Flower Production
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Increase blooms per plant
Variables: light (intensity, wavelength), nutrients, type of soil, additives (natural and synthetic), temperature, humidity, type and amount of water, pruning
Recommended species: marigolds, petunias, chrysanthemums
Details:Flower production is primarily due to genetic conditions, though environmental conditions may change the number of flowers. Senior students under the guidance of a mentor, could do some genetic studies to look at this question.
Husbandry (Reproduction)
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Invertebrates
Variables: humidity, photoperiod, light intensity, temperature, magnetism, competition between species, nutrients, noise, space (including height & depth)
Recommended species: beetles, mealworms, cockroaches, earthworms, tobacco hornworm
Details: Reproductive biology and behavior of these (and other) species may be found in most good Invertebrate Zoology textbooks. If doing a behavioral problem, often the introduction of a simple variable may produce changes or inhibition in normal behavior.
Hydroponics
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Plant Growth
Variables: type of container, type and amount of water, chemical additives, light (intensity, wavelength), evaporation, invertebrate species present, competition between species, photoperiod, temperature
Recommended species: any plant species can be used such as geraniums, corn, lettuce peas, beans etc.
Details: Almost all plants can be grown in water that has been enriched with nutrients and under some conditions carbon dioxide is needed to be supplemented. Actually hydroponics are a nice experimental way to do plant problems since the variables can be introduced into the water and there is not the variable of what is actually in the soils used. Gives better controls to many experiments.
Insect Attractants (Pheromones)
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Pest Control
Variables:pH, fragrances, body secretions, hair products, skin products, deodorants, soaps, temperature
Recommended species: mosquitoes, fruit flies, ants, flies
Details: A common observation of all of us is that bees and mosquitoes are more likely to come to one of us rather than another's. Many things contribute to this "attraction" ranging from natural secretions to artificial ones we may put on in the form of deodorants and/or colognes.
Insect Repellents (Pest Control)
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Pest Control
Variables: pH, fragrances, body secretions, hair products, skin products, deodorants, soaps, herbal supplements, plant extracts, temperature
Recommended species: mosquitos, fruit flies, ants, flies
Longevity of Blooms
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Longevity of Blooms
Variables: type of water, light (intensity, wavelength), temperature, magnetism, sound (intensity, wavelength), nutrients, contaminants in the water, additives Recommended species: marigolds, chrysanthemums, carnations, roses
Details: The length of time that flowering is maintained in a species is due to a large number of variables many of which are set genetically, but many of which are due to environmental conditions. The environmental conditions would be the easiest to manipulate.
Natural Insecticides
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Pest Control
Variables: species competition (plant or invertebrate), natural additives
Recommended species: mosquitoes, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fruit flies, gnats
Details:Most plants, through coevolution, have defense mechanisms against some of the local insects. These may be chemical or morphological (structural) such as thorns of Acacia trees.
Plant Production of Chemicals
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Some plants release chemicals into the soil through their roots and fallen leaves that affect the growth of plants around them.
Variables: Type of Plants; Plant structure containing allelopathic substance; Concentration of chemical
Details: The walnut tree is an example of an allelopathic plant. Walnut trees release a chemical through their roots, leaves, and fruit that inhibit the growth of plants around them.
Population Control
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Number of individuals in population
Variables: temperature, humidity, light (intensity & wavelength), magnetism, space, growth media, inter- or intra-species competition, natural contraceptives, herbs, pheromones
Recommended species: ants, beetles, cockroaches, flies, earthworms, fleas, fruit flies, tobacco hornworm; plants (large like geraniums, grasses, beans etc. or micro such as algae)
Details:All population sizes are controlled by various mechanisms some of which are within (intra-) a species itself or between (inter-) different species. If conditions are uncontrolled then any population will grow unregulated, but there is always some point (caused by various factors) at which a population's size will be regulated, and the population will no longer grow.
