Elementary Project Abstracts

Abstracts are sorted alphabetically by category. Jump to the start of a particular category by clicking a category link below.

Behavioral & Social Sciences
Biology, Microbiology, & Genetics
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Civil & Energy Engineering
Computer Science & Applied Computational Methods
Environmental Sciences & Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Biomedical Engineering & Health Technologies
Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Medicine & Health Sciences
Physics, Astronomy & Math
Plant Sciences

Is This A Good Decision?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Do you find it difficult to make decisions? Have you ever wondered whether or not age affects your decision ability? For this experiment I tested three primary age groups and how long it takes for them to make both imaginary and real-life decisions.

Aba With Cats

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

In this project I use ABA to try to teach my cats to do tricks. ABA is applied behavioral analysis. It is using a reinforcer to change a behavior. I did 14 trials, changing each a little bit in order to train them to jump through a hoop. I was successful in teaching one cat and I think I could have eventually taught the other to jump through a hoop. This proves that even cats are trainable if you find the right reinforcers.

Do Dogs Have Dominant Paws Like Humans Do Hands

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

I am left handed, and sometimes have to adapt to things meant for right handed people, so it's something I think about a lot. I am also a huge dog lover and have two of my own at home. That's why I decided to try to figure out if dogs have a dominant paw like humans do. My hypothesis was that they would have a dominant hand. The reason I thought they would came from watching my own dogs at home. They seem to use the same paw each time they hold their bone to the ground to chew, or when I ask them to shake. I came up with 5 tests that I thought would help me see if dogs would use the same paw for each task, or different paws. I did the tests on 7 different dogs. My own 2 dogs, and 5 that belong to friends and family members. There were many different ages and different breeds in my group of test dogs. Out of the 7 dogs I tested, all had a dominant paw except one, and most of them were left-handed just like me. My hypothesis was correct!

How Does Sugar Affect The Sweetness Of Cupcakes

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

We used different sweeteners (honey, cane sugar, granulated sugar, brown sugar, powdered) to see which sweetener was the sweetest. We tested our class and our church group, got twenty paper results that we could use, and put the results on the graphs of our board. Our process is that we are going mix the butter and sweetener in a bowl, then is a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder. In the first bowl mix the vanilla extract and the eggs and while mixing add flour mixture and buttermilk then bake and let cool.

Bird Buffet

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

My project is about birds and what they like to eat. I chose this topic because I really like birds and I see a lot of them around my house. I thought it would be fun to see what birds like, and don’t like to eat, so I set up an experiment in my back yard. I have a mixed bag of seeds that I use in a bird feeder so that gave me the idea to separate the seeds onto plates and feed them to the birds to see which seeds they like best. The birds I studied were called house finches, they are native to salt lake, and are always in my back yard.

Leaky Pipeline? Analyzing Female Participation In The University Of Utah Science And Engineering Fair

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

I noticed that a lot of girls participate in the science fair at my school. This year, 58% of participants in Cottonwood Elementary's STEM fair were female. But according to the World Economic Forum, women make up just 28% of the workforce in STEM fields. This phenomenon is known as the “leaky pipeline”: where the number of women in a field decreases at each stage of their education and career. My project examined whether there is a leaky pipeline at USEF. I collected data from my elementary school, Olympus Junior High, Olympus High School and the University of Utah to develop my hypothesis. Then I used publicly available data on USEF's website as well as data requested from USEF to analyze participation by females in the elementary, junior, and senior divisions. I used a Z-test to understand the statistical significance. I found that prior to the pandemic in 2020, more females than males participated in both the elementary and junior and senior divisions. However, in the years following the pandemic, I found evidence of a leaky pipeline: more females participated in the elementary division, but more males participated in the junior and senior divisions.

Does Color Affect Taste?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

My project is about how our senses work together. To test this I had my classmates taste colored sugar water. I then determined how if someone saw the color how it changed their perception of the flavor. After analyzing my results I found that 50% of my classmates thought yellow was the sweetest. There are so many other variables that could impact this study. There is so much more to learn about his topic.

Sleep Study

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

How does sleep influence our mood, reflexes, and ability to solve problems? Through gathering data and observing trends, patterns of sleep have interesting correlations.

Sleep Time Slayer

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

My project is how screen time can affect your sleep. I was interested in this because my mom tells me I can't have screens in my room and at night and I wondered why. My hypothesis was that I think that more screen time closer to bed will cause you to have worse sleep, but less screen time will cause you to have better sleep. I tried to have classmates monitor their screen time and in some cases limit it before bed. No one turned that in and so I had to try something else. I created a google survey and sent it to as many people as I could and got 31 responses. When I collected that data I realized my questions were incomplete so the data I collected did not support my hypothesis. If I continued with this project I would change my survey asking more detailed questions about screen use, age, and more about sleep patterns. I believe if the right complete data is collected it would prove that my hypothesis was correct.

How Does The Key Of Music Affect Feelings

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

My project is about how the key of music, major key and minor key affect how someone feels. I transposed a song that was in major key to minor key. To test my theory I played both songs and let the participants rate how they were feeling on my survey.

Marathon Manicure

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

For our science project, we tested 10 different nail polishes to see which one lasted the longest without chipping. Each nail polish was applied to a different finger so they could all be tested at the same time under the same daily conditions, like washing hands, writing, and regular activities.

Over several days, we observed each finger and recorded when the polish started to chip or wear off. This helped make the experiment fair because every polish experienced the same use.

The outcome of this project was to clearly identifying which nail polish lasted the longest and which chipped the fastest. This showed that careful observation and comparison helped answer real-world questions. It also could help people choose stronger nail polish and teaches how experiments can be used to test everyday products.

Homework Or Stresswork? A Study Of How Homework Effects Kids

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Research shows that a majority of students grades k-12 have homework. Homework has been shown to have physical, mental, and emotional impacts. For my project, I researched how homework affects kids using survey data. I hypothesized that higher grade and increased homework would decrease how much kids liked school. To measure this, I created and distributed a survey to 21 students grades k through highschool and had them complete it. Students were split into four grade brackets- k-2, 3-5, middle school, and high school. Survey responses were coded to numeric values to find averages and percentages. I found that, on average, students have <1-2 hours of homework daily and 1-3 hours weekly, with older students having more homework on average. My hypothesis was mainly supported. I found that positive responses to homework decreased from elementary to later grades. Additionally, negative responses toward returning to school after summer break increased with grade, with middle schoolers having the most negative responses. In future research, I would like to understand how parents and teachers feel about homework. I would also like to examine the physical impacts of homework on students.

What Colored Light And Type Of Music Attract Fish?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

This year I’m charting which colored light and type of music attract fish best. I’ll set up a simple fish tank with rocks and plants and introduce fish to get comfortable with the tank. Once the fish have settled in I’ll separate the tank into two zones and put one colored light at a time into one side of the tank, then chart how many fish go to that color at 1-10 minutes. After I finish with all the colored lights I will move on to music and repeat the project. In my charting I will be able to see which colored light and/or music attract the fish best. My hope is that my research can help scientists attract fish and other aquatic life to safe places, and places they are needed.

Inclusión Educativa

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

This project aims to assess students' understanding of educational inclusion.
Based on surveys and short questions, I was able to confirm that many are unaware of the importance of educational inclusion and the benefits of implementing it for students, in order to create a healthier, more enjoyable, and productive educational environment.

Ai Generated Or Real?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Project was to test adults ability to recognize AI generated images from real photographs. Ten real photographs and ten AI generated images were collected and put into a survey. After each image, people needed to select whether they believed it was real or AI. The survey was completed online by 86 adults and the results were analyzed. 74% of people were able to correctly identify AI generated images and 92% of people correctly identified the real photos.

Do Brown Apples Taste Bad? (If So, Can We Slow The Browning?)

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Purpose:
1.The purpose of my experiment is to see if browning affects the taste of sliced apples.
2. Then I plan to show the best way to prevent browning in sliced apples and preserve the natural color.
Conclusion:
In the beginning my hypothesis was that my subjects would not like the taste of brown apples. But 71% of my subjects liked the taste of the brown apple slices. This suggests it’s not the brown color that people don’t like. But all subjects mentioned noticing the change in the texture and finding it much less appetizing. So, I conclude that it’s actually the change in texture that everyone dislikes so much. I researched way to prevent browning. I learned about oxidation. And I tested different methods to prevent browning. I learned that I really should be looking for ways to prevent the texture from changing. Perhaps next year my science project will focus on ways of preventing the texture change in sliced apples!

Human Behavior: Identifying Ai Images

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

The purpose of this experiment was to identify if age impacted how people perceived AI images. Subjects of different ages were shown various images, then asked to determine if the images were real or AI generated.

Flavor Savor Remix

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Does music affect your taste in food? I wondered if certain music affects the taste of food. I used my mom’s Hawaiian dinner rolls with my test subjects. Each person was blindfolded with headphones. I played 5 different genres of music as they ate a piece of a roll—rock, pop, jazz, rap & classical. Subjects were expected to fast from all other outside audio or visual influences as well as food. Conclusively, music did affect the taste based on music preferences for each subject. In general, rap tasted sour, rock was tasteless, pop tasted sweet, classical tasted salty and jazz tasted ‘berry-flavored’.

Variables In Hiking Patterns Of Dogs And Humans

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

I conducted an experiment to find out who walks the furthest during a hike in the foothills--my dogs, Junie and Fern, or me. I used GPS to track the distances traveled for each dog and person. I hypothesized that Fern would walk the furthest and both dogs would stay closer to me when the weather was colder. After tracking our twelve hikes, my hypothesis was only partially correct. While the dogs went further than I did, Junie actually went furthest, usually more than Fern.
On average, the dogs traveled 3.887 miles during hikes, which lasted about 75 minutes with an average temperature of 39.5°. I also tracked other factors, such as their meal times and whether they went on walks the previous day, to see if they made a difference. The main variable that was related to a change in their distance was temperature—on colder days the ratio of their distance in relationship to me was less. In my experiment, I found that even though dogs love to explore, how far they actually go depends on their own personalities and environmental factors.

Lead Pollution In Thrift Stores

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

How does the economic status of a neighborhood affect the amount of lead traces in common household items? Lead is a common household toxin and research shows there is no safe level of lead exposure. My hypothesis is that wealthier neighborhoods will have more lead-containing items in their thrift store. I selected 3 stores in local neighborhoods by income level, and tested multiple items from various categories of items for the presence of lead.

Social Media On Kids

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Hello my name is Sofia Sanchez, I am in 6th grade and my project title is Social Media On Kids
My science experiment is if social media is good for kids. For this experiment I had a test subject tell me on a scale of 1 to 10 how much anxiety and stress they experienced. Then I used that data for my board. I did this experiment because I was very interested (before the experiment) how social media can possibly affect our lives. Thank you, and have a nice day!

How School Strategies Affect School Proficiency

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

The main question of this project is do school strategies change the scores on state tests.

We took these five strategies by Roland Fryer to help create our survey:
1. Frequent teacher feedback,
2. Data-Driven Instruction,
3. High-Dosage Tutoring,
4. Increased Instructional Time,
5. Culture of High Expectations.

Our hypothesis at the start of this project was: School Strategies do influence 5th Grade Math Learning.

We received 25 responses out of 90 surveys sent, from 10 high performing, 7 Average performing, and 8 low performing schools.

In our responses the average of all questions for high performing schools is 3.84 and low performing schools is 3.59. The difference between the two is 0.25.
This shows that high performing schools have an overall better score than low performing schools. The strategies that had the highest difference in between the high performing and low performing schools were culture of high expectations (0.54), frequent teacher feedback (0.40), and high dosage tutoring (0.29).

We found our results promising and workable, but we didn’t get the number of responses we wanted. The results are not enough to draw a solid conclusion.

Spelling With Beethoven: Can Music Trigger Memory Retrieval?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

My hypothesis was that students who listen to classical music while studying will demonstrate a higher recall accuracy if that same music is played during the testing phase, compared to students who study in silence. The experiment utilized laptops, headphones, a loudspeaker, and Beethoven's Fur Elise. Participants were randomly assigned to Group A (Music) or Group B (Silence) using shuffled instruction sets. Group A studied a list of 20 spelling words for five minutes while listening to the music on headphones, while Group B studied in silence. After the study period, all sheets were collected and replaced with answer sheets. During the test, Fur Elise was played over a loudspeaker for everyone while I read the spelling words aloud. To ensure objectivity, an independent grader scored the tests. The results showed a clear difference between the groups. Group B participants spelled a total of 54 words correctly, for an average of 4.15 words per person. In contrast, Group B spelled 44 words correctly, for an average of 3.67 words per person. Group A had a higher average of words correct per person, spelling .48 more words correct (or 11.6% more) than Group B. In conclusion, the participants who studied with music were able to recall more words correctly than those who studied in silence. This suggests that classical music can be a helpful study tool, especially when the same music is played during the moment of recall.

What’s That Smell?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

My project is about how a dog uses it’s nose to detect things. The main focus was to test my dog’s nose/sense of smell and see how different scents would make her react. I expected the antler and feather to be the fastest recorded time. To my surprise, my least expected scent, which was new to the dog, was the fastest at one second and 35 milliseconds. The new scent was lavender, and the dog went crazy for this scent! It makes me wonder, if a dog was well trained, how fast would the dog find a jacket or a kidnapped person in danger.

Is It Real Or Ai?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

As AI advances, it is important for people to be able to discern if an image is real or fake. We had almost 200 people of varying ages complete a quiz identifying real from AI images. We analyzed the results to see if age was correlated with ability to discern real images from AI images. When we took out the data from people under the age of 20 (because kids under 10 did the worst), we found that on average by decade, as age increased the scores decreased. People in their 20's did the best with an average score of 9.17 and people in their 70's did the worst with an average score of 6.83.

Using Machine Learning To Detect Psychological Stress From Text

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

If a computer analyzes anonymous text messages, then it can find patterns that may show
different levels of emotional stress, which can help raise awareness about mental health
trends. Mental health stress and suicide risk are important problems today, but warning signs are
not always easy to notice. In this project, we study whether a computer can help identify
signs of stress using anonymous text data. First, all personal information is removed to
protect privacy. Next, a machine learning model examines the words and patterns in the
text to look for signs of emotional distress. The model does not diagnose people. Instead, it
gives a risk level—low, medium, or high. The results are studied as a group to understand
overall trends, not to identify individuals. The results show that machine learning can help identify general patterns related to
emotional stress in text data. While the model cannot diagnose mental health conditions, it
can support awareness and early understanding at a population level. This project
demonstrates how computer science can be used responsibly to study mental health while
respecting privacy and ethical limits.

