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BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
For my science experiment, I am testing which flowers butterflies are most attracted to. The flowers that I am using for this experiment are poinsettias, carnations, and scarlet stars. In order to do this experiment, I got a cage to keep them in, and tried to make it seem like their habitat they would have outside. In order to do that, I bought moss, rocks, and the flowers along with a container to keep their food in. I wasn’t able to start until the weekend so I could monitor them all day. In order to get my trial #3, I recorded a video of the entire day until I got back from school so I could rewatch it and update my chart. In the end, poinsettias ended up being the most liked flower for the butterflies, and it is because poinsettias have a lot of sugar in their nectar, meaning that the butterflies are more attracted to it because it helps bring more flying energy. Some problems that I ran into was that the poinsettia was in a pot, but there was a gap between the pot and the actual plant, so 2 butterflies ended up dying because of that, meaning that the data would be kind of off. The other problem was that the butterflies kept getting stuck behind the plants, meaning that I had to move the plants forward. Other than that, everything went well. I can now conclude that butterflies are most attracted to poinsettias.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
How do different Genres of music affect the human heart rate. what effect does music genre have on our heart rate, does it fluctuation different with how aggressive the music beats are or not.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
The project is about the measurement of decibels at an NBA game. The measurement of decibels is varied depending on the kind of shot the Utah Jazz shot. My hypothesis is that a dunk would make the crowd cheer the loudest. My result showed that I would correct, and A dunk did make the crowd cheer loudest. I went to 2 NBA games, and both were at the same seats, but against different teams.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
We love cats and wanted to find out if they are more right pawed or left pawed! To accomplish this we decided to visit the Humane Society of Utah three times to get a large sample of cats. We dangled an identical string(new for each cat to avoid spreading germs) in front of each cat 5 times and tracked whether they used their right paw or left paw to play with it. Each cat would be declared right or left pawed by which one they used the most. Based off our findings, more cats are right pawed!
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
When our family got three pet rabbits in the Summer of 2024 we were wondering how our care taking would change when Winter came. So far we were manually letting the rabbits graze in our backyard and come back in when we prompted. I decided to get a "doggy door" for our rabbits so we could see which they would prefer if given the choice as the weather gets colder. I was surprised to see that the rabbits could handle very cold temperatures and would excitedly run outside in the evenings. They had a warm place inside to sleep as well. The ultimate result was that once the temperatures dropped before 40 degrees in December as opposed to being above 40 degrees in November.... they did want to come inside.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Memories are formed by chemical changes in nerve cells. These chemical changes are called memory paths. We know that a persons environment can affect studying and memorization. Comfort and background noises can affect memorization. Does color affect memorization and recall? Some colors do affect learning habits so we will test colors. 5th grade students will study states and capitols on four different colors of flash cards. They will be quizzed after studying to see which color helped students recall facts best.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
My project is about how songs played in both major and minor keys affect mood. I chose two songs, Happy Birthday and Old MacDonald had a Farm. Both were written in a major key, so I transposed the music to a minor key. I then designed a survey. On the survey, it had a scale of one to five. One representing sad and five representing happy. I then played the two songs in both major and minor keys for family members. After I played the songs, I asked them what emotion they felt during the different versions. Because there were two songs, I added the total votes for major and same for minor. I then made a conclusion. I found that songs played in major keys made people feel positive emotions such as happiness, and songs played in minor keys made people feel negative emotions such as sadness or fear.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
The QWERTY keyboard layout increased its popularity in 1990, leading to an investigation into the possibility of the layout causing a lexical drift in regard to popular baby name choices. By analyzing the weighted average of right-side advantage (RSA) over the years preceding and following 1990, an increase was observed with more recent years corresponding to the highest averages. This upward trend suggests a lasting influence of the QWERTY layout on human-computer interaction. This study’s findings shed light on the long-term effects of keyboard layout on lexical drift.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
The mind is a powerful thing, and when distracted, it can convince us we aren't in any pain. I love playing video games and I wanted to test how playing video games can affect the feeling of pain. I used 3 different volunteers, myself included, to see how long they could hold their toes in ice water without distraction. Then I had them play a video game. While they were playing, I placed their other foot in ice water and timed to see if they could keep it in longer while distracted by the video game.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Sweet dreams! Do our lived experiences show up when we sleep? After reading several scholarly articles about dreams, we wanted to see for ourselves if what people go through when they are awake shows up when they dream. We hypothesized that more than 90% of the time, what people experience during the day would show up at night in their dreams. We contacted everybody in our immediate and extended family and asked what was the most notable thing that they had experienced in the last 3 months. We then asked what was the last dream they could remember. We made a note about whether or not the dreams seems to reasonably relate to