Looking for Science Fair Project Ideas

1. Science Fair Project Ideas for High School Students
Science Fair Projects are a good way through which students learn about science and it is so much
fun. Science fair is also a great platform to showcase a child’s creativity, talent and interest in
science. Learning science can never be so much fun than a science fair.
Here are some ideas for Science Fair Projects.
Magnetic Accelerator: Magnetism is one of the very interesting topics in physics. And we are all
surrounded by magnets all of the time. Right from the motor in the ceiling fan to the speaker in your
iPhone or headsets, magnets are everywhere. You could make a simple magnetic accelerator with
simple items. All you are going to need are few neodymium magnets, steel ball bearings 5/8 “ in
diameter, a wooden scale, a glue tape and a hobby knife. Make few holes on the scale with the
hobby knife and beside those holes put the magnets and secure them tightly with the glue tape.
Now place the ball bearings on the holes. Now, just release one of the bearings from one side
towards the magnet and you’ll notice that a chain reaction occurs and the other bearings will move
forward in opposite directions and finally the last ball bearing will fly off from the scale. This happens
because of the potential energy stored in the ball bearings is being converted into kinetic energy and
they are being transferred through the magnets.
Source: Education.com
Simple Motor: You can easily make a simple motor with very basic things that you can find at home.
The items that you need include a battery, a large strand of naked copper wire, a piece of magnet, a
couple of safety pins and some glue tape. Make a loop out of the copper wire leaving behind an inch
of wire to spare on each end. Now stick the safety pins to the battery on both terminals with the
glue tape. Now place the magnet on the battery and insert the ends of the copper wire into the
loops of the safety pins. As soon as you do this, the loop of copper wire starts to rotate and there
you have it. The world’s simplest motor. The motor is working because the loop of copper wire
becomes an electromagnet thanks to the electricity passing through it. We know that magnets
attract and repel unlike and like poles respectively. So the motor rotates.

2. Source: billabbott.wordpress.com
Simple Electric Generator: Now that you’ve made a motor, it’s also easy enough to make your own
generator, at least a simple one. As you might know, the things that go into making a generator are
more or less the same that make a motor. All you need are naked or enamelled copper wire, bar
magnets preferably, an LED bulb, few recycled pet bottles, wood or cardboard frame. First you need
to wound the copper wire into close loop with at least 200 turns. You should do 4 loops like this with
at least 4-5 inches of gap between each loop. Then you need to carefully place these loops and tape
them so that they don’t move. You’d need 4 strong magnets that need to be attached to a disk at 4
places on a disk. Now, you attach a vertical axis wind turbine made from recycled pet bottles. Make
sure to connect the two ends of the copper wire to the LED bulb. So that when the generator is
running, the bulb lights up.
Source: Green Wind Energy.net

3. The Double Slit Experiment: Double Slit Experiment is one of the mysteries in quantum mechanics
and many scientists have been trying to answer the question for so many years now. You can try this
experiment for your science fair. All you need are simple things. A laser pointer, an aluminium foil, a
hobby knife and a large sheet of white paper for projection. Take the aluminium foil and mark two
small lines on them. Make one slit on one of the lines and 2 slits on the other line. Make sure that
the 2 lines in the 2nd line are very close to each other. You might have to use a magnifying glass while
making the slits. Arrange the laser on a stand so that it is stationery. Also, spread the blank sheet of
paper behind the experiment. This sheet will act as the screen. Now, turn off the lights and point the
laser through the 1st line with 1 slit. You’ll see that the laser will easily pass through the single slit
and on the screen as a single point of light. But, when you let the laser pass through the double slit,
one might imagine two separate points of light or only one point of light. Instead, the light is
scattered across the screen just like a wave, with maximum points of light at the centre and rest of
them scattered, of course in a straight line.
Source: grad.physics.sunysb.edu
Wind Tunnel: Wind Tunnel is another very good experiment that you could do for a science fair
project. Wind tunnel is basically used for testing various vehicles ranging from sports cars to
airplanes, fight jets to space shuttles to check how efficiently they can fly. All you need are simple
things that mostly can be found at home. You need 2 – 3 recycled large pet bottles, a PC exhaust fan
which runs off on 12 volts, things that you can place inside the wind tunnel such as a toy jet, an
airplane or a toy car which can be placed inside the bottle wind tunnel. In order to place them inside
the wind tunnel, you need to make a hole large enough to let these things easily slip through. For
making this wind tunnel, first you need to cut off the narrow neck where you are left with only the
uniform sized pipes out of the bottle. Cut off both ends of the bottles and join them one after the
other. On one end attach the PC exhaust fan and connect it to a power source. If you let smoke from
an incense stick to pass through the wind tunnel, then you can see that how streamlined and how
much drag things can have.