Real Vs. A.I. Can You Tell The Difference?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

For more than 50 years, scientists have been trying to make a computer that has the same intelligence as humans. They have not been successful so far. Humans use different things to make decisions that a computer can't do like emotions, experiences, and imagination. In 1950, a mathematician named Alan Turing developed a test to measure a computer's intelligence. In 2025, some AI programs passed the Turing Test for the first time in history. A.I. is getting better all the time, but are we keeping up with it? For my project, I wanted to see if people could tell the difference between real photographs and A.I.-generated ones. My hypothesis was that it would be easier to tell A.I. images of people and animals easier than landscapes and plants because people and animals can show emotion. I created an online survey and sent it out to family and friends. The survey had 8 questions that each had a real photo and A.I. photo of the same thing side by side. People had to choose which image was the A.I. one. What I learned was surprising. People could distinguish A.I. photos about 67% of the time and the photos of people and landscapes were the easiest. I also learned that about 97% of people surveyed didn't feel confident in their ability to choose the correct A.I. picture. Since A.I. is so common, I think it's important that we start to learn how to distinguish what's real from what was generated by A.I.

Sight Vs. Taste

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Have you ever heard the quote you eat with your eyes? I wanted to find out if you really do eat with your eyes. So I did a project on site versus taste. I had volunteers try apple juice that was colored blue, red and purple. Then they guessed what flavor the juice was. Most of the volunteers did not guess apple juice. They guessed other flavors because of the color. I learned that sight does affect taste. Your eyes see the color of the drink and your brain associates the color with a flavor before you even taste it.

Dogs And Balls

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

This experiment was to study if dogs prefer a certain ball color no matter where the ball is placed. Based on research about dog vision, the hypothesis was that dogs would choose the blue ball more often than the red or yellow balls.

Seven dogs of different breeds participated in the experiment. Over six rounds, red, yellow, and blue balls were placed in different positions (left, center, and right). The number of times each ball color was chosen was recorded. Overall, the blue ball was chosen 23 times, yellow was chosen 10 times, and red was chosen 9 times.

Some dogs were not interested in balls that were stationary, which was not expected. To address this issue, the presentation of the balls was modified to be thrown at the same time so each dog could still make a clear choice. Even with this change, the blue ball continued to be chosen the most.

The results support the hypothesis that dogs prefer the blue ball regardless of its position. In the future, testing more dogs and a wider variety of breeds could help determine whether different breeds show different color preferences.

A Project Called 101

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

We tested which fabrics insulate best against the cold. We tested 4 fabrics, wool, cashmere, polyester, and faux fur, by wrapping a temperature sensor in each fabric, and leaving it in the fridge for 1 hour. We checked the temperature every 10 minutes, using a microbit that we coded to read the temperature from outside of the fridge. This allowed us to leave the fridge door closed, letting the temperature stay consistent for each test.

Put Your Peripherals To The Test

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

We tested to the peripheral vision to see if light and color would have an effect. We had 7 test subjects and used colored sticks in 3 different light settings. Each subject held up a big protractor to their nose, we moved the colored sticks around the protractor to see where they would detect them.

Soap, Signs & Science: Can Words Make People Wash Their Hands

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

The purpose of this science experiment was to find out if signs at a bathroom sink can change how many people wash their hands with soap. The main question was: Does the kind of sign at the bathroom sink change the percentage of people who wash their hands? My original hypothesis was that positive emotions increase people's expectations and behavior, so a positive message sign would cause the most people to wash their hands. To test this, I used different types of signs, including positive, negative, and image-based signs. People answered an anonymous yes-or-no question on a form before leaving the bathroom.

The results from the first trial showed that the positive message did not cause more handwashing than the other signs, so my original hypothesis was not supported. After the first trial, I changed the idea of the experiment. I decided to test whether having any sign at all was better than no sign. I compared days with no sign to days with a sign at the sink. The results showed that when there was no sign present, an average of 30% of people washed their hands. When signs were present, the average increased to 75%. This experiment shows that while the type of message may not matter, having a sign at the sink strongly increases handwashing behavior.

Screen Time And Mood

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

My science project was about screen time and how it affects your sleep and your daily mood. My hypothesis was that if participants use their phones within one hour before their bedtime, then they will be in a bad mood the next morning. I made a survey for ten participants to fill out throughout a sixteen-day-long study. The survey included questions like: how long before or past your bedtime were you on your phone, and how was your mood throughout the next day? I used a rating system to record participants' moods ranging from one to five. Five being the best and one being the worst mood. Participants with twenty and 690 minutes of screentime before bed both had the best mood the next day. This surprising results indicate that screen time does not affect mood.

Music's Effect On Dogs

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Discovering the type of music that helps dogs fall asleep faster can lead to significant health benefits. Some health benefits of music include reduced stress and anxiety, improved behavior and mood, and even helping with medical recovery. The choices of music are jazz, rock, pop, and country. This experiment was conducted to discover what type of music makes dogs fall asleep the fastest. It was proposed that jazz music would make my dogs fall asleep the fastest because of its calming rhythm and acoustic features. To test this, different genres of music were played for my dog while I observed which one she fell asleep the fastest to. In the end, I found that country music actually made my dog fall asleep the fastest. Therefore, my hypothesis was incorrect.

Do Video Games Cause Stress?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

I chose a particular theme for my project, “DO VIDEO GAMES CAUSE STRESS”, because every kid I know plays video games and their parents are often worried about if the video games are ok for them to play. I thought it would be interesting to find out how video games affect the heart rate of the person who is playing them. I chose to specifically focus on finding out if more intense, fast-paced video games can affect young children more than a typical game, and additionally if elderly people are affected more than children.

I performed my experiment at home by having participants play multiple rounds of different video games. I checked their resting heart rate before playing, and then checked their heart rate after playing to see how much their heart rate was impacted.Over the course of my experiment I encountered some difficulties, the youngest participants' heart rate dropped lower than it was before playing. This made it slightly harder to scale things, data that I collected showed that e-fitness does indeed have an impact on elderly people's heart rate because it gets them moving, and works their body.The conclusion that my experimenting and data put me at is that more complex games, and e-fitness games had a much more high effect on the elderly participants. And for the youngest participant, I saw that a game that isn’t supposed to be violent or intense, Super Mario Bros, had a pretty big effect on their heart rate.

From Jams To Exams

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

The main purpose of our project was to investigate which type of music best improves attention and focus during task performance. We compared four different auditory conditions: brown noise, classical music, annoying noise, and silence, which served as the control condition. A total of 64 participants completed an attention test designed specifically for this study to measure their level of concentration under each condition. After analyzing the results, we found that participants performed best while listening to classical music. Based on these findings, we recommend listening to classical music during study sessions or test-taking situations to enhance attention and overall performance.

Will Creator Interactions Result In Youtube Channel Growth?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

As a hopeful YouTube creator, I have been curious about what really works to increase views and subscribers. I watched some videos and read articles that told me that I need to engage with other creators to increase my own views.
I decided to create two channels with similar names, matching profile pictures and the same content posted on the same time. My control channel posted but did not view, comment, or subscribe on any other creator’s channels while my experiment channel engaged with other creators by viewing, liking and commenting on other videos and by subscribing to other channels.
In the end I found that it really does make a difference. Channels that engage with other creators have more views, likes and subscribers than channels that don’t.

You Read That How Fast?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

I wanted to know how age affects reading speed and I tested the hypothesis that people aged 13-39 would read out loud faster than people in other age groups. I did this by sending the same page to multiple people of different ages and having them time themselves as they read it. Then I calculated reading speed for each test subject and compiled and analyzed the data. Sorted by age, the reading speeds were higher (250 words per min) in the age group 13-39 than all other ages older and younger (193 average words per minute).

Ai Images Vs. Human Photography

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

This project is about what human age group can identify AI generated images the best. There were 26 participants with ages ranging from 5 years old to 81 years old. They were put into age categories, each one was 15 years. For example, there were the groups 0-15, 16-30 etc. ending with the group 76+. They took a test, the test had two images (one AI, the other real) and were asked to identify the one they thought was AI. The images were of the same general concept, such as a panda bear eating a piece of bamboo, or a rocky stream. There were 5 pairs of images, 5 real, 5 AI, 10 total. Each test was the exact same with the same images. Their answers showed the averages for each age group. The lowest average was the 46-60 group with an average of a 1.2 out of 5. The highest was the 31-45, they scored an average of 2.8 out of 5. The outcome differs slightly from my hypothesis. My hypothesis was that the age group 16-30 would do best because they are often exposed to AI for work and school.

Sus Suspect?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

My project aimed to explore and identify potential biases in eyewitness identification. By creating the website drawingconclusions.org I was able to interactively gather participants' demographics and compare them to 10 fictional "suspects" presented to them one at a time. Each participant had 10 total tasks. Each task was re-randomized for each participant. Five tasks would be presented as control experiments and 5 tasks would be presented as experiment tasks. The 5 control tasks (photos) were presented and participants were asked to describe them while looking at them. The 5 experiment tasks (photos) asked participants to study the photo, play a game of tic tac toe with the computer for 60 seconds, then describe the photo from memory. I was able to compare if things like age, gender, race, or time/distraction influenced the accuracy of responses. I was able to isolate potential biases and did confirmed much of my hypothesis. My project demonstrated the real risks in trusting eyewitnesses. In going forward I would like to ask young children (not part of this project) because I know they are often witnesses to crime and are asked to identify suspects. I would like to see how they compare in accuracy.

Does Practice Really Make Perfect?

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Does practicing splits and multiplication every day improve flexibility and multiplication fluency (dependent variable) over time? I am interested in this question because many people say that “practice makes perfect” and wanted to know if it is actually true. This question is meaningful to me because splits and multiplication are not my strongest skills. By investigating whether daily practice really leads to improvement, I hope to increase my knowledge and flexibility.

A pattern I noticed was that I did not perform better every day, but got significantly better over time. My evidence supports that repeated practice helps the body become more flexible by stretching muscles over time, and helps the brain become faster and more accurate by strengthening memory and recall through repetition. My final conclusion from this investigation is that practice does not make perfect, but it DOES make progress!

Exploring The Impact Of Social Media On Mental Health With Machine Learning

BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

This research project aims to explore the relationship between social media usage, mental health, and other contributing factors. Our hypothesis is that there is a significant negative correlation between the amount of time spent on social media and reported mental well-being, while factors such as social support, self-esteem, and healthy coping mechanisms will positively correlate with better mental health outcomes. We tested this by analyzing the data collected through a Google Form questionnaire.

Germ Ball

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

My brother plays basketball. When he comes home from basketball he doesn't wash or sanitize his hands. I wondered how many germs he is being exposed to at a basketball game. How many germs are on a basketball after a game? If I sanitize the ball before the game, then the ball will be cleaner at the beginning of the game than at the end of the game. While at home, I would boil water, let it sit and cool down for about 2 minutes; after I let it cool down, I would pour the water into a clean plastic container. Then I would take the petri dishes, and water to the basketball game. When I would get to the game, the ref or the coach would pick out a ball for them to use in the game. After I retrieved the ball, I would wipe it down with a Clorox wipe. Then I would dip the Q-tip in water and swabbed the ball. After swabbing the ball, I spread the bacteria from the ball onto the petri dish. Then my brother and the other basketball players played basketball with the wiped down ball. After the game I take the ball that they played with, dipped a Q-tip in water, and swabbed the ball. Then I took the bacteria on the basketball and spread it onto a different petri dish. Then I took both dishes to the incubator. Each petri dish got at least 5 days to grow bacteria. After the 5 days was up, I examined the petri dishes and saw that brother is exposed to a lot of germs during a game. The ball after the game had more bacteria than before the game.

Pitching It To Rover

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

Pitching it to Rover is a science project that explores if a dog’s physical size determines the pitch of its bark. Based on the physics of sound, I hypothesized that larger dogs would have lower-pitched barks because their larger bodies contain longer and thicker vocal cords, which vibrate at a lower frequency. To test this, I compared three different breeds: a small Pomeranian, a medium Labrador, and a large St. Bernard.
I collected audio recordings of each dog and analyzed them using a computer program to identify their musical keys and frequencies in Hertz (Hz). For the Pomeranian and St. Bernard, I ran three separate trials to ensure the data was consistent. My results showed that the large St. Bernard had the lowest average pitch at approximately 307 Hz, while the small Pomeranian was higher at 325 Hz. This part of the data supported my hypothesis that size affects sound.
However, the Labrador, which served as my medium-sized validation subject, was an unexpected outlier with the highest pitch of all at 440 Hz. This discovery showed that while body size is a major factor in determining a dog's voice, it is not the only variable. Factors like the dog's emotion, mouth shape, and energy level during the recording also play a role. Overall, this project proves that while the "rubber band rule" of physics generally applies to dogs, their unique personalities can create surprising "high notes" in the data.

5 Second Myth

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

My sister ate a gummy bear off the climbing gym floor. She yelled, “5-second rule!” It made me think, “What did she eat?”

I dropped gummy bears on their backs on two floors for different times. I dropped them for less than 1 second, 2 seconds, 5 seconds, and 10 seconds. Then I rubbed them on petri dishes and waited 8 days. As a control, I also tested gummy bears right out of the bag.

My hypothesis was that the longer the food was on the floor, the dirtier it would be and the grosser the petri dish.

I talked to biological scientist Alice Spear about how to do the experiment safely. I did the experiment in the Olympus Jr. High lab with the help of Ms. Brown.

To judge which dishes were dirtier, I rated them on coverage, amount of spots, and color. Then I averaged them to give them a score.

I made a graph of each round. I was expecting all the graphs to look like steps, meaning the longer the bears were on the floor, the dirtier they would be. One of my tests actually looked like that, but that’s why you run experiments multiple times, to make sure the results are consistent.

Some dishes with bears barely on the floor were super dirty, and some with bears on the floor for a long time were kinda clean.

In conclusion, even if food touches the floor for less than 5 seconds, it’s still dirty.

The Dark Mystery Of Eyes

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

We tested the amount of time it takes for an eye to fully dilate and how long I took to for a person to be able to read in the dark.

Fluffy Bird Feast

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

My project answers the question do certain species of birds prefer certain types of birdseed and why?
I tested out four different types of seed and observed the birds that ate each type.
Then I looked at what type of feeder the species is (ground forager or feeder birds) to see if the food matched where their food would be found.

