Project Guides (Page 9)

Arduino Troubleshooting Guide

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Arduino not working? Use this Arduino troubleshooting guide to diagnose and solve circuit, code, and connection issues. Troubleshooting an Arduino Project If you are working on an electronics or robotics project with Arduino and running into a problem, the problem may be related to the circuit, the connection between the Arduino and the computer, or the code you are using. Solving a problem with an Arduino project requires troubleshooting! This… Read more

Carly M's Science Fair Project Blog

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by Carly Introduction to My Blog This blog was started one month into my science fair project, so the first entry will recap everything I did during that month. I wrote this blog in letter form. The purpose of this blog is to help first time students with their project. I can't give personal advice but I can give you the general do's and don'ts of science fair that hopefully will come in handy. This is only my second time doing science fair and last year I got pretty far with my project. … Read more

Development Work

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Development Work Development involves the refinement and improvement of a solution. Some development work might be needed very early in the design process in order to evaluate different potential solutions. For example, it might not be possible to compare the cost of early design concepts without doing some development work to estimate what the cost of an alternative would actually be. Development work continues throughout the design process, often even after a product ships to… Read more

Electronics Primer: Introduction

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Introduction The field of electronics offers a powerful set of tools for obtaining accurate numerical data. Instead of just saying that there is a difference between two things (color, brightness, charge, etc.), electronic devices allow you to measure precisely how big the difference is. Electrons and Charge The word electronics is derived from "electron." Electrons are sub-atomic particles with a negative charge. The unit for electric charge is the coulomb. One coulomb equals the… Read more

Guide to Purchasing Chemicals

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Introduction Knowing which chemical to buy and where to purchase it can be a confusing part of preparing for your science fair project. This guide will help you navigate some of those challenges. Read more

How to Use a micro:bit

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A micro:bit is a tiny, programmable board with lots of built-in sensors. You can use one for a variety of fun science projects, even if you do not have any programming or electronics experience! This page contains tutorial videos that will help you with setting up, programming, and using your micro:bit. Check out our list of micro:bit projects when you're ready to move beyond the tutorials! Read more

Introduction to Servo Motors

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What is a servo motor? Servo motors (or servos) are self-contained electric devices (see Figure 1 below) that rotate or push parts of a machine with great precision. Servos are found in many places: from toys to home electronics to cars and airplanes. If you have a radio-controlled model car, airplane, or helicopter, you are using at least a few servos. In a model car or aircraft, servos move levers back and forth to control steering or adjust wing surfaces. By rotating a shaft connected to… Read more

Projects Involving Potentially Hazardous Biological Agents

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Some research projects may involve working with potentially hazardous biological agents. Examples are projects that use microorganisms (including bacteria, viruses, viroids, prions, rickettsia, fungi, and parasites), recombinant DNA (rDNA) technologies, or human or animal fresh tissues, blood, or body fluids. To insure the safety of student researchers and their home and school environments, many fairs require pre-approval of projects involving potentially hazardous biological… Read more

Reaction Time

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You can easily measure your reaction time with a ruler and a helper. Hold out your thumb and forefinger and have your helper hold the ruler just barely above them. Your helper then says "go" and lets the ruler drop straight down. You grab it as quickly as you can with your thumb and forefinger. Look where you caught the ruler (that is, measure how far the ruler dropped between when your friend said "go" and you caught it) You can convert this distance to reaction time with the following… Read more

Resistor Color Codes

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Resistors are small electronic parts that resist the flow of electrical current. Resistors have many uses, and you can find them in many Science Buddies electronics projects. A resistor's amount of opposition to the flow of current is called its resistance. Resistance is measured in ohms, abbreviated Ω (the capital Greek letter Omega). Resistance may have a metric prefix, for example kilo-ohms (kΩ). One kilo-ohm is equal to 1,000 ohms. The resistance value is… Read more

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