4. Source: Science First.com
Sugar Crystallization: Sugar is one of the most common things that you can find in any home you
can think of. Its almost universal and you might be surprised to see a home without sugar. This
experiment is also very simple but it can give a deep understanding about how sugar crystals form.
For this experiment, you need a cup of water and sugar. You’ll also need strings of different
materials including wool, cotton, nylon, polyester, etc. First, you need to put sugar in the water and
boil so that all the sugar melts and has a soup like consistency. Pour the sugar solution into a clean
and clear jar. Taka a pencil and tie each of the strings and dip them in the sugar solution so that they
are completely immersed in it. Leave the solution for 1-2 days. After 1-2 days, pull out the strings
and check which string has more sugar crystals have accumulated on it and share your results.
Source: My Suitcase Full of Tricks
Latent Fingerprint Lifting: We all know that every one of us have different and unique finger prints
and this is used by police and crime scene investigators to catch the culprits. But, can we lift
fingerprints off of a surface just like the police, of course without any chemicals involved? Yes, we
can do that and surprisingly, it is very simple. All you need is a bottle of baby powder, a very smooth
brush and a pair of latex hand gloves. Ask anyone to hold something like a bottle. And you can
identify the fingerprint after carefully dusting the bottle. You can compare the finger prints by taking
the fingerprints of the same person.

5. Source: Science Wonder How To.com
Organic Vs non-organic: Here’s one experiment that you might want to take up for this year’s
science fair. This is a test of how different organic and non-organic dairy products taste like. Firstly,
the difference between these two is that non-organic farmers give their cattle a growth hormone
which increases milk production and organic farmers do not use any kind of growth stimulating
hormones. You can find the result with a simple experiment. All you need to do is to get 1 quart of
organic and non-organic milk each, ½ a pound of organic and non-organic cheddar cheese and ½ a
pound of organic and non-organic yogurt, 2 litres of distilled water and a bunch of napkins. Label,
each of the items with a number so that only you can tell the difference between them. Ask 10
people to volunteer for this experiment (5 boys and 5 girls). Also ask the people whether anyone of
them has an allergy of dairy products. If yes, then avoid those candidates. Ask each person to taste
the non-organic milk, cheese and yogurt and give them organic milk, cheddar and yogurt and ask
them about the difference in the taste. Note down the experience of each of the candidate. Also
make sure that every time a person tastes anything, before moving ahead with the next item, ask
the person to take a drink of the distilled water to clear his or her mouth of the taste being left
behind. Thus, you can conclude from the experiment which dairy product tastes better in
comparison.
Source: Front Porch News Texas.com
Seed Germination: Seed germination is another experiment that you might want to try for your
science fair. As we know, there are different types of soil and each of the type has its own qualities,
advantages and disadvantages. You can design a small experiment to show which soil is ideal for
seed germination and growth. You could collect samples of different soils from your local nursery
such as sandy soil, silty soil, clay soil, peaty soil, loam soil, etc. Collect at least 2 cups of each of these
soil types, put them in pots of pet bottles. Place seeds of a single species in each of the bottles and
water them regularly. Check the growth of all the plants and you can easily determine seeds from

6. which bottle have germinated and which have not or which are growing rapidly or whose growth has
been slowed down. Make sure to note all these details to be given out during demonstration.
Source: In Tech Open.com