Nature's Recyclers

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

My project was to learn how insects recycle organic matter and how they help the environment. I find insects fascinating and wanted to understand why they are important in nature. I created a habitat for 2 different species of isopods where I would watch and analyze how they interacted with their environment. Blueberries were my organics that I weighed and studied over the course of 20 days. I witnessed fungus, bacteria and even other tiny and unknown insects that appeared to help break down the blueberries. It was an amazing experience to watch nature in it's many forms work together to recycle and improve the world around it.

Do Types Of Food Have An Affect On Isopod Growth?

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

I wanted to see if feeding isopods different types of foods would affect their growth. I set up 3 experimental groups and 1 control group. For a base food, I provided each group with the same amount of leaves and wood. Then I added baby carrots, fish food, and isopod food to a different group. I took an initial mass of 5 isopods and then placed them in each container. Initially, all the groups lost mass, my project is ongoing and I predict that the group fed the isopod food would have the most growth in grams.

A Wrinkle In Time

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

This project began with a puzzling observation: raisins wrinkle when they dry out, but fingers wrinkle when wet. This led me to question why fingers wrinkle in water. Early scientists thought wrinkling happened because of osmosis. However, newer research shows wrinkling is caused by the nervous system and think that wrinkling might be an evolutionary response that helped early humans grip wet objects. Based on this idea, I wondered if fingers wrinkle at different speeds in different liquids. I hypothesized that fingers would wrinkle fastest in salt water and fresh water because those liquids are common in nature. I also thought fingers would wrinkle faster in oil because that could help with gripping fish. I predicted that fingers would wrinkle slowly in liquids like milk, vinegar, and sugar water because that would be less important to early humans gripping. To test this, I had three testers place fingers into 8 different liquids for 40 minutes. Every 2.5 minutes, they removed their hands, and I took photos. I organized the photos by time. Because wrinkling is hard to measure exactly, I used one liquid as a baseline and labeled photos as few, medium, or many wrinkles. I then compared other liquids to this baseline. The results were surprising. Fingers in vinegar wrinkled the fastest. This does not match the theory since early humans would not need to grip objects in vinegar. This made me wonder if finger wrinkling might be affected by pH levels which I would like to test next.

Chew On This: The Case Of The Missing Flavor.

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

We evaluate how long each spearment gum brand last.

Afterimage Phenomenon In Different Age Groups

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

Is there a difference between how long adults and kids see afterimages?
My hypothesis is that older people will see the afterimage longer than younger people because their eyesight is less strong.
My hypothesis was wrong. For shorter times, adults and kids basically saw the afterimage for the same amount of time. When looking for longer times, kids saw the image much longer.
This makes me think that the longer the eyes have to work, the cones in younger people might need more recovery time.
Afterimage time does not seem to be related to older eyes having more cone cell fatigue.

Testing The Best Food For Tardigrades In 109 Degree F Without Dying

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

This project investigates which type of food helps tardigrades, the tiny but incredibly tough “water bears” survive best when placed in very cold temperatures. We use tardigrades because they are famous for surviving extreme environments, including freezing, boiling, and even high levels of radiation, which most animals cannot survive. Their amazing toughness makes them excellent for studying how life might survive in outer space, where temperatures change quickly and radiation levels are very high. In our experiment, we fed different groups of tardigrades several food sources, including natural flora, algae and yeast, to see which provides the most energy and protection. Our hypothesis is that tardigrades fed natural flora will survive extreme temperatures better because natural flora is similar to what they eat in the wild. After feeding them, we exposed each group to cold conditions by keeping them in dry ice for 24 hours and observed how many survived. This project helps us understand how the right natural food can make even the toughest tiny animals stronger and better prepared for harsh environments on Earth and even in space.

Beverages Vs. Teeth

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

Testing the loss of tooth mass as they are submerged in various popular beverages.

Chicken Bedding What Insulator Is The Best?

BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, & GENETICS

The purpose of this experiment was to find out which type of chicken bedding keeps heat the best. Chickens need to stay warm, especially when it is cold outside, so the bedding in their coop is important. I tested three kinds of bedding: large pine flakes, small pine flakes, and straw. Before I started, I made a hypothesis. I thought the small pine flakes would be the best at holding heat because they are more compact and closer together than the other materials. I believed this would help trap the warmth better. To test this, I put each type of bedding in the same environment and measured how well they kept heat over time. I checked the temperature of each one and compared the results. This helped me see which material lost heat the slowest. After doing the experiment, I learned that one type of bedding worked better than the others. Even though I expected the small pine flakes to be the best, the results showed that the straw actually held heat longer. This experiment showed me how different materials can affect temperature and why choosing the right bedding can help keep chickens warm, healthy and have higher egg production.

The Power Of Fire Resistant Solutions

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY

This project tests four different inexpensive house-hold solutions impregnated into cotton fabric swatches in order to identify which dried solution longest resists combustion when held directly to an exposed flame. The first four test fabrics were soaked for one hour, and the second four were soaked for two hours. All were air dried completely prior to being exposed to open flames. A control piece of fabric was also tested.

The Great Pop Off: Oil Edition

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY

My project researched various cooking oils and their affect on popcorn's popping time, taste, and nutritional values.

Carbonation Competition

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY

The experiment was performed at the Delahunty home! The boys were finding out which liquid carbonated the fastest. They gathered dry ice in empty water bottles in which they added grape juice, apple juice, water and uncarbonated Coke. After the liquids became carbonated they shook them for 1 minute and watched the balloons fill up while catching the Co2. The conclusion was that water carbonated the most with the least additional minerals in its Chemical makeup allowing the least interference with the Carbonic Acid.

They also have pictures showing another fun experiment done in the Delahunty home. The sublimation of dry ice in water creating a gas/vapor and when put in soapy water it created a bubble that you could pop for fun!

“Ignite Your Science: The Ultimate Fire Starter Showdown!”

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY

Putting five homemade fire starters to the test. After attending a hunter’s education camp last summer, I wanted to see which fire starter would be best to pack when you are heading to the wilderness based on materials, size, weight, ease of lighting and the burn time. I made and tested each fire starter with to different ignition sources, a lighter and a magnesium fire rod starter. Used a stopwatch to time the burn time.

Manicure Marathon

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY

My project is called Manicure Marathon. I wanted to find out which nail polish brand lasts the longest. I tested three nail polish brands by painting each one on a different fingernail, using the same application process.

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY

For my first science fair project, I wanted to see which dark beer makes the best beer bread. Beer bread rises because of the carbonation in the beer. I was curious if different dark beers would change how the bread looks and tastes.

I tested three kinds of dark beer: a stout, a brown ale, and a bock. I used the same recipe each time and baked the loaves the same way so it would be fair. The only thing I changed was the type of beer. I measured how tall each loaf was and looked at the color and texture inside. I also had adults taste small pieces and rate the flavor.

I thought the stout would make the darkest bread and maybe have the strongest flavor. After comparing the results, I was able to see how different ingredients can change how baked goods turn out.

Water Temperature And Sugar

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY

Title: water temperature and sugar

Research Question:how does water temperature affect how fast sugar dissolves?

Hypothesis:if the temperature of water is higher then sugar will dissolve faster because heat molecules are spreaded and it gives space to the sugar to move around.

Materials: water (237 ml per cup)
Sugar ( 2 table spoons per cup)
Cups(3)
Thermometer ( to measure the temperature of water)

CIVIL & ENERGY ENGINEERING

This project explores how chemical energy stored in lemons can be converted into electrical energy and used to power a small electrical volt. If you take two different metal electrodes in my case a galvanized screw and a copper penny and insert them into each lemon, the acidic juice acts as an electrolyte.

Because a single lemon produces only about 0.8–1.0 volts and a very small current, you need multiple lemons to increase the total voltage and electrical current. The combined electrical output then creates voltage to the level required to operate a 3-watt light bulb. The bulb demonstrates how electrical energy can be transformed into light energy.

The project shows the concepts such as electrochemical reactions, voltage and current, and energy conversion. While lemons are not a practical power source for high-power devices, this experiment demonstrates how electricity can be generated from chemical reactions.

The Strongest Bridge

CIVIL & ENERGY ENGINEERING

I want to build a bridge and I want to find out which type of bridge is the strongest. At first I made a really simple bridge. It had very little support on the bottom. It was weak and really bendy. To help with support on the second bridge( the arch bridge) I made a bottom part to help it stand up better. It had support but not enough to hold up very much past 8 pounds. On my last model I made a truss bridge with a ton of support and layers and structural details.
I found after making 3 types of brides the simple , the arch bridge and the truss bridge. That bridges need structural details and lots of support on the bottom. To hold enough weight for people to cross. That is the job of a bridge. My family was recently driving next to a bridge that the city is making in salt lake and the design was similar to the truss bridge I made.

Which Bridge Holds The Most Weight?

CIVIL & ENERGY ENGINEERING

My project is "which bridge holds the most weight". For this project I decided to build bridges out of popsicle sticks. After studying different bridge designs, I chose three designs that would be easiest to build using popsicle sticks. I decided to build a beam bridge, a cable stayed bridge, and a truss bridge. Next, I built three different bridges and tested them using weights at 3-pound intervals. After the first round of testing, I did a redesign on the beam and cable stayed bridges. I researched different building techniques and learned about I-beams, which are common in bridge building due to a high strength to weight ratio. My redesigned beam bridge used I-beams in the construction, and it held significantly more weight. My redesigned cable stayed bridge added an additional cable, however it did not hold much more weight than the initial design. It was very difficult to get the cables tight, I think this is why there was minimal difference in the weight the two bridges held. I did not do a redesign of the truss bridge because the initial design was so effective I did not feel it would be safe for me to test a stronger bridge. One of the main limitations of my project was finding straight popsicle sticks, most of the sticks we had at my house were not perfectly flat which could have made the bridges uneven.

Which Bridge Is The Best?

CIVIL & ENERGY ENGINEERING

This project investigated which type of bridge design is the strongest and able to hold the most weight. The students built ten small bridge models using different materials and engineering styles, including truss, plank/beam, accordion, and true arch bridges. Each bridge was constructed to the same size so the test would be fair. Pennies (coins) were used as weights to measure how much load each bridge could support before bending or collapsing.

CIVIL & ENERGY ENGINEERING

Hurricanes and tornadoes have a significant impact on a lot of places in the U.S.A., resulting in nearly 35% property damage from tornadoes and hurricanes yearly. Architects have used many different techniques to create stable shelter for humans and animals. To address this problem, I constructed a house prototype based on different established house architectural designs, which could provide effective shelters in hurricane-prone areas.

Ai Tomato Dr

COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS

Have you ever wondered if a computer could be as smart as a doctor, but for plants? That's what I wanted to find out! Tomatoes are super important because people eat them all over the world, but they can get really sick from diseases and bugs. The problem is that a lot of these sicknesses look almost the same, so it's hard to tell what's wrong—even for farmers who have been growing tomatoes for years.

I thought maybe I could train an AI (that's artificial intelligence, like a computer brain) to look at pictures of tomato leaves and figure out what's wrong with them. My hypothesis was that if I trained the AI with labeled photos, it would get at least 80% right on new pictures it had never seen before.
I used a free website called Google Teachable Machine to train my AI to recognize six different things: healthy leaves, Curl Virus, Mosaic Virus, Spider Mites, Tomato Blight, and Leaf Mold. Then I tested it with 36 new pictures.

Guess what? It worked! My AI got 88.9% correct, which is even better than I predicted! It was perfect at identifying healthy leaves, Spider Mites, and Mosaic Virus. But it had a harder time with Leaf Mold because it looks a lot like other diseases.
I learned that AI can really help farmers find plant problems faster, which could save lots of food and help feed more people!

Mirabilite Formation Temperature & Humidity

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Mirabilite mounds are an extremely rare phenomenon found near the Great Salt Lake. The question in this project was: How do humidity and temperature affect the growth of mirabilite mounds? I hypothesized that suitable temperatures and humidities will make the mounds dehydrate slower, or grow faster. I did two experiments. The first experiment was mound observation, where I went to the Great Salt Lake State Park and recorded the dimensions of the actual mounds six times, once a week. During the first three weeks, when the temperature was -5℃ to 5℃, the mounds grew faster. Once the temperature rose to 5℃ to 15℃, the mounds began to dehydrate and shrink. The second experiment was completed at home. Six mirabilite crystals were made, and placed in different temperatures and humidities. After 72 hours of observation, the crystals with higher temperatures (> 20℃) or lower humidities had dehydrated, while the crystals with cold (~ 4℃) or humid conditions remained intact. Both experiments showed that mirabilite formation and growth is highly related to temperature and humidity. The mounds grow best when the temperature is around 0℃, and the humidity is relatively high. As a result, my hypothesis was correct.

Rock Weathering: Freeze Thaw Cycles

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Red sandstone in the desert. Granite cliffs in the Wasatch. Utah's rocks make it special. We want to understand how weather affects them. For this experiment, we looked at how cycles of freezing and thawing affect the mass of rocks with different porosity. We used samples of porous limestone and dense granite. Our hypothesis was that freeze-thaw cycles would reduce the mass of both rocks but that the effect on the porous limestone would be larger. We weighed treatment and control rocks at the start and finish of the experiment and during each of six freeze-thaw cycles to observe changes in mass. We submerged the treatment rocks in tap water, froze them overnight, and thawed them in the morning. For each cycle, we weighed the treatment rocks wet after thawing and again after about two hours of drying. The experiment had two main findings. 1. The porous limestone was always heavier wet than dry but the dense granite showed little to no change in wet versus dry mass. 2. The limestone lost slightly more mass (more than 1% of its original mass) than the granite (less than 1% of its original mass). The experiment confirms the hypothesis. Since porous rocks absorb more water, we think that the freeze-thaw cycles do more damage to them, resulting in greater loss of mass.

Vortex Velocity

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Vortexes form when a liquid or gas rotates in a circle. an example of a vortex would be the mini whirlpools you might see going down the drain of a bathtub or sink. This can happen because of how the drain is shaped. My science experience purpose was to determine if different liquids have an effect on the drain speed on a vortex in a bottle. I used 3 different liquids, tap water, soda, and salt water. Each time I’d move the bottles in a circle motion to get in going. I’d then observe the vertex and time how long it took for the liquid to drain into the bottom bottle. My hypothesis was that the salt water would drain fastest because the salt would make it heavier and bring it down faster. I was surprised to find that my hypothesis was incorrect! The results showed that liquids I used don’t have much of an effect on the drain speed of a vortex in a bottle. I think this was because of the air core since this was pretty much the same in each test.

The Effects Of Ai Music On Plants

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

I wanted to study the effects of AI music vs human generated music vs no music on plants. My hypothesis was that the plant that had AI music played for it would grow the most.

I started my experiment with three of the same plant pots and filled them each with even amounts of soil and two basil seeds each. They received the same amount of sunlight as well as water, and the experiment was done over several weeks.

Music was played for Plants #1 and #2 two times a week on Mondays and Fridays for 5 minutes at a time. Plant #1 (Tay-Leaf-Swift) had “Long Live” by Taylor Swift played for it. For Plant #2 (Leaf-Zart), I had AI tools generate a song called “Basil’s Serenity” that I played for it. Plant #3 (Elph-Leaf-Ba) was my control group, and it was not exposed to any music.

Every Monday and Friday I counted the leaves on each of the three plants and recorded my results. At the end of the experiment, I found out that my hypothesis was incorrect. The plant that had human-generated music played for it grew the most.

Wind Vs Water: Which Resource Generates More Voltage? By: Noah Carpio & Chris Waseme

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Our Objective: Our team wanted to see which produces more electricity, a windmill or a water mill. We predicted water would win because it is heavier than air.
Our Methods: We used a turbine attached to a multimeter and a DC motor. To keep it fair, we used a 1/2 inch hole for both air and water and kept the nozzle 1 foot away. We tested a leaf blower against a milk jug. To improve our results, we then used a 7-foot PVC pipe to increase the water's "head pressure."
Our Results: The leaf blower produced 1.72V because it was very fast (100mph). The milk jug only produced 0.98V. With the 7-foot pipe, the water speed increased, and the electric output rose to 1.33V.
Our Conclusion: The wind won because the leaf blower was much faster than our water. We learned that although water is denser, velocity is the most important factor for voltage. To beat the wind, we would need an even taller pipe (approx. 20 ft).

Let It Snow

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

My project started with me wondering why all snowflakes are different. My research led me using a borax solution as a substitute for actual snowflakes to see how supersaturation levels, temperature, and particle shape all influence the formation of a snowflake.

Does Elevation Change The Air You Breathe?

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Salt Lake City has relatively bad air quality. It is ranked 9th in the US for ozone pollution and 7th for particle pollution according to the American Lung Association's State of the Air Report in 2025.
I wanted to find out if the air quality does get better the higher you get, because you are above the low enclosed valley and pollution can become trapped at lower elevations. Therefore, I measured the air quality index (AQI) at my house and at my school (Morningside Elementary School) and then at 4 different points on a hike up the mountain (Jack's Peak Trail). I used a Quingping Air monitor to measure the AQI.
My results show that air quality does get better with an increase in elevation.

Gravity Water Wheel

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

For my STEM project, I wanted to create energy because many people and machines rely on power every day and many of the ways energy is generated causes pollution and harms the natural environment. I learned the force from an object impacted by gravity creates energy that can be used for power. I focused on water as an energy source and made a water wheel. The wheel spins when water from a source above the wheel hits the blades and creates energy that can be turned into power. In order to make the process more clean and efficient, my idea was to find a way to recycle the water without using electricity. My first prototype used air pressure, but I was not able to make this work, so I created another prototype where I added a compressor that would force the water back into the source. The challenge was finding a way to keep the compressor working continuously. I also tried to create a prototype that works like nature by setting up an environment to make water vapor and the droplets would be funneled into the water source. The environmental benefits of this project are that if we find a way to recycle the water we could use smaller amounts and it will not cause pollution. It will also help residential areas in dry climates and help machines that need power.

Durable, Eco Friendly Bioplastics

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Petroleum plastics are bad to the planet. Starches, fungi, cellulose, and seaweed are better for the world. I picked 4 sets of polymers that are better for the planet and made many types of bioplastics. I tested them for strength and flexibility to see which ones were more durable and could be used in daily life.

What's In The Air

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Our experiment aimed to investigate how air pollution levels varied in different areas, particularly in locations with varying amounts of vegetation and population. We measured AQI, HCHO, and TVOC at six locations near Salt Lake City. We hypothesized that areas with the highest population and lowest plant density would have the most pollution.
This experiment is useful because air quality affects people’s health, and the methods we used are similar to those used by professionals like meteorologists. We only needed a Formaldehyde air quality detector, a clipboard, a phone, a pencil, and an eraser.
After choosing our locations, we tested each site by having one person wait a minute before the datakeeper recorded the results. We used the same method for six days.
Our hypothesis proved to be incorrect. Downtown, which we expected to be the most polluted, was not. Instead, the Great Salt Lake had the highest pollution levels, followed by Downtown and West Jordan. Sugarhouse and Liberty Wells were in the middle, and Big Cottonwood Canyon had the cleanest air.
Overall, Salt Lake City’s pollution levels were not severe, especially compared to cities like Bakersfield, Houston, or Phoenix, and were far cleaner than highly polluted places like Delhi or Beijing. The experiment went well, and further investigations are warranted.

T And T: Temperature And Tornadoes

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

The purpose of this experiment was to find out if water temperature affects the size of a spinning vortex in a tornado model. I chose this project because I am interested in tornadoes and wanted to learn how temperature affects how strong they can be. My question was: Does water temperature affect the size of a vortex? I thought that hot water would make a bigger vortex because warm water moves more easily than cold water.
To test this, I made a tornado model using two connected two-liter bottles. I tested cold water and hot water. I measured the temperature of the water with a thermometer. I kept the amount of water, the number of spins, and the spinning direction the same each time. I did five trials with cold water and five trials with hot water. I used a ruler to measure how wide the vortex opening and the vortex were.
The results showed that hot water made a wider and stronger vortex than cold water. This supported my hypothesis. Even though this was only a model and real tornadoes are much more complicated, the experiment showed that temperature can affect how a vortex forms.

Removing Toxins From The Great Salt Lake

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Lead, mercury, and arsenic are toxins and can be harmful to people when they become airborne and are breathed in. The Great Salt Lake has these toxins in it, and they pose a risk to people if they become airborne. The purpose of this experiment was to test ways to remove toxins from water. Because lead and mercury are dangerous to work with, copper was used as a safer toxin. Copper sulfate was added to salt water to represent a “salt lake.” The water turned blue, which showed how much copper was present.

Sorbents were tested to see if they could remove copper from the water. The sorbents used were activated charcoal, limestone, biochar, and bentonite clay. Each jar was filled with the same amount of salt water and copper sulfate. One sorbent was added to each jar, and one jar was left without a sorbent as a control.

We took photos at the beginning of the experiment and after 24 hours to show the change. After 24 hours the solutions were filtered with coffee filters. We used an online color analysis tool measure the amount of blue color in each jar, using RGB values. The blue value showed how much copper remained in the water.

Activated charcoal removed the most copper from the water. Limestone removed the least copper and had the highest blue value. This experiment shows sorbents can help remove toxins from salt water. Some sorbents work better than others.

Water Filters: Which Ones Can You Trust?

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Testing different water filters on canal water in order to determine which one works the best, being determined by the cleanest water exiting the filtration system. We used an MSR pump, a water bottle filter, and portable aqua tablets. Using a microscope, we took before and after photos of the water so a winner could be decided upon. After testing, rankings resulted in the MSR pump being the winner, followed by the water bottle filter, and finally the aqua tablets, even though we thought the water bottle filter would clean the water the best. The portable aqua tablets failed to clean the water of particulates, only removing harmful bacteria. Progress was recorded regularly through photos. We used the worst results from each filter to determine ranking to keep the comparison fair. We maintained a consistent environment via temperature as a control.

The Dark Secret: Why Does Dirty Snow Disappear First?

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

The goal of “THE DARK SECRET: Why Does Dirty Snow Disappear First" is to understand how air pollution causes the snow to melt faster. My question is important because if the snow melts in our Wasatch mountains faster than in a normal year because of the air pollution from the dust from the Great Salt Lake and air pollution from humans we won’t have enough water when we need it most. We need water in the spring and summer for our people, wildlife, rivers, and our farms.

My hypothesis is when particles land on the snow from air pollution it absorbs the sunlight more than clean snow because dark particles absorb more sunlight. The dirty snow melts faster than the clean snow.

I did many experiments to see what melted the snow faster than clean snow. Initially, I used pepper to compare to clean snow. Then I did several experiments using dirt. Next, I used dust from the Great Salt Lake, cocoa powder, small lint particles from a vacuum, and ashes to compare how much snow melted compared to clean snow.

From my experiment I conclude that pollution causes snow to melt faster than snow without pollution. This means pollution lowers the albedo and causes the snow to melt faster. This can be a problem in Utah because we depend on our snow to melt slowly in the spring. Utahns need to do our part to limit pollution so that we have water for all of us in Utah.

Bio Bizz

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

This study investigated how you can get electricity from home items. In the investigation, I tested lemons, potatoes, a salt water to find which one generates electricity the best and which one received the highest voltage.

Speed Traps For Co2 How Zeolite Type Affects Carbon Capture Rates

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Atmospheric CO2 levels have increased drastically in the past 75 years. If this trend keeps constant, soon the CO2 level in the atmosphere may cause irritation in some individuals with existing respiratory disorders like asthma and COPD. To prevent this from happening, measures must be taken to reduce rate of emission of CO2 vapors in flue gases of factories. The objective of this experiment was to discover a low-cost way to seclude CO2 from flue gases in factories. A mason jar was filled with 100 grams of various A-group synthetic zeolites and an SCD41 CO2 sensor inside the jar integrated with an Arduino Uno connected to a Windows computer measured: time, humidity, temperature, and adsorption rates per minute every minute. It was hypothesized that zeolite 5A would adsorb CO2 most effectively due to its CO2 adsorbing Na+ balancing cation and its closeness, but slightly offset pore size compared to the CO2 molecule size to trap CO2 effectively. The results showed that zeolite 5A adsorbed the most CO2, supporting the hypothesis. Zeolite 10A was second-best with much less adsorption than zeolite 5A, while zeolite 4A and 3A were ineffective at adsorbing CO2.

Reducing Phosphate Pollution With Calcium Modified Biochar

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

High phosphate levels in natural water systems such as rivers, ponds, and lakes can lead to eutrophication, deadly algal blooms, reduced water quality, and damage of natural habitats.
The objective of this experiment was to discover the effect of calcium modification on the phosphate removal efficiency of biochar. Unmodified biochar (no added calcium), calcium chloride modified biochar, and eggshell-modified biochar were tested. The hypothesis was that biochar modified with calcium would remove more phosphate than unmodified biochar because
the higher calcium levels would increase the adsorption and precipitation of the biochar. Lake water samples were collected from Utah Lake and had an initial phosphate level of 300 ppb. The samples were then increased to 1000 ppb of phosphate and then treated with each type of biochar. After a set treatment time, phosphate levels were measured using a colorimetric phosphate test kit. Three trials were conducted for each biochar type, and phosphate removal efficiency was calculated and recorded. The data showed that unmodified biochar reduced the phosphate levels by 50%, and both types of the calcium-modified biochar reduced the phosphate levels by 70%. The results support the hypothesis, showing that calcium modification of biochar greatly improves phosphate removal. This data suggests that calcium-modified biochar could be a low-cost and environmentally friendly way to reduce phosphate
pollution and improve water quality. Further research could test the effects of varying calcium concentrations, treatment times, flow through filter technologies, and real-world water conditions to study and improve the effectiveness of this method.

Water Purification

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Water purification is the process of removing unwanted materials from water. This is important because for drinking water it needs to be pure. I decided to compare several methods of purifying water to see what works best.

The water used for testing was visibly dirty and taken from a shallow pool of a stream. The methods used for purifying water were a survival filter, coffee filter, carbon filter, sand filter, and distilling. To compare the effectiveness of these methods I measured the pH level, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), and visual improvement of each.

My hypothesis was that the survival filter would work best because if it can filter out 99.99% of bacteria then it should purify the water best in the ways that I am testing. The result was that my hypothesis was wrong because the survival filter did not purify the water as well as the distiller.

Nom, Nom, Nom, At A Ski Resort

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

My question is of 3 ski resorts which has the healthiest chemical levels. So last year I did a science experiment very similar but this time all I did was changing to what my two judges recommended last year. First, I went with my mom to 3 different ski resorts- Alta, Snowbird, and Solitude but I had an extra testing kit, so I got an extra one from Golden Hills Park. Then I used the testing kits on the snow samples that had melted to find out the chemical levels in each sample. Then I just compared the results and found out that Solitude then Alta the Snowbird (Alta and Snowbird were very close) and Golden Hills Park was last as far as the levels of chemicals in the water go. In conclusion Solitude had the best/healthiest snow of the 4 we tested.

Radioactive Particles

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

The purpose of the project was to study the different amounts of produced radioactive particles called Alpha and Beta particles with different radioactive elements. We tested this inside of a homemade super-cooled cloud chamber, which is an insulated box filled with crushed dry ice, aluminum plate, and a glass tank with 99% isopropyl alcohol soaked felt pads. The elements that were were tested were uranium ore, welding TIG rod, and AM 241. The results were that Uranium ore produced the most particles, coming in at 103. AM 241 made 25 and the TIG rod made 27. We also did a control which we saw 25. From this we concluded that different radioactive elements produce different amounts of alpha and beta particles.

Great Salt Lake Dust Vs. Snowpack

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

The experiment investigated the effect of Great Salt Lake (GSL) dust amount on snowpack melt time, runoff temperature, and water turbidity, addressing Utah's water crisis from lake drying. Research revealed the albedo effect, where dust reduces snow reflectivity from 80% to 20%, radiative forcing accelerating melt via Stefan-Boltzmann Law, and Stokes' Law for particle suspension increasing turbidity.

The hypothesis was if GSL dust is added to snow cubes, then melt time will decrease, runoff temperature will increase, and turbidity will rise compared to clean snow, due to albedo reduction, radiative forcing, and particle suspension.

Materials included dust from Antelope Island; boiled, filtered, and frozen tap water into 32 g cubes; 300 W halogen bulbs at 35.6 cm; digital thermometer; turbidity meter. Methods involved sieving dust to <500 microns, spreading evenly on cubes, timing melt, measuring runoff temperature, and averaging turbidity. Four replicates per site were performed at 23.9° C room temperature.

Overall results showed dust accelerated melt time up to 11%, increased temperature up to 17.6%, and raised turbidity measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) from 47x – 102x (~4 NTU to ~408 NTU). The hypothesis was partially supported due to site variability and insulation that occurred at the 2 g dust sample.

Broader implications are increasing human awareness, promoting water conservation and influencing government spending to fill the lake.

Improvements could include removing human error by automating or using more precise tools for measurements. Further research could include testing on more complex models of layered dust or using real snowpack.

The Effect Of Water Volume On The Efficiency Of Solute Dissolution

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of total rinse volume on dissolving efficiency when agitation is kept the same. To ensure precise control, an orbital shaker was engineered using Lego Spike Prime robotics and programmed with Python code, while logistic regression and algebra calculations were used to analyze the results. The hypothesis predicted that greater water volumes would dissolve more solute (methylene blue tablet) due to increased room for the solute to spread.
The hypothesis was not supported; the smallest volume (15 mL) dissolved the most tablet, while the largest (80 mL) dissolved the least. Observations revealed that larger water masses had greater inertia, resisting the swirling force. This reduced swirling caused a dense, saturated solution layer to form at the bottom, partly shielding the tablet from fresher water. In contrast, the 15 mL volume allowed vigorous mixing that prevented this layer from forming.
These findings model the Great Salt Lake’s "Deep Brine Layer," where a dense bottom layer traps toxins, keeping the toxins away from humans and wildlife. Water conservation is needed to prevent the lake from drying up and exposing these trapped toxins. The experiment demonstrates that effective cleaning is possible with less water if high agitation is used.
Improvements in the experiment include faster tablet removal and minimizing ambient light. Further research could explore efficiency limits of low-volume rinsing, and researching ways to increase freshwater flow into the Great Salt Lake to keep the toxic layer down deep.

Mini Earthquake Shake Table

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Structure demonstrating engineering pendulum concept to withstand seismic activity.

Hot Rocks

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

The purpose of this project was to find out if different types of rocks hear yup differently when exposed to the same heat source. The three main rocks were igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. All rocks started at the same temperature and were heated for the dame time. Each rock was tested three times.
The results showed that igneous rocks heated up the most, then metamorphic and sedimentary stayed the coolest. The hypothesis was supported b the data.
This project is important because rocks and similar materials are used in cities, sidewalks, parks and landscaping. Using rocks that stay cooler can help reduce urban heat, save energy and protect the environment.

Mango Slicing

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Produce is expensive, so minimizing waste is important. Food waste increases costs and requires additional food production, which uses more resources in water, land, fuel for transportation, and waste disposal, with negative environmental impacts.
This study aimed to reduce food waste by comparing two common methods of cutting mangoes to determine which method produced the least waste and the greatest yield. I hypothesized that the hedgehog method would produce less waste than the glass method because it allows cutting closer to the skin, resulting in a greater yield of fruit.
Using the hedgehog method and the glass method, I cut a sample of mangoes, with half prepared using each technique. Each mango was weighed before cutting. After cutting, the edible yield and the waste were weighed separately and recorded. The averages for each method were then calculated.
Results showed that the hedgehog method yielded an average of 0.50 of the total fruit, while the glass method yielded 0.59 of the total fruit. These findings indicate that the glass method is a more effective way to cut mangoes to reduce waste and maximize edible yield.

Operation: Clean Slick

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Oil is a versatile natural resource, it is used for energy, gasoline, plastics, and many products we use on a daily basis. Oil is harvested by drilling in the ground, then the crude oil is transported by boats, trucks, and pipelines. A structural failure in any of these machines could result in the oil erroneously spilling into our environment. Oil spills can be catastrophic for both habitats and humans. There are many different ways to clean up oil spills. The objective of this experiment is to compare the effectiveness of two commercially available oil clean-up materials, oil eating microbes and oil solidifying polymers, and determine the most effective material to clean up. The purpose of this project is to determine which mode of oil spill clean-up is most effective. This project’s hypothesis is that oil solidifying polymers that are used to control an oil spill will result in the spread being slowed and less oil will remain after treatment. This experiment utilized Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and liquid-liquid extraction to isolate oil remaining after a simulated spill clean-up. Results showed that oil solidifying polymers cleaned up as much oil in three minutes as the oil eating microbes did in nine minutes. Something that the scientist could do in the future is use different oil clean-up materials.

Water Filter

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Build a water filter using several materials and test different speeds and test best method of clearing particles. Adding more layers and compacting sand,charcoal, wool, coffee filters and cotton balls.

Are Microplastics Hiding In Our Water

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

The purpose of my project is to find out which water source has the most microplastics between tap water, carbon filtered and bottled water. If research shows that bottled water has the most microplastics since it has plastic packaging and I test carbon filtered , tap, and bottled water then I predict that bottled water will have the greatest amount of microplastics. To do this experiment, I had to measure one liter of water, pour it into a coffee filter to catch the microplastics, count the microplastics under a microscope, and repeat the same steps three more times for each water source. My hypothesis wasn't supported by the data since the result was that tap water had the greatest amount of microplastics in my experiment.

The Future Wrap: Testing Smart Biodegradable Plastics For Sustainable Food Packaging

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Plastic pollution is a serious environmental problem because most plastics do not biodegrade and can remain in the environment for hundreds of years. The purpose of this project was to test whether biodegradable plastics made from natural materials could replace regular plastic for food packaging while also showing food spoilage using a natural pH indicator.
Three bioplastics were made from agar, gelatin, and starch using the same amounts of water and glycerin. Red cabbage extract was added to each plastic as a natural pH indicator.
The bioplastics were tested for tensile strength, water resistance, pH color change, and biodegradation.
Tensile strength was measured by adding weights until the plastic broke. Water resistance was tested by soaking the plastics in water and measuring mass change. pH color change was tested using strawberries to show acidic food spoilage and a baking soda solution to simulate alkaline conditions. Biodegradation was tested by burying the plastics in soil and measuring percent mass loss.
The results showed that gelatin bioplastic had the highest tensile strength and biodegraded the fastest. Agar bioplastic absorbed the least water, making it the most water-resistant. Starch bioplastic showed moderate results in all tests. All three bioplastics changed color in acidic and alkaline conditions, showing that the red cabbage indicator successfully detected pH changes.
This project shows that biodegradable plastics have potential as smart, eco-friendly food packaging that can reduce plastic waste and help indicate food spoilage.

Auto Water: Smart Soil Sensor Irrigation System

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

The purpose of this project was to test whether soil moisture could be measured and used to automatically water plants when the soil became dry. A capacitive soil-moisture sensor and a relay module were connected to a Raspberry Pi Pico, and a MicroPython program was used to read moisture values and control a water pump. When the soil dryness value rose above 55,000, the pump turned on, and when the moisture level dropped to about 20,000, the pump turned off. Data collected included numerical soil-moisture readings and observations of when the pump activated and stopped. Some difficulties included adjusting the moisture thresholds and keeping the sensor readings stable during testing. The results showed that the system correctly turned the pump on and off at the right moisture levels, supporting the hypothesis that an automatic watering system can be created using simple electronics. This project demonstrated a practical way to save water and could be used in home gardens or larger irrigation systems.

Don't Be Dirty

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

I made a water filter out of a plastic water bottle layering 5 different materials; cotton, charcoal, sand, gravel, and rocks. I wanted to see which material helped filter the water the best. I then made five additional water filters leaving out a different material in each of them. I poured dirty water into each of the filters and compared the filtered water in each one to each other to see which one had the clearest water.

Tastiest Snow On Earth?

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Question: How clean is the snow we eat and is it even safe to eat?

Hypothesis: The snow from higher altitudes will be cleaner than the snow from lower altitudes.

Experiment: Snow was collected from different altitudes in two different canyons. Samples were tested for nitrate, nitrite, total hardness, free chlorine, total chlorine, bromine, MPS, copper, iron, lead, sulfite, cyanuric acid, carbonate, total alkalinity, pH TDS. All tests were performed in triplicate.

Conclusion: Our tests did not support our hypothesis. This may be because our tests were not sensitive enough to detect the impurities in the water. Based on the tests, we conclude that the snow can be consumed without worry of ingesting large amounts of pollutants. A small amount of dirt was found in all snow samples. However, one liter of water was filtered, which corresponds to multiple liters of snow. Thus, the amount of dirt is negligible. Further studies should include more sensitive tests for metals and testing for bacteria.

Oil Spills

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Our question is how we can help clean up oil spills in our ecosystem. To solve our problem we decided to conduct our experiment.Our experiment was to take oil and put it in our water that we mixed with salt and then we used household materials to try to clean it up without sucking up the water. We realized that feathers worked best to clean it without getting water with it.

Does The Angle Of A Windshield Affect Damage?

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

I want to win the Science Fair by doing something that all adults would want to know about: Does the angle of a windshield affect the amount of damage it sustains from flying projectiles such as stones? I was able to engage in this project because my father happens to be a Davis County Sheriff and SWAT Team member who supervised my experiment with the highest level of safety (see Hazardous Devices Safety Acknowledgement). My experiment involved shooting a pellet at a windshield from a distance of 10ft to replicate the manner by which small stones fly up from the street to crack windshields. Four pellets were discharged at the windshield when it was tilted at an angle of 35°, 40°, 45°, 50°, 55°, 60°, 65°, and 70°. My data revealed that when the windshield was struck at angles 50° to 70° it experienced instant and dramatic damage. When the windshield was tilted from 35° to 45° two to four pellets deflected off the windshield glass without breaking it. My experiment confirmed my hypothesis.

Plant Watering System

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

The purpose of this project was to create a functioning, low maintenance plant watering system using an Arduino board. What I did that made my project wok was getting a five volt relay that really powered up my project. The results were that the system powered up and the water immediately started pumping out of the pump. The reason why I did this project was that me and my sister always kill our plants because we forget to water them and I thought making this system will help, however in retrospect OWEVER IN RETROSPECT, It would be a lot easier to manually water it. I would do this project again because i enjoyed it. It was fun but very stressful and frustrating. It took a whole two weeks to start working but in the end I would most definitely do it again.

Saving The Planet One Wrinkle At A Time

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Global warming, caused by human-produced carbon dioxide (CO₂) from everyday energy use, is leading to rising temperatures, melting ice caps, extreme weather, and threats to human health. Even small household activities, such as ironing clothes, contribute to this problem. This project investigates how much electricity is consumed during ironing and how reducing ironing frequency can help lower CO₂ emissions. Electricity use per garment was measured with an energy meter and multiplied by survey data on household ironing habits to estimate yearly emissions. Results show that frequent ironing releases measurable CO₂, while reducing ironing by half can significantly lower emissions. This study demonstrates that even small lifestyle changes, like ironing less often, can collectively reduce human impact on global warming.

Jordan Trail Foraging Box

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

This project focused on how to help animals along the Jordan Trail forage for food. We left out a few boxes over the course of a few weeks, we decided to use an animal mix that consisted of peanuts, dried corn, and black sunflower seeds. We separated the mix and left two choices out to observe what the animals chose over the first weekend, we recorded our observations and then left the other choice out to see if there was a difference in what the animals wanted. We did this for a couple of weeks and noticed that ducks and squirrels were the animals that frequented the boxes the most. We found that helping the animals forage for food in a safe and healthy way was better than the alternative to foraging garbage left behind by humans on the trail.

Foraging Boxes On The Jordan Trail

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Which Fruit Makes The Best Battery?

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

A battery is one kind of power source that a circuit can use. Fruits can be used as part of a battery. I wondered which fruit would make the best battery. My hypothesis was that a lemon will produce the most power because it is highly acidic. I thought that since batteries use strong acid, a more acidic fruit would make more power. To test my hypothesis, I made batteries with different types of fruit, copper plates, and zinc plates. I tested them in a circuit with a resistor. I then measured the voltage and used that to calculate power produced by the battery.
My results showed that the best fruit for making a battery was a pear. This was surprising because pears are not often thought of as an acidic fruit. The orange produced the least power. All fruits had mean voltage without resistance of 0.92 to 0.97 V and mean voltage with resistance of 9,780 ohms ranged between 0.5 and 0.7 volts. The mean pH for all fruits was between 3 and 5. Lemon was the 4th best fruit for producing power. In conclusion, my hypothesis was not supported because I predicted the lemon would do the best.

If It's Wet, Let It Set. If It's Dry, Bike On By!

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Mountain biking on wet trail conditions can cause rut formation and long-term trail damage if the trail is too saturated. Riders rely on visual judgement or other riders posted judgment if a trail is suitable to ride, but real time measurable data is not available.
I addressed this problem by developing a Soil Moisture Sensor (S.M.S.) that measures ground moisture and communicates to riders whether the trail is suitable for riding through an LCD display. I researched and established value thresholds based on the weight and tire size of an average biker and mountain bike.
The system was built using an Arduino Uno R3 and first used a resistive soil moisture sensor. During testing, I noticed that the sensor readings continually drifted upward, unable to settle at a value. I also found that the system was not very portable because it needed to be connected to a computer to operate.
To improve the design, I replaced the resistive sensor with a capacitive soil moisture sensor for more stable and reliable readings. I added an LCD display so the device could function independently without a computer and soldered the connections to improve durability against handling and environmental exposure.
The display shows one of two messages: “The trail is wet, let it set” or “The trail is dry, you can ride by,” giving riders clear, real-time guidance on site before entering the trail and helping prevent rut damage.

Electromagnetic Ball Accelerator

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

An electromagnetic ball accelerator spins a ball in a circle by pulling on it with a magnet, and then turning off the magnet, then it keeps going through. Something cool about an electromagnetic ball accelerator is that its a mini version of a particle accelerator. The largest particle accelerator is called Large Hadron Collider which is seventeen miles wide and located in Switzerland. My project tests the relationship between voltage and speed in an accelerator.

All Terrain Hiking Backpack

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

This project solves the problem of being hot and bored when hiking. The solution was to build a hiking backpack that has a camera, a screen to control the camera and send videos to a computer, a fan, and a charger.

To design the first prototype, I used a single-board computer and a touchscreen to control an embedded camera module. I used a power bank to power the recording equipment and the devices being charged. The prototype was tested by going on walks and bike rides during sunny weather and short periods of rainy weather.

While testing, I encountered that the power bank was not sufficiently powering the components via the barrel jack. To solve this problem, I enhanced power usage and powered everything via USB.

I also encountered that the camera was not high-quality enough to be able to capture zoomed-in shots. To solve this problem, I replaced it with a higher-quality and high-FOV camera.

The Great Material Showdown

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

My project was about electricity. I wanted to know what things were insulators and conductors. I put different objects between the wires to try and complete the circuit. I tested the resistance and learned how that relates to insulators and conductors. Then I used water and added salt to see if that would complete the circuit.

I learned that a low resistance allows current to flow. This makes a conductor. High resistance is like a traffic jam and makes it hard for current to flow. This would be an insulator. Metals make good conductors. Plastic, rubber, and wood make good insulators.

Salt water is also a conductor. The water makes the salt molecule break up and makes a positive and negative ion. This allows electricity to flow.