Translate Sensor Input into Automated Communication
Category: Botany and Zoology
Grade: 7-8
Variables: Types of sensors that measure:
- Temperature
- Acceleration
- Position
- Touch
- Light
Details: Using the types of sensors noted above, choose how many of each would be placed into an object and then what information each could detect. With the variety of inputs represented, determined an algorithm that could communicate what type of environment the object experiences. (i.e. If the sensors detect darkness, warmth, slight acceleration and touch, then the item may be held by a person at night.)
The key to this project is not to completely define each situation by the senor input, but to present a potential set of circumstances that would explain the sensor input.
Water
Category: Chemistry
Grade: 7-8
Water
Variables: simple properties such as heat of vaporization; heat capacity; effects of temperature on capacity to hold oxygen or carbon dioxide; causes and/or effects of turbidity on natural waters; freezing properties; capillarity; physical effect of tube diameter on capillarity
Details: water is actually one of the most complex chemicals that exist, and in some ways we still don't entirely understand its chemistry. All life depends upon water, so many experiments can be done noting its effect on living systems. Additionally it has a great capacity as a solvent, allowing many compounds to go into solution with it. Interesting questions about how soluble compounds are, or under what conditions compounds are soluble lead to interesting experiments.
5700 rpm or 3200 rpm or what?
Category: Computer Science and Mathematics
Grade: 7-8
A computers hard disk stores data which is accessed for use. Data can only be accessed if the hard disk revolves with a constant speed which can be fast or slow. Data access from a higher speed disk is said to be quicker than a slower speed disk. In this project students should measure the data access speed and speed revolution ratio ot measure the response of a laptop or a desktop.
Resource required: Two or more computers (laptops or desktops or both with varying disk speed)
Can a Mouse Beat a Touch-Pad?
Category: Computer Science and Mathematics
Grade: 7-8
Every laptop comes with a touch-pad which is usually a set of three pads- two small and one big (but this depends on the manufacturer) to simulate a mouse. A mouse can alsos be connected to the laptop through a USB. If the mouse is attached then both can be used together. The speed of the movement of the cursor and the activation of a command (select and click) may be different for the touch-pad and the mouse. In this project students should measure the efficiency of a mouse and the touch-pad. Which offers faster service: a mouse or the touch-pad? Note that a mouse can be a laser guided, an optical mouse or a wheel mouse.
Resources required: A laptop and a mouse (laser guided and/or optical and/or wheel)
Deterministic Chaos
Category: Computer Science and Mathematics
Grade: 7-8
A series that does not form limit cycles nor reach a steady state, is an example of deterministic chaos. The Lorenz (weather convection pattern model) system is an example. Deterministic chaos is sensitive to the initial conditions and any two initial states, no matter how close, will diverge.
Details: Many computer animations are based on deterministic chaos. Analyze the series behind some displays like screensavers or music art. Analyze experimental data for deterministic roots.
Fractals around us
Category: Computer Science and Mathematics
Grade: 7-8
A fractal is a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-sixe copy of the whole. This result in a pattern that reveals greater complexity as it is enlarged. Fractals can be observed in nature (like snowflakes, cauliflower, biological molecules like DNA, etc.) in common toys, and computer game displays.
Details: Observe, study and then dissect something that is a fractal to the basic underlying geometric shape and explain how it repeats to make the complex object.
Image Compression vs. Image Quality
Category: Computer Science and Mathematics
Grade: 7-8
The objective of this project is to compare at least two different image compression algorithms and rate them for image quality and compression ratio (the size of the original image file/size of the compressed image file). Higher image quality usually comes at a cost- larger file size. This can be especially important when the file is intended to be e-mailed or posted on a website. It can also be important when a large number of images is needed. This project can help people make intelligent decisions about the file format and resolution to select, depending on the intended application for the image.
Variables: Image file format (JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, TIFF, etc.), image size, image resolultion, lossless compression vs. lossy compression, printer resolution vs. screen resolution, color depth (8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit).
The Ghost Between Us!
