this project.
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Safety
Acetone is a flammable liquid. Keep away from open flames, sparks, or heat.
Acetone is irritating to skin and eyes. Be sure to wear safety goggles and gloves.
Work in an area with adequate ventilation.
Adult supervision is recommended.
Do NOT eat the foods that you treated with acetone.
Have you ever tried an apple that tastes like a banana? It sounds weird, but what actually makes the apple taste like an apple? Our tongue is definitely important for identifying food flavors, but if you have ever had a stuffy nose, you probably noticed that your smell contributes to taste as well. Which of those senses has more influence on flavor? Imagine eating an apple and, at the same time, smelling a really strong banana scent. How to you think the apple will taste? Will the nose or the…
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FoodSci_p076
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
[# Fragment Name="ProjectIdeas.Human.Subjects.Prerequisites" Value="Html" #]
Material Availability
This project requires the use of several scents, which are part of a kit that can be purchased from Amazon. See the
Materials and Equipment list for details
Earthworms are important for the soil and fun to study. In this science project, you will find where earthworms like to stay when food is around. Will they gather around the food, take food with them in their tunnels, or not be attracted to the food at all? You will fill four pots with dirt, add food and worms, and track their activity over one week to find out!
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Zoo_p064
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
This project calls for live worms. See the Materials list for suggestions about buying them locally or online.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervision or help is required during the preparation of the experiment.
Drones—also called quadcopters or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—are an increasingly popular toy for hobbyists. Some companies even want to use them for business purposes, like delivering packages right to your doorstep! However, drones typically have a rather short battery life. Does the added weight of a package affect a drone's battery life? Try this project to find out!
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Aero_p053
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
This project requires a drone. See the Materials list for details.
Cost
Average ($50 - $100)
Safety
There are important safety guidelines you must follow when operating a drone. See the Procedure for details.
Take a deep breath: freshly baked cookies, smoke from a wood fire, or a rose—your nose is an amazing smell detector! Your sense of smell can not only identify a huge variety of odors, but it is also incredibly sensitive. Think about how easily you can detect if someone in your neighborhood has a barbecue just by smelling the hints of smoke from the grill far away. How strong or weak you perceive an odor depends on its concentration. What do you think is the lowest concentration of a…
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HumBio_p046
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
[# Fragment Name="ProjectIdeas.Human.Subjects.Prerequisites" Value="Html" #]
Material Availability
This project requires the use of several scents that are part of a kit that can be purchased from Amazon. See the Materials and Equipment list for details.
Have you ever heard that two phone books with the pages interleaved are impossible to pull apart? This might seem crazy, right? It is not that hard to slide a sheet of paper off the top of a stack of paper. How much friction can there really be between sheets of paper? In this experiment, you will use pads of sticky notes instead of phone books. How much weight can they support when you interleave the pages? Do you think you will be able to pull them apart by hand? The results might surprise…
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Phys_p103
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Average ($40 - $80)
Safety
Adult supervision required for testing heavier weights.
Put your engineering skills to the test to see if you can build a machine—powered by nothing but gravity—that will automatically sort out two different sizes of plastic spheres. That might seem like a strange task, but have you ever used a coin sorter to separate pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters? How about using a sifter in the kitchen to separate fine grains of flour or sugar from bigger lumps? Machines that can automatically sort objects or particles of different sizes are…
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ApMech_p051
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervision recommended for cutting materials that can create sharp edges, like plastic cups.
A simple circuit and a servo motor are all you need to turn any work of art into an interactive moving creation that is happy to see you. Light sensors see your shadow as you walk past your artwork and make a servo motor move back and forth. Waving arms? Turning heads? It is all up to you!
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Robotics_p029
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Depending on the crafting you do for your sculpture, the project may require craft knives or other items that should be used carefully and with supervision, as needed.
Whether you have already tried the Science Buddies
Build a Paper Speaker activity or the
How Loud Can Paper Speakers Get?
project, or you just like music and are interested in exploring more about the science of sound, then this project is for you.
You probably know that sound waves can have different frequencies. If not, you can read more about that in the background section
of the How Loud Can Paper Speakers Get?
project. The range of human hearing is typically about 20 hertz…
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Phys_p102
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Specialty electronics items required.
Cost
Average ($40 - $80)
Safety
Always keep speaker volume at safe levels to avoid hearing damage.
Do you know that many consumer products, such as sports clothes, cosmetics, and even food containers contain tiny silver particles? These so-called nanoparticles—usually 1–100 nanometers (a billionth of a meter) in size—are toxic to bacteria and fungi and therefore, are used to prevent them from growing on everyday items you use. But what happens if the silver nanoparticles get into the water; for example, when you wash off your makeup or clean your clothes? Do they…
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EnvSci_p064
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None.
Material Availability
This project requires materials which need to be specially ordered. See the Materials and Equipment list for details.