Battery Luminosity And Efficiency Variability

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Our research question was to determine which battery brand (Duracell, Energizer, Panasonic) has the highest luminosity and efficiency. We thought this was an important question to answer as it will help consumers determine which battery brand they should buy. We tested the luminosity and efficiency of three battery brands using a flashlight and light meter app. We determined that Duracell batteries had the highest average light intensity and we predicted that Duracell batteries will also last the longest as compared to Energizer and Panasonic batteries.

Weak Wi Fi!

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

I've noticed that sometimes wi-fi is good and sometimes it's not good. I wondered what types of materials block wi-fi and why it seems to be a problem sometimes and not other times. I did some research on what wi-fi is and how it works and decided to do an experiment to test what blocks it. I set up a wi-fi access point and an adapter connected to a laptop then tested aluminum foil and cardboard as materials I thought might block it. I tested both materials upright between the devices as well as covering the devices with the devices 2 feet apart and 13 feet apart. The foil blocked the signal better than the cardboard and it blocked it more when it covered the adapter antenna. I also learned that increasing the distance between the adapter and the access point had a much larger effect on the signal than blocking it with materials. Even more unexpectedly, I also learned that the metal ruler I used to measure the distance of the materials from the wi-fi points had a large effect on signal strength. I will need to dive into this further with more testing. I concluded from this test that wi-fi signals are influenced by multiple factors like materials blocking the signal, objects around the adapter and devices and distance between access point and antenna.

Curie Ously Permeable

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

MRI scans are known to perform whole body detailed scans on tissue. One main component of an MRI scan is the amount of electromagnetic energy used to power the scan as a superconductor. The machine must stay extremely cold to gain this energy. The objective of this experiment is to discover how the temperature of an electromagnetic core affects the magnetic strength produced. The temperatures used were -5, 20, and 100°C. It was hypothesized that the higher temperature would decrease the magnetic strength of the electromagnet due to the increase in resistance and ion collisions, causing a loss in magnetic permeability. An insulated copper wire was coiled 100 to 200 times around an iron nail that was either heated in an oven or cooled in a salt brine to the specific temperatures. Then using a Gauss meter the point of the nail was measured in milliTesla. The results showed that the increase in temperature did indeed decrease the magnetic strength. The lowest temperature slightly increased a magnetic strength; however, not much of an increase in milliTesla was expected as the decrease in temperature. It was very small compared to the increase. Hence my hypothesis was supported. Trial one was an outlier to the others in terms of the drop that it had when cooled to -5°C. Experiments that delve into further research could include altering the voltage sourced, varying the solenoid or insulation density, or pulsing the sourced current.

Auto Watering Bot

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

As part of this project, I built an automated bot that waters plants.
The system uses a soil moisture sensor to monitor the moisture level in the soil, sends that data to a microcontroller, and activates a water pump whenever the soil becomes too dry. This automation not only eliminates the chore of manual watering but also optimizes plant care by ensuring water is provided only when needed.

Posture Pal

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

" This project introduces "Posture Pal," a device designed to help individuals correct slouching posture. The device consists of a tilt sensor, a beeper, and a battery, all housed within a custom enclosure.
To evaluate its effectiveness, the device was tested across various age groups using a digital protractor and a tripod stand. The system is designed to provide consistent auditory feedback by beeping whenever a user slouches. By encouraging better spinal alignment, Posture Pal has the potential to provide significant long-term health benefits."

Homopolar Motor

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

A Homopolar Motor is a simple electric motor. Here’s how you make it. First you sand the edges of the wire and make different shapes. We did a heart, a spiral, a triangle, a crazy shape, and an “L” shape. Then, place the magnets in the cathode side of the battery. Lastly, put the wire design one the AAA battery. We tested the revolutions per minute, to test each shape. Our results were that the “L” went the fastest by 6.97 RPM’s.

Hover Mouse

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

My project is about how repelling magnets can make objects levitate, and how I tried to use them to make a computer mouse that could levitate and help people with limited arm strength. I used N42 neodymium magnets to try to levitate it; however, it was very unstable. I tried using aluminum foil to create eddy currents; however, it may have made it even more unstable. In the end, it did not levitate across the entire magnet array.

Droppin’ Voltage

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

The project Droppin’ Voltage is testing the effect of resistance or wire length on the voltage drop of a load. When the resistance is higher, the voltage drop is more and the electrons have speed and heat loss. With this information it was hypothesized that the forty-one foot wire would have the most voltage drop and the two foot wire would have the less voltage drop. In the end, my hypothesis was supported. The forty-one foot wire had an average of 6.13 volts and the two foot wire had an average of 6.25 volts. Improvements could include letting the circuit cool down during trials. Further research could include using copper vs. aluminum wire.

Weather Lamp

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

I wanted to make a lamp that changes color based on the temperature inside my room. I wanted to do that because I wanted something that I could just look at to tell me what the temperature is so i can know if i should use a heater or if my room is the right temperature. In order to do this, my project needs to be able to detect the temperature in my room. My project needs to be able to light up based on the temperature. My project needs to look like a lamp and be something cute to keep in my room.

Power Play

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

PowerPlay: Finding the Best Battery

For my science fair project, I tested different brands of batteries to determine which one lasted the longest. I used both LED and non-LED flashlights to see if the type of flashlight affected how long each battery brand lasted.

By comparing how long each battery powered the flashlights before turning off, I was able to collect data to see which brand performed the best.

Size Matters

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

My science fair project is called Size Matters. The purpose of this project was to find out how the size of a Tesla coil's topload affects the length of the spark it discharges. I wanted to see if changing the topload size would change how far the spark could jump. My hypothesis was that a smaller topload would make a longer spark.

To test this, I built a Tesla coil and energized it while using three different topload sizes: small, medium, and large. For each one, I slowly moved a wire toward the Tesla coil until a spark jumped. I measured the spark length several times and then found the average for each topload. The small topload had an average spark length of 11.73 mm. The medium topload averaged 10.0 mm, and the large topload averaged 7.3 mm.

The results showed that the smallest topload made the longest spark. My hypothesis is supported by the results. In the future, I would like to test whether the size of the topload also affects how much energy is transferred, not just how long the spark is.

The Silent Signal

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING & HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES

Sepsis is a dangerous condition that can start from a wound infection. During infection, germs often change the wound’s chemistry, including its pH. However, regular bandages protect wounds but are not able to indicate pH changes. Because of this, infections are often noticed only after severe symptoms appear. The goal of this project was to create a smart bandage that can detect pH changes earlier to warn of possible infection. From my previous study, I compared several plant extracts as pH indicators. Among them, red cabbage extract showed the widest color spectrum and the highest sensitivity to pH changes, so was selected as the indicator for my bandage design. I first tested different materials and compared their absorbency, breathability, and extract distribution. The gauze showed the best overall performance, so it was chosen as the material for the bandage. First, I coated the gauze with red cabbage extract and let it to air dry. I then tested its color changes under simulated infection conditions using the baking yeast. The sensitivity of the bandage and the conditions that could cause false positives were evaluated. The smart bandage demonstrated that it could detect small amounts of liquid with clear color changes and avoid possible false positives. Although pH changes don’t always mean infection, this project shows that natural pH indicators can be added to bandages to help monitor wounds. In the future, the bandage could be improved by adding more infection sensors and using digital tools to read colors more accurately.

A Motorized Inhaler Aid For Patients With Hand Disability

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING & HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES

Goal:
To provide a servo-motor-assisted device for patients with limited arm mobility to use their inhaler
Methods:
A 3-D printed holder for the inhaler (Prematine MIST) was made. A 35 Kg servo motor was attached to the base. A lever mechanism was attached to the top and connected by a metal wire to the servo. A micro:bit (V2) was programmed to activate the Servo for a 110-degree turn with a 1 second pause. The capacitive touch sensor on the micro:bit was used to activate the device.
Results:
That set-up was successful in actuating the inhaler. The LED on the micro:bit gave a warning signal before actuation. A spacer can be attached to the inhaler if needed. The base held the device well in place during use.
Conclusion:
A servo-motor-assisted device is successful in activating a handheld inhaler and could be used by patients with limited arm mobility

How Poor Man's Fiberglass Can Lower Homeless Rates And Housing Prices

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

Many people are homeless because housing is very expensive. This project studied whether Poor Man’s Fiberglass (PMF) could be used as a cheaper material for camper walls. PMF is lightweight, strong, and low-cost. It is made using foam, thick canvas, and several coats of paint. To make PMF, the foam is first sanded. Then canvas is glued on top. After that, three layers of paint are added. The first layer is half paint and half water. The second layer has a 3 to 1 ratio with paint and water. The final layer is only paint. Once dry, the material becomes very hard. Three tests were done to see how well PMF works. The first test checked insulation. A digital thermometer was placed inside a PMF foam box and compared to tests without the box. The PMF box stayed about 45°F warmer. The second test checked if PMF was waterproof. A PMF bowl was filled with water and left for five minutes. The surface underneath stayed completely dry. The final test compared prices. PMF walls were about five times cheaper than regular camper walls. The results show that PMF is warm, waterproof, and affordable. Using PMF for camper walls could help lower housing costs and may help reduce homelessness.

A Hard Egg To Crack

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

Eggshells need to be strong enough to protect the contents inside, eggshells are harder than we think! A Hard Egg to Crack is a scientific project designed to determine which side of a regular large grade A chicken egg is more resilient under pressure. Eggs were carefully cut circumferentially in the middle and placed on an electronic measuring scale where graduated weight was stacked on top of the dome side of the egg until the eggshell cracked. The amount of weight with each trial was measured and recorded to collect the data. Based on our scientific design the narrow side of the egg withstood more weight than the rounded side of the eggshell.

Dance Buddy

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

For my science project, I created a tool called The Dance Buddy to help dancers stretch more efficiently and safely. The Dance Buddy is both a stretching tool and a mini dance barre that dancers can use to practice balance, flexibility, and proper form.

One special feature of The Dance Buddy is that it can be taken apart and packed into a suitcase, which makes it easy for dancers to travel with it. This is helpful because dancers often need to stretch and practice while away from their studio. By using The Dance Buddy, dancers can warm up correctly, improve flexibility, and reduce the risk of injury wherever they are.

This project shows how a portable, easy-to-use tool can help dancers take better care of their bodies and improve their performance.

Catapults

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

We researched different catapult designs. We chose three designs that could be built using popsicle sticks, rubber bands, dowel rods, hot glue, and plastic spoons. The catapults were then used to launch a miniature marshmallow four times each to see which one would launch the marshmallow the farthest. We measured the distance of each launch and calculated the average of the four launches for each catapult. The first catapult we made was the smallest and launched the marshmallow the shortest distance. The second design was taller and skinny and launched the marshmallow longer than the first. The third design was tall and wider than the others and launched the marshmallow the farthest.

The Launch

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

My project is called The Launch. I realized that my arm would get tired whenever I would throw the ball to my energetic dogs, so I developed the launch to help reduce arm fatigue and injury. The launch is a tennis ball thrower that allows you to play with your dog without having to hurt your arm. I made it out of PVC pipe so that it is light enough to take to your local park to play with your dog. I had originally wanted to use wood, but that would be too heavy, and you wouldn't be able to take it apart very easily. I cut holes in the PVC pipe to put the hinges on, so I could put the lever and elastic bands in place. I put a garden hose on the PVC pipe to reduce the friction on the band so it would not snap when you pull the lever back. For it to work, you put a tennis ball in the throwing hand, pull the lever back and then let it go. Through trials, I determined that it is 1.5 times faster, 60% more accurate and goes 20 feet further than a human arm. My dogs loved it!

Keeping My Hot Cocoa Warm

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

My problem was that my hot cocoa gets cold too fast. Adding insulation to my cup helped keep the heat in. I tested different materials to insulate my drink. Out of tinfoil, fabric, batting, and foam, I found that foam was the best insulator. The foam kept my drink over 130 degrees for 2 minutes longer than the plain glass cup. When I added tinfoil to the outside of my insulation, all of the materials did better. Foam on its own kept my drink over 130 degrees for 11 minutes, but foam with tinfoil added to it went for 15 minutes. My solution is important because I found a low-cost DIY solution to keep my hot cocoa from getting cold. I don’t think I could build something better with materials I found at my house to keep my drink warm.

Cheap Or Protection: Why All The Hot Air?

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

I wondered why the bag of potato chips had so much air in it. I felt like the potato chip company was ripping us off. I wanted to do an experiment to see if a bag of potato chips really needed all that air. We filled baggies of potato chips with different levels of air. We put those bags in the dryer with a dryer ball to see what would happen. The results were the bags filled with the most air came out with the least amount of breakage by a lot! The air in the bag took enough of the impact to decrease the damage to the chips. It is a transfer of energy. I also read a few articles that said the air used to fill potato chip bags was not just any air. They use nitrogen because is stays stable longer in different elevations. Not only that but the nitrogen will also help the chips from going stale, and no one likes stale potato chips! So I concluded that the air in a potato chip bag really has a purpose.

Desk Organizer

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

My problem was that my desk was not always clean and organized like I wanted it to be. I looked up different ways to sort and store items like pens, pencils and papers. This makes them easy to find and to put away. I drew a design of an organizer that I would put inside my desk at school. I had to measure the opening of my desk. I marked the cardboard with the lengths of the measurements. I cut the cardboard out. I assembled the structure with tape and staples. I tested my design in my desk and found I did not have a space for my writing utensils. I then cut a piece of cardboard to slide out that had smaller piece of cardboard taped to it to to pull out my writing utensils. I could not grab the cardboard quickly. I then put a piece of tape on the end of the cardboard so I could pull it out quickly. Now my desk at school can be organized.

Sensational Speed

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

I want to be a car designer, so I designed an experiment to help me figure out how to help cars go further with less effort. I tried many different lubricants to see what works best to reduce friction in the wheel axel. I added one drop on each wheel, using a new car for each lubricant, then measured how far it went down the track I built

Taekwondo Bot

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

My project involves the design and builds of a robot that does taekwondo. There are some children that have disabilities which prevents them from practicing taekwondo and my project addresses this problem. I wish to include them to develop a love for taekwondo, just like I have, by utilizing these bots. I wish every single person could have the opportunity to experience the joy of taekwondo.

Which Truss Can You Trust

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

The purpose of this project was to determine which truss bridge design—the Pratt Through Truss or the Double-Intersection Warren Through Truss—possessed superior load-bearing capacity. The central hypothesis predicted that the Double-Intersection Warren Truss would be stronger due to its structure, specifically its overlapping triangles and dual set of diagonal members, which provide better force distribution compared to the Pratt Truss's single set of diagonals.