Category: Computer Science and Mathematics
Grade: 7-8
Wireless gadgets use wireless channels for communication. The range of these channels is affected by media between the communicating parties. In this project students can find what intermediate media affect the communication the most. Is it a metal wall, a dry wall, a wooden wall, heavy rain, the sun, plants, trees, or something else? This experiment can be done using two laptops connected together through wireless channel or with two cell phones.
Resources required: Two or more cell phones, two laptops or a laptop and a cell phone
Rocks and Minerals
Category:
Earth and Space Science
Grade: 4-6 and 7-8
Rocks and Minerals
Variables: Magnetic properties; magnetic properties under various temperatures; solubility; crystalline shapes; reactivity towards acids; effects on soil types
Details: Soils consist of four distinction horizon's or layers named A, B, C and D, with some subsets to each letter. "D"is basic bedrock, and its breakdown helps over time to form the final soil at any locality. The "A" layer is primarily organic matter created by the local vegetation interacting with the rocks and minerals available. The properties of the rocks in a given locality will change the nature of the soil that ultimately is located there.
Acid Rain
Category: Environmental Science and Renewable Energy
Grade: 7-8
Acid rain
Variables: pH levels in local rain fall; buffering capacity of various soils; buffering capacity of vegetation; sources of acid rain including various nitrous oxides, sulfur oxides, and some naturally occurring organic compounds released by local vegetation.
Details: One of the three most important environmental problems in the earth's ecosystem is the acidity of the rain falling on the earth's surface annually. The sources of the acidity (ph less than 7.0) include car and power plant emissions, fossil fuel breakdowns from industrial complexes, and some natural emissions by vegetation itself in the form of compounds such as terpenes from plants. There is a certain innate buffering (neutralizing) capacity in soils and local vegetation, but as the acid rain continues, this buffering capacity comes to be exhausted. Ultimately heavier metals come to be broken down by the acidity and as these leach into water sheds they become toxic to humans, particularly their nervous systems. Lakes of the Adirondack mountains in central New York, teamed with trout less than 35 years ago. Today those lake not only have no trout but are biologically sterile.
Air Quality
Category: Environmental Science and Renewable Energy
Grade: 7-8
Air Quality
Variables: particulate material; exhaust gases; aerosols; smoke; effects of temperature; smog; terpenes and other organic 'waste' from vegetation
Details: Many molecules are released into the air, some by normal respiration and transpiration by organisms, others are released by processes of man in manufacturing, producing electricity; use of fossil fuels in combustion engines; smoking; burning leaves, brush and stumps during land clearing for farming. These pollutants cause problems for people breathing (asthma has risen 40% in past 25 years); plants doing their normal photosynthesis; amount of UV rays hitting the earth's surface; and many other issues. See also notes on acid rain fall.
Greenhouse Effect
Category: Environmental Science and Renewable Energy
Grade: 7-8
Greenhouse effect
Concentrations of carbon dioxide; efficiency of trap creating the greenhouse
Details: The theoretical greenhouse effect on the earth's surface is believed to be caused by the excessive release of carbon dioxide which becomes trapped in a layer above the earth's surface much like the glass on a greenhouse. This layer of carbon dioxide in turn traps heat being emitted from the earth's surface thereby increasing the average temperature on the earth.
Soil Ecology
Category: Environmental Science and Renewable Energy
Grade: 7-8
Composting
Variables: type and amount of water, type and amount of nutrients; type and amount of soil, type and amount of light, temperature
Recommended species: earthworms, dung beetles, cockroaches, leaves (same or mixtures of species); garbage
Details: There are lots of ways to produce compost in nature. There may be variation in either in the materials being composted, or the organisms involved in the process accelerating the natural rotting, or the out product of chemicals from the process, any or all of which can be affected variables. Composting may be done in small containers which will help reduce outside variables.
Air Table, Momentum Conservation, Elastic Collisions
Category: Force and Motion
Grade: 7-8
A fan blowing air through small holes in a sheet, or in an angle iron, can be used to get very low friction. Such devices can demonstrate momentum conservation, conservation of energy and other mechanical principles.
Wheatstone Bridge Measurements
Category: Force and Motion
Grade: 7-8
A Wheatstone bridge is a very sensitive device for measuring resistances, and detecting voltages. This could be a nice construction project. One project is to measure the internal resistance of batteries. Looking at the difference between alkaline, lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, and nickel metal hydrade batteries.
Chromatography
Category:
Matter and Energy
Grade:
7-8
One can experiment with chromatography using leaves, or colored inks. Water moves upward in a paper towel by surface tension and the water carries molecules of the ink upward at varying speed depending on the size and properties of the various pigment molecules, and thus separates the molecules. These separated molecules give the towel various colors. By drying the towel, the various sections can be removed and the molecules thus isolated.
Electrolytes
Category: Matter and Energy
Grade: 7-8
Electrolytes:
Variables: ionization of chemicals in a solvent
Details: Any molecules which ionize in a solvent such as water become electrolytes which means they can transport a current through the solutions. The speed and strength of the current carried varies with the ions involved, the concentration of ions, and the temperature of the solution.
Insulation - Electrical
Category: Matter and Energy
Grade: 7-8
Insulation - Electrical
Variables: thickness; chemical composition; adherence or proximity to wire being insulated; capacitance
Details: In order to prevent loss of current, wires are coated in insulation. Many compounds can be used as insulators, each with greater or lesser efficiency. Some insulators change electrical properties with changes in temperature, thickness or amounts of solutes in the basic chemical makeup of the insulating material.
Insulation - Temperature
Category: Matter and Energy
Grade: 7-8
Insulation - Temperature
Variables: properties of things that make good heat insulators for houses or storing foods; heat or cold gain or loss; color; thickness; structure
Details: many things can be used as insulators either to conserve heat or maintain cold. A comparison of the properties of many common compounds can show a large number of scientific principles.
Laser Ray Tracing, Scattering and Diffraction
Category: Matter and Energy
Grade: 7-8
One can demonstrate the operation of a system of lenses and mirrors by using a laser pointer. Dry ice can be used to make a fog that scatters the light and makes the laser paths visible. Laser scattering in and on the surface of materials can be studied also.
Polarized Light Experiments
Category: Matter and Energy
Grade: 7-8
A cheap pair of sunglasses that use polaroid, are a source for experiments in polarized light. Reflected sunlight from a surface tends to be polarized. So the glare from a reflected surface is eliminated with a pair of sunglasses made from polaroid, when the axis of the polaroid is at an angle of 90 degrees from the angle of the polarized glare.
A sugar solution also polarizes light. So the concentration of the solution can be determined by the angle by which polarized light is rotated.
Cleaning solutions
Category: Molecular Biology
Grade: 7-8
Cleaning solutions
Variables: secondary properties of cleaning solutions such as contact lens solutions and their ability to control bacterial growth, mold growth or algae growth; comparison of agents that actually do the cleaning; concentrations and cleaning capacity; application time
Details: Be careful about product comparison. See guidelines provided by Science Pioneers concerning product comparison studies which are allowable, but only under very specific guidelines. The suggestion here is not to compare products per se, but to examine a specific product and see if varying things such as time or concentration change the ability of the solution to prevent side effects such as algae or bacterial build up.
Plant Growth - Microlevel
Category: Molecular Biology
Grade: 7-8
Algae
Variables: Photoperiod; light intensity; temperature; magnetism; competition between species; nutrients
Recommended Species: Chlorella, Spirogyra
Details: There are 100's of species of algae in the world's ecosystems. Seventy percent of the earth's breathable oxygen is generated daily by algae. Algae species float in layers at the surface of oceans, lakes, streams and ponds, responding to the amount, wavelength and ratio of light and dark, pollutants in the water, amount of carbon dioxide available, and other variables such as temperature, other microorganisms in competition for nutrients and carbon dioxide available, land run off and water surface disturbances. Many different species can be collected from natural waters or purchased from biological supply houses through your teacher or with Science Pioneer help.
