<p>D would probably like something in the consumer science area. Her science teacher is probably the weakest link at her school, so unfortunately, don’t know that any of the kids (unless they study/explore science on their own or have such-minded parents0 will attempt anything really complex.</p>
<p>Depending on how much time your daughter has (total elapsed time, not necessarily time to spend on the project itself!), one of the projects that QMP did in middle school might work well–that is, testing paper cups to see how soon they start to leak. This was inspired by a few McDonald’s cups that were left in the cup-holders long enough to start leaking, I must admit. In any event, QMP gathered a variety of paper cups (a number from fast food places, some Dixie cups and generic paper cups) and some plastic trays. Filled the cups with water. Recorded the time (and date! you need it!) Then waited for the cups to start leaking. It took a surprisingly long time–think multiple days. Some of the cups started leaking overnight (after a few days), which made the actual time to breakdown difficulty to determine, but allows for some interesting error bars. Variations on this could include using soft drinks instead of water, and also examining the effect of different temperatures on the failure rate (if you have a way of maintaining a temperature away from room temperature). Most cups fail in the same way, but some have unusual failure modes. Definitely consumer science.</p>
<p>Another project that’s actually quite interesting: This one was inspired by an article by Eugene Stanley, which appeared in about 1999 in Science (maybe around February?) It is related to the formation of sedimentary rock, but it is a “kitchen science” type project.
What you need: at least two sheets of plexiglass, about 9 by 12 inches or 11 by 14 inches (can be purchased at Home Depot or similar stores, and not expensive), 4 small C clamps, 8 or 12 pennies, duct tape, a few baggies, a funnel, and granular material of several types. Some possibilities for the granular material include granulated sugar, Jello from the packets (no water added), sugar-in-the-raw (that light brown sugar that comes in little packets and is great in coffee–found at Panera and most likely Starbucks, and can be found in many grocery stores), salt, sand, maybe peppercorns, . . . </p>
<p>The starting point: Lay one of the sheets of plexiglass down flat. Stack either 2 or 3 pennies in each of the 4 corners. Place the second plexiglass sheet on top of the pennies, parallel to the first sheet. Then, using duct tape, tape together the plexiglass sheets at the two short sides and one of the long sides (which becomes the top) The pennies create a gap between the sheets. Secure the sheets with 4 C-clamps, one at each corner. </p>
<p>Then, take one of the granular materials, and using a baggy with a small hole cut in one corner, let the material pour into the center of the top of the apparatus, between the sheets (or use a funnel for this step, if you have one that is sufficiently narrow at the spout). A “mountain” of the material should form in the center of the apparatus. The sides will have varying levels of steepness, depending on the material. The angle that the material makes is called the “angle of repose.”</p>
<p>After identifying the angle of repose for a few different substances, look for two that have quite different angles of repose. Mix them thoroughly in a baggie, and then pour the mixture into the apparatus, at the center, again making a mountain. The best combo QMP and a friend found was granulated sugar, and the sugar-in-the-raw. Even though the material is well-mixed going into the apparatus, it will form stripes (!) in the mountain. This is very dramatic! The layers of white and brown sugar alternate. (Note, this is not the brown sugar used in cooking–I think that’s too sticky and lumpy to work.) The experiment also shows how layers can form in sedimentary rock, at the time the sediment is being laid down. (It is not necessary to have one material deposited first, and then a different one. </p>
<p>It is interesting to see what pairs materials will form stripes, and whether you can connect the thickness of the stripes to the angles of repose, or their differences, or to the pouring rate. Another interesting question involves the action of three different materials (QMP did not look at that, so we don’t know.) If you have a video camera and a means to look at things in slow motion (computer video processing), then you can examine the mini-avalanches that form the stripes, and this is quite interesting. It ties to the issues of self-organization and critical behavior. </p>
<p>I think this was the favorite project of QMP and the friend who collaborated on it. Also, you will probably find some discrepancies with the Science article by Stanley, so that is also quite interesting.</p>
<p>Another kitchen-science project: This one requires 2 polaroid sunglasses or polaroid filters, Karo or other corn syrup, a flashlight, a protractor, and a clear glass container. One with truly vertical sides (not sloping or indented) works best. If the container has a larger diameter than a drinking glass, this will work better. You can get one at a hobby/cooking shop, without too much expense, if you do not have a suitable one.</p>