Two identical-span bridge models were constructed using tongue depressors and high-temperature hot glue. The bridges were tested on a standard setup by adding heavy gym weights to a central wooden board until a critical structural failure occurred. The independent variable was the truss design, and the dependent variable was the maximum weight held, measured in pounds.

The experimental results demonstrated the superior strength of the Double-Intersection Warren Through Truss. The Pratt Truss failed at a load of 60 pounds. In contrast, the Double-Intersection Warren Truss successfully supported a final known load of 345 pounds without failure before the available weights were exhausted. This result confirmed the hypothesis, showing the Warren Truss to be at least 5.75 times stronger. The conclusion is that the geometry of the Double-Intersection Warren Truss, with its interconnected triangles, provides greater structural stability, making it the stronger design.

Impact Of Color Additives On 3 D Printed Tensile Strength

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

This project explores how color impacts the tensile strength of 3D printed PLA. The hypothesis was that purple would be the weakest across the 7 colors tested due to experience with increased breakage when items were 3D printed using this color. This hypothesis was not supported showing black was the weakest of the 7 colors. Using this information others could benefit from the results by choosing PLA color according to the strength properties that would be best suited for their project.

Lights,Lenses, Action!

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

The project consists of a student made projector, demonstrating the functionality, as well as a similarities to an eye. There is also a brief history of the advances through the different eras of projectors

Bookinator 2000

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

When reading a book in bed, our arms get tired of holding the book. We wanted to solve this problem by designing a device to hold the book. Our project is made of wood, attaches to a headboard, can swing down and angle in to place and has a book light and magnets to hold pages in place.

3 D Car Time Trails

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

For my science project, I wanted to find out which 3D‑printed car would go down a 20‑degree ramp the fastest. I designed four cars that were exactly the same on the outside, but each one had a different infill percentage: 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. I thought the heaviest car (100% infill) would be the fastest because heavier things can sometimes move quicker going downhill. I printed the cars, tested each one five times, and recorded all the times. After finding the averages, I learned that the 50% infill car was actually the fastest, and the 75% and 100% cars were almost the same. The 25% car was the slowest. My results showed that weight does make a difference, but not always in the way you expect. This experiment helped me understand how 3D printing settings can change how something performs, even when it looks the same on the outside.

The Strongest Packing Material

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

I have moved many times in my life, and some items have broken in transit. I wanted to test different packaging materials and determine which packing material would protect fragile objects the best. During the project, I wrapped eggs in six different packaging materials and placed them in the same type of box. The eggs were then dropped from an increasing height until the eggs cracked.

Ratio Reactions

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

My project involved testing multiple methods for reducing the cure time of two‑part casting resin by changing mix ratios and applying heat. Standard resin systems require up 24hrs. to fully cure, which can slow down prototyping, art projects, and manufacturing. The goal of this experiment was to identify practical changes that could speed up curing without damaging the finished resin.
To explore this, resin samples were prepared using different resin‑to‑hardener ratios, including the manufacturer‑recommended ratio as a control. Additional samples were exposed to heat at varying times during the curing process. Cure time was measured by assessing hardness, and temperature changes within the resin. All experiments were conducted under consistent environmental conditions to ensure fair comparison.
The results showed that applying heat significantly reduced cure time, with the most effective temperature range accelerating curing by more than 97% compared to the control. Altering the mix ratio also affected cure speed, but changes from the recommended ratio led to incomplete curing. The combination of proper heat application and standard mix ratios produced the fastest and most reliable results.
This experiment demonstrates that controlled heating is an effective method for reducing resin cure time while maintaining material quality. These findings may be useful for hobbyists, makers, and small‑scale manufacturers seeking faster production cycles.

St Wrong Voltage

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

The purpose of this project, StWrong (sounds like strong) Voltage, was to test how voltages affect electric motors and any practical purposes for having different voltages. The hypothesis states that a higher voltage would speed up the motor more than a lower voltage, and, to test that theory, I purchased three different voltage batteries and modified a Crunchlabs “Buzzer Beater” in order to make it compatible for those different batteries. The experiment consisted of adding quarters/nickles to a cardboard crate and activating the modified Buzzer Beater in order to time how long it would take for the weight to fully rise in order to see how the voltage affects the motor. Once the same weight had been raised three times, the average was calculated and compared to the averages of other batteries. The results of this experiment proved that this hypothesis was supported, but something unique that happened while using the 9 volt battery was that the motor started to smell like burning plastic, which led to the conclusion that too high of a voltage for too long will cause the motor to burn out.

Which Structural Design Is Most Resistant To Earthquake Like Shaking?

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

Around 10,000 people die from earthquakes each year. In fact, the built environment is a huge factor in what causes so many casualties every year. Certain structures are more vulnerable than others. So which design is the most resilient against seismic waves? To test this, I built model buildings with either a triangular or a square frame. First, I measured the size of each building. The square-shaped building has a larger surface area than triangular-shaped building. I then placed them on a shaker and measured how long each structure could maintain its integrity during shaking. I observed that the triangle shape lasted much longer than the square shape. However, triangular designs are not common. Square-designed buildings have more volume than triangular-designed ones. Although a triangle design requires more materials for the same volume, it can save many lives during earthquakes.

How To Build A Trebuchet

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

The problem I was trying to solve was How to Build a Trebuchet. My design goal was for a baseball and basketball to be launched 10-20 feet. I had one prototype using three different counterweights: 40 pounds, 50 pounds, and 60 pounds. I tested my catapult with each counterweight by launching a baseball and basketball three times each. My results were that the swinging trebuchet with a 60-pound counterweight worked best because it had more potential energy, launching the baseball and basketball farther. I learned that to build a decent catapult you need a heavy counterweight. I also learned that the angle of the release pin affects the distance of the projectile.

Piano Page Turner

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

I play the piano and practice by myself a lot of days. I wanted to invent a device that would turn the pages of my music without my hands. My invention uses a pedal on the floor to pull a fishing wire which is attached to page clips. As the device turns the pages, the arms let go of the fishing wire so it can turn the next page. Everything works as intended except the motor we used pulls too fast and too hard.

Rollback & Shoot

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

The purpose of this project was to determine whether using a rebound mechanism reduces the time needed to make repeated basketball shots. The question investigated was whether a basketball rebound bucket that returns the ball after a made shot allows players to shoot more efficiently than retrieving the ball manually. The hypothesis was that using a rebound mechanism would reduce shooting time because the ball is returned directly to the shooter.

To test this hypothesis, a rebound bucket was constructed and attached beneath a standard basketball hoop. Players with at least one year of basketball experience participated in the experiment. Each player completed multiple shooting trials from the free-throw line, both with the rebound mechanism and without it. The time required to complete a set number of shots was recorded, and all other variables—including hoop height, ball type, and shooting location—were kept constant.

The results showed that players completed their shots in less time when the rebound mechanism was used. Both individual and team tests demonstrated consistent time savings compared to shooting without the rebound bucket.

In conclusion, the data supported the hypothesis that a rebound mechanism reduces the time needed to make repeated basketball shots. This project demonstrates how simple mechanical designs can improve efficiency in basketball practice.

Soaring Science

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

We love to make paper airplanes and we wanted to know which airplane designs flies further.

We also wanted to test out which paper works best; normal paper or card stock.

Which airplane design flies the further?
Does the weight of the paper affect the distance?

If we make different airplane designs with paper and card stock which design will fly further.

We predict the world record airplane design will fly further than others. The card stock paper in the world record design will fly further because it the design is the most aerodynamic and heavier paper has more momentum.

Air Powered Trains

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

Our STEM fair project is called Air Powered Train. We wanted to find out if air could be used to power a train and which train design would go the fastest. We chose this project because air is a renewable energy source and does not cause pollution.

First, we researched how air pressure works and how it can be used to make objects move. After our research, we designed and built a train system using materials like PVC pipe, cardboard, wood, and an air compressor. The air compressor pushed air through a tube, which moved the train forward. We built different train designs and tested each one to see how fast and how far it would travel.

We went through several design changes during our project. Our first designs did not work very well because there was too much friction, air was leaking, or the train did not fit correctly in the tube. Each time we tested, we made improvements to fix these problems. We measured the air pressure and how the train performed during each test and used graphs to compare the results.

Our results showed that air can be used to move a train. We also learned that smoother and lighter train designs traveled faster than others. This project helped us learn more about renewable energy, engineering, and problem solving. If we did this project again, we would add a brake system and make the track longer to improve our design.

Baseball Launcher

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

I designed a catapult. My idea was to make a catapult that I could use to practice batting, even when alone. I used three websites to get ideas for the best plan for my catapult. While working on my project, I found that it needs a strong base that doesn’t move during the launch. It needs to be able to throw the ball at least ten feet and hit a one-foot target.

I had some problems to figure out while building the catapult. My first try wouldn’t go far enough or come close to hitting a target. I started with making the base nice and sturdy. I made the base thicker so that it would stay sturdy. I made the arm longer and added more tension to make the ball go further. I added a crank that would pull the catapult back and give me a trigger so I could launch it the same way each time.

In the end, I was able to hit a one-foot target, and I could launch the ball twenty-five feet. I met my goal and had a lot of fun learning about engineering. If I was to keep upgrading it, I would make it bigger and thicker so it could throw a baseball. I would also make it remote activated so you could use it completely alone. By doing this project I learned how tension and torsion work and how I could adjust them to throw a ball farther and faster.

The Undiminator

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

My problem is when you are painting and need a reference photo on your phone screen. You go to look at the reference photo, but it goes dark! We need a device to go up and down to tap the screen and undim the screen for you. I made the Undiminator with Lego, gears, motor, a leaf, and alligator clips.

Rover Wheels Vs. Sand

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

My Rover gets stuck in the sand when I drive it so I decided to make new wheels for it and see if it works better. My criteria is that all materials used on the will have to stay on while driving and can't fall off. My constraint is that I have to pre own at least three of my items. My solution is a wheel covered with rubber bands with thumbtacks sticking out for gripping to the sand. For my redesign, I put tape on the wheels where the rubber bands snapped so they couldn't get caught. To test it I made a little hill out of sand about 6 feet long and drove my rover up it until it got stuck. Then I measured how far it got from the place it started. In the end, my original wheels went further, but got jammed a lot. My redesigned wheels drove much smoother, even though they didn't get as far.

Egg Cellent Engineering

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

The purpose of this experiment is to find out which half of an eggshell can hold the most weight. I chose this project because I thought eggs were really weak and I was curious how they can be strong at the same time. My hypothesis states that if I test the different halves of the eggshell, then I will find that the round side is the strongest. To test my hypothesis I prepared hollow halves of eggshells. Then I placed three eggshells in a triangular formation and placed magazines on top of them until they broke. I repeated this experiment several times for the different halves of the eggshells (round half, pointy half, long half). From these experiments I learned that the round side of the egg is the strongest side since it could hold a maximum weight of about 20 pounds. The long side appeared to be the weakest side since it only held about 14 pounds. From this science experiment I learned about the strength of semicircular arches and understand better why they often appear in the architecture of buildings and bridges.

The Grabbler

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

When I come back from throwing the ball at the park for the dogs, they always get the ball stuck under the couch and it's really hard to get. We have deep couches. So, I decided to make a ball grabber with a right angle, mirror and flashlight so I could retrieve the ball without getting on the floor.

Axolotl Feeder

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

The project was to design a device that would contain brine shrimp, keeping it from floating around the tank, so an axolotl can eat the most amount of brine shrimp possible.

Superlative Structures

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

Buildings can collapse for a variety of reasons. The objective of this experiment was to discover which geometric design can hold the most weight. This will help us determine how construction workers should position the support beams in a structure to give it the most strength, therefore preventing the structure from collapsing.
Four different designs were picked to use in building each structure: vertical support beams, equilateral triangles, X’s, and diagonal support beams angled inward. The structures were glued together using popsicle sticks as the supports and furring strips (2 inches x 1 inch x 1 foot long) as the top and bottom of each structure. Once they were dry, weights were added until each structure broke. Next, the highest weight held by each one was recorded. Each design was tested three times.
The hypothesis was that if equilateral triangles were used in the structure, then the structure would be able to hold the most weight. The hypothesis was supported. The structures with triangles held an average of 113.5 pounds, followed by the control group with vertical supports at 105.7 pounds, the structures with angled supports at 100.0 pounds, and finally the X design, holding an average of only 76.8 pounds.
Improvements would include using popsicle sticks that are exactly the same, as slight differences were noticed. Further research may include testing a wider variety of shapes to support the structure or testing the effect of horizontal forces like wind or earthquakes on structures’ stability.

Which Type Of Bridge Can Hold The Most Weight

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

My science fair project is about finding out which type of bridge can hold the most weight. Bridges are important because they help people and cars cross over water and land safely. I wanted to see which bridge design is the strongest when made out of popsicle sticks.

For this project, I built three different types of bridges using popsicle sticks and glue. The bridges were a beam bridge, an arch bridge, and a truss bridge. I made sure all the bridges were about the same size and used the same number of popsicle sticks so the test would be fair. After the bridges dried, I tested them by slowly adding weight until they broke. I recorded how much weight each bridge held before breaking.

The results showed that the truss bridge held the most weight. The beam bridge held the least weight, and the arch bridge held more than the beam bridge but less than the truss bridge. I think the truss bridge was the strongest because the triangle shapes helped spread the weight evenly.

This experiment helped me learn how bridge designs affect strength and why engineers choose certain bridge types in real life.

Structure Durability

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

The Viking stadium collapsed in 2010 because of too much snow which caused us to question: “Does the shape of the design for the structure affect how it holds up in different weather?” Our hypothesis is “Yes. A triangle will hold up best because of its ridged edges.” We also tested square and rectangle designs for our structure. We built three structures out of popsicle sticks in each shape and tested each one with different elements to test strength and durability. We concluded that the triangle structures held up the best and the shape of the design does matter.

Wonders Of Wax

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

In my project, I was determining which type of wax burns the hottest and the longest. I hypothesized that the beeswax would burn the longest and the paraffin the hottest. I thought this because beeswax is a harder, more natural wax and paraffin is a chemical based and oil derived. In my methods, I melted four different types of wax (paraffin wax, beeswax, ski wax, and Crayola crayon wax) and poured them into a silicone mold, and then let them cool. I then lit them at the same time and gathered my data. The data shows in conclusion, paraffin was the hottest, proving that part of my hypothesis right, and that the hydrocarbon ski wax burnt the least amount of wax. This project is important because wax has many different uses, and it is important to know the different properties of individual waxes as it could help you in everyday life. For example, in the wilderness, a hot and long lasting candle would be helpful. Also, wax repels water and lets moving parts slide and reduce friction for industrial uses.

The Battery Blanket

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

Noah wanted a solution for the battery on his e-bike draining quickly in freezing temperatures outside. He created a custom heated covering (blanket) for his bike's battery using fabric, heating pads, and a portable electrical source. He then conducted experiments to determine what effect the blanket had on the battery life despite the cold temperatures outside.

Is It Really Worth The Hype?

MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING

The purpose of this experiment was to find out which tumbler brand keeps water cold the longest. I tested four cups: a Hydrojug, Stanley IceFlow, Ozark Trail tumbler, and a plastic cup. I hypothesized that the Hydrojug would keep the water cold the longest because of its triple insulation.

MEDICINE & HEALTH SCIENCES

For our science project, we conducted an experiment called Battle of the Bandages to determine which type of bandage keeps moisture the longest. We soaked identical sponges in water, wrapped each one in a different type of bandage, and measured how much water remained over a 24-hour period. We did this by weighing the sponges at set times.

Our results showed that the waterproof Band-Aid kept the sponge wet the longest. This means it was the most effective at preventing water from evaporating. The other bandages dried out more quickly because air could pass through them more easily, allowing the water to escape.

This experiment shows that waterproof bandages are better at holding in moisture. In real life, this is important because bandages that keep wounds moist can help protect cuts and scrapes and may help them heal faster.

Rethink Your Drink

MEDICINE & HEALTH SCIENCES

My purpose for this science project is I was thinking about soda/drinks, then i said to myself all of these drinks are very sweet. So, then I made the decision of that being my project for the science fair project.
This experiment is important because lots of people drink sodas and not even water, so, that could get them sick and unhealthy.
Then, I hypothesize that the bottle of coke would have the most amount of sugar and the water with the least. So, i went to the store and buyed the drinks and took it home then bodied it until it
Dissolved, then I measured the amount of sugar in the residue and got the amount of sugar in the drinks.
lastly, from this project I learned that the orange fanta had the most sugar and the water had the least.
This mattered to me because I want to stay healthy and fit, and now I know what is the healthiest drink that was used in this project.

Everyday Medicine…Unexpected Effects

MEDICINE & HEALTH SCIENCES

My science fair project is about how ibuprofen might affect plants. I chose this topic because ibuprofen is something people use all the time, and I wondered what effects it can really have on our bodies and other living organisms. For the experiment, I tested two different plant species. I used three plants of each type, so I had six plants total. In each group of three, I had one control plant that only got water, one plant that got a low dose of ibuprofen, and one plant that got a high dose of ibuprofen. During the project, I gave each plant its assigned treatment and observed them carefully. I looked for differences in how the plants grew and how healthy they seemed. I measured and recorded plant height, weight and changes in the leaves, like color, wilting, or drooping. Then I compared the control plants to the low-dose and high-dose plants to see if the ibuprofen caused any noticeable effects. This project helped me learn that everyday medicines can have unexpected effects on living things, even plants, and it made me think more about how chemicals might impact our bodies and nature.

Are Food Label Calories Accurate?

MEDICINE & HEALTH SCIENCES

MEDICINE & HEALTH SCIENCES

The experiment goal was to test how soda & different liquids affects tooth enamel, using egg shells. I hypothesized when eggshells were put in different liquids, the egg shells would change color and become weaker over time. I used eggshells because they are made up of calcium, which is similar to tooth enamel. Tooth enamel is the hardest part of the body, but because it’s not alive, once it is damaged, it cannot simply grow back like skin and other parts of the body.

I boiled eggs and placed them in 9 different liquids. Then data was observed for 5 days. The liquid was tested for pH and the eggs were weighed and the texture was observed. The results showed that when eggshells were placed in acidic liquids they caused the most damage. Eggs placed in white vinegar showed the most damage and the shell was completely destroyed. Eggs in Coke, Diet Coke and Dr. Pepper turned brown inside and out. Eggs placed in soda and orange juice became stained, thinner and rough or chalky. Water and mineral water are the best liquids, causing little to no damage.
The results showed that liquids with lower pH had the most damage to eggshells. Liquids with higher pH caused the least damage. The experiment supports the hypothesis that acidic drinks can weaken and stain egg shells. Therefore, because eggshells represent tooth enamel, this shows drinking less soda and more water prevents the most damage and is better for teeth enamel.

Uv Blocking...Fact Or Fiction?

MEDICINE & HEALTH SCIENCES

Purpose: To evaluate the UV blocking ability of various types of sunglasses. My hypothesis was that polarized sunglasses would block more UV radiation than non-polarized lenses, and that higher-end brands of sunglasses would have better UV blocking ability.

Methods: I used the sun as my source of UV radiation. I measured UVA and UVB radiation transmission through various sunglasses using a handheld digital spectrophotometer. Measurements were collected three times to ensure repeatability.

Results: All sunglasses tested blocked 100% of UVB radiation, but none blocked 100% of UVA radiation. Polarized lenses blocked more UVA radiation than non-polarized lenses. All brands of polarized lenses blocked at least 90% of UVA radiation, with Oakley lenses providing the most UVA protection.

Conclusions: The claim of 100% UVA/UVB blocking sunglasses is not entirely accurate. Polarized lenses are superior to non-polarized lenses in UVA protection. There is little difference in UVA blocking ability of various brands, although of those I tested Oakley was the best.

Say What?!

MEDICINE & HEALTH SCIENCES

The question I chose for my project is: “Does age affect the ability to hear frequencies?” My hypothesis was that the main cause of hearing loss (Presbycusis) was aging, and if I played frequencies for a child and an older adult, the child would hear more of the frequencies than the older adult. The procedures I followed for my experiment were to first find the people whom I would use in my experiment and they had to be in a reasonable age range. Second, I brought the people one by one into a room and played different frequencies and noted which ones they could hear and couldn’t hear. After that, I compared the notes and came to a conclusion which showed that the eldest person I tested did not have the worst scores, and the youngest person I tested did not have the best scores, proving that age is not the only cause of hearing loss.

How Long Will It Last?

MEDICINE & HEALTH SCIENCES

The question studied in this project was how long perfume and cologne last on different types of skin. To test this, samples of different types of skin were made using gelatin. Baby oil was added to represent oily and combination skin, while dry skin did not have baby oil added. Perfume and cologne were placed on Petri dishes with the same types of skin samples. The strength of the scent was checked every five minutes, starting at five minutes and counting up to thirty minutes, to see how the smell changed over time. The results showed that perfume lasted longer on dry skin as well compared to combination and oily skin. This may be because the baby oil mixed with the gelatin absorbed more of the scent, causing it to fade faster. This project is important because perfume companies could use this information to create perfumes and colognes that last longer on all skin types.

Weights On A Plane

My data shows that breath and air tied and breath and air both last a very long time and that helium is not the best balloon gas.

PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH

I tested the concept of Lenz's Law by dropping magnets of various sizes through a ten-foot length of copper tubing. The magnet passing over a conductor generated an opposing magnetic field to the magnet, slowing the rate of descent.

Sound And Density Of Liquids

PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH

I got the idea for this project on Thanksgiving while I was rubbing a wine glass filled with water and noticed it made a sound. Research I did for this project included finding the equation for density which is weight divided by volume. I also learned that most household liquids have different densities.

This experiment setup was easy to do at home. I used the liquids I wanted to test, a wine glass to make sound, a scale, a measuring cup, something to measure the sound with, and something to record the data.

Our science fair project tested how different kinds of light affect plant growth. We grew five mint plants under different lights: daylight, LED, infrared, UV, and darkness. The plants were grown for 14 days and the water level kept the same as a control.

At the start, we measured each plant’s height. Every morning we turned on the lights for each plant. In the afternoon we checked the water level in each plants’ bowl and added water if the level was below the 1/2” line. In the evening we measured the plants, wrote down the results and drew pictures of the plants in our lab notebook. The lights were turned off each night.

At the end of the experiment, we used the data from our notebook and made a table and then a graph to compare the growth. We also made visual observations.

The plant grown in daylight grew the best. It was healthiest, tallest, and had the most leaves. The LED plant grew second best and looked closest to the daylight plant. Next was the plant in Infrared light, it grew toward the light and had many dark and burned spots on the leaves. The plant grown in darkness grew surprisingly straight and had the least number of leaves. The plant in UV light grew the least, shrunk overall, and it also had the most dark spots on its leaves.

Our experiment showed our hypothesis was mostly correct. Plants grown in daylight grew best and looked the healthiest. The order of the plant growth from tallest to shortest was daylight, LED, infrared, darkness, and UV.

Resisting Microplastics

PLANT SCIENCES

Microplastics are plastic particles or fibers smaller than 5mm in size that are increasingly found in soil and may interfere with plant growth. This experiment studied how different plants were affected by growing in soil containing microplastics. Interest in this topic was caught because plastic pollution is increasing worldwide, and plants are essential for food production, oxygen, and healthy environments. Understanding which plants are more resistant to microplastics could help guide future agricultural and botanical sciences.
Microplastics cause stress and damage to the plant, leading to stunting or even finishing the growing process vital to the plant and its surroundings’ health.
The supported hypothesis stated that if spinach, lettuce, and radish seeds were grown in soil with or without microplastics, then radishes would show the greatest resistance and maintain the highest percentage of their original growth. In a greenhouse, all plants were grown in pots containing soil mixed with 0g, 10g, or 30g of microplastics under the same conditions of sunlight, temperature, water, soil amount, and time. Plant height above the soil was measured every two days for 28 days, and total plant length including roots was measured at the end of the experiment.
The results showed that radishes were the most resistant to microplastics, growing in both 10g and 30g of microplastics and yet produced greater biological material than its control group, while spinach and lettuce showed reduced growth. Further research could include testing more plant types, higher concentrations of microplastics, and comparing the effects of microplastics and nanoplastics.

Light Power, Leaf Power

PLANT SCIENCES

I am measuring the effect of light power on plants. My purpose is so that people use less monetary resources on all sorts of plant vitamins, Miracle Grow, and etc. Also, so people can have an easier time starting gardens. Finally, if this works the I hope it will it will the economy by having more resources and businesses. I hypothesized that at 95% power would have the peppers flourish. My conclusion is that the power that worked best was 85%. The conclusion did not support my hypothesis. If I were to do this differently I would have started earlier and go all the way down to 5% light power. The most surprising data was that 100% produced the least growth. Finally, if I could do something else with these plants I would have seen if tilt can affect growth. Finally, all this was to help my mom with her garden this year which is why I did the experiment.

Can Plants See Colors?

PLANT SCIENCES

Plants need light to make their own food through a process called photosynthesis. In this project, I wanted to find out if the color of light affects how plants grow. My question was: Can plants see colors? To test this, I grew radish plants under different colors of light.

I planted the same number of radish seeds in four pots with the same type of soil. Each pot received a different light condition: green light, orange light, purple light, and natural light. All plants were kept indoors, received 10 hours of light each day, and were watered every two days in the morning with 30 milliliters of water per pot. These factors were controlled to make sure the experiment was fair.

Over four weeks, I measured the height of the plants and recorded observations. At the end of the experiment, I measured the fresh weight of the plants to compare how much biomass they produced under each light color.

Elementary Project Abstracts

Is This A Good Decision?

Aba With Cats

Do Dogs Have Dominant Paws Like Humans Do Hands

How Does Sugar Affect The Sweetness Of Cupcakes

Bird Buffet

Leaky Pipeline? Analyzing Female Participation In The University Of Utah Science And Engineering Fair

Does Color Affect Taste?

Sleep Study

Sleep Time Slayer

How Does The Key Of Music Affect Feelings

Marathon Manicure

Homework Or Stresswork? A Study Of How Homework Effects Kids

What Colored Light And Type Of Music Attract Fish?

Inclusión Educativa

Ai Generated Or Real?

Do Brown Apples Taste Bad? (If So, Can We Slow The Browning?)

Human Behavior: Identifying Ai Images

Flavor Savor Remix

Variables In Hiking Patterns Of Dogs And Humans

Lead Pollution In Thrift Stores

Social Media On Kids

How School Strategies Affect School Proficiency

Spelling With Beethoven: Can Music Trigger Memory Retrieval?

What’s That Smell?

Is It Real Or Ai?

Using Machine Learning To Detect Psychological Stress From Text

Real Vs. A.I. Can You Tell The Difference?

Sight Vs. Taste

Dogs And Balls

A Project Called 101

Put Your Peripherals To The Test

Soap, Signs & Science: Can Words Make People Wash Their Hands

Screen Time And Mood

Music's Effect On Dogs

Do Video Games Cause Stress?

From Jams To Exams

Will Creator Interactions Result In Youtube Channel Growth?

You Read That How Fast?

Ai Images Vs. Human Photography

Sus Suspect?

Does Practice Really Make Perfect?

Exploring The Impact Of Social Media On Mental Health With Machine Learning

Germ Ball

Pitching It To Rover

5 Second Myth

The Dark Mystery Of Eyes

Fluffy Bird Feast

Nature's Recyclers

Do Types Of Food Have An Affect On Isopod Growth?

A Wrinkle In Time

Chew On This: The Case Of The Missing Flavor.

Afterimage Phenomenon In Different Age Groups

Testing The Best Food For Tardigrades In 109 Degree F Without Dying

Beverages Vs. Teeth

Chicken Bedding What Insulator Is The Best?

The Power Of Fire Resistant Solutions

The Great Pop Off: Oil Edition

Carbonation Competition

“Ignite Your Science: The Ultimate Fire Starter Showdown!”

Manicure Marathon

Cookie Catastrophe

Dissolving The Jolly

Spud Science: How Potato Variety Affects Open Circuit Voltage In A Potato Battery

A Pinch Of Salt

What Makes Ice Melt Faster?

Melting Ice

What Are The Chemical And Physical Changes In The Process Of Making Charcoal?

Did The Egyptians Find The Best Way To Mummify Things? Did The Egyptians Find The Best Way To Mummify Things? Did The Egyptians Find The Best Way To Mummify Things? Did The Egyptians Find The Best Way To Mummify Things?

Crafting Quality Cookies

The Super Spectacular Case Of The Permanent Ink

Sudden Impact: A Biochemical Reaction

Meltdown! What Makes Ice Melt The Fastest?

Feeling Downie? Eat A Brownie! The Science Of Sugar In Brownies

Candy Rockets

Fizz Factor

Cookie Chrmistry

The Power Within Potatoes

University of Utah
Science & Engineering Fair