<p>Fill the glass container with corn syrup. Then aim the flashlight through a lens of the first pair of sunglasses, through the corn syrup, and look at the light coming through on the far side of the container, as you rotate the second pair of sunglasses. You should see different colors at different angles. This is a nice effect, and can even be photographed quite easily. You devise find various ways to measure the angle of rotation of the second pair of sunglasses, but a protractor is all that’s needed for this.</p>
<p>“Sciencey” things to look at: as you dilute the corn syrup with water in various % combinations, how does the pattern of color vs. angle shift? One way to make this fairly quantitative: the color yellow corresponds to a pretty narrow band of wavelengths. So you can look at the rotation angle corresponding to yellow, for different levels of dilution (or different brands of corn syrup, if they show a difference). Or you can pick a color that is very memorable to you, in the blue-green range, and see how its rotation angle varies with dilution.</p>
<p>If you have a diffraction grating (these are often included in $20 science-fun books, such as the one sold by the Exploratorium in San Francisco and available in many book stores), you have the basic ingredients to study the rotation angle vs. wavelength of the light! This is really cool. I can give some suggestions if this aspect is of interest.</p>
<p>Corn syrup shows the effect quite clearly. Water will not. It’s interesting to test a few liquids to see whether you can find anything other than corn syrup that does it.</p>
<p>One that did not work very well: Trying to determine the variation of magnetic force with distance. The reason is that the magnetic force falls off very rapidly as the distance from the magnet increases. This one wound up giving results as a function of the number of sheets of paper between the magnet and the material being attracted to it, and that was using a quite strong magnet from a hobby shop. This also wound up shooting a magnet rather violently across the living room, with one of the early experimental designs–trying to use the extension of a spring as a measure of the force the magnet could exert. I don’t really recommend this one, although it can be sort of fun and informative.</p>
<p>Another interesting one, if you have a small solar cell, that can generate a voltage or current. (Toy store science kits containing these can be found.) Try shielding the cell with photographer’s filters of various colors, or cellophane of various colors, and look at the cell’s output. This suffers a bit from the fact that you don’t generally know the sun’s output in different wavelength ranges (until a high level of science course), and you also need to devise some way to figure out how much the different filters reduce the intensity of light at the wavelengths they do pass. But it is kind of interesting also, and relevant to solar energy.</p>
<p>Another one, if you can do it safely: Repeat the Galileo experiment, using balls of different types (billiard ball, baseball, tennis ball), dropped from the top of a football stadium and recorded on videotape. You need someone to keep people out of the landing area, and you need permission to go to the top of the stadium, as well as a stadium design that permits dropping things (safely) from the top. Repeat: Safety is the first consideration with this project. Don’t take any risks, if trying it. However, if it’s possible to execute, you may find some interesting results.</p>
<p>abasket; my sympathies…I hated the Science fairs. My D & S did them in 4th & 5th grades, so projects a little less complicated.
D did “does the color of oil determine it’s density”, using 3 different colors of olive oil in tall cylinders, bean and stop watch.</p>
<p>My push-the-envelope S, (possibly giving me hints of things to come), did mathmatical
probability projects: When rolling dice, what’s the best number to bet on? He rolled it 100 times, graphed it, done. He followed up the next year with probabilities of poker hands, which required him and a few friends (“we need to work on science fair project!”) to play numerous hands of poker…oy vey.</p>
<p>No surprise that he’s planning on Vegas for his 21st…</p>
<p>One more general thought: A big issue with the science projects locally is that they are required to be hypothesis-driven. The requirement is tied with the state’s science standards–all experiments begin with a hypothesis. This does not exactly apply to all of the science done in my department (unless the hypothesis “I think I can get a publication out of this” would count). All of the projects mentioned could have hypotheses connected with them, in a quantitative form–e.g., I think the cups containing Coke will leak sooner than the ones containing water (or something even more quantitative). But in some cases, the best hypotheses would be formed after playing around with the materials for a while.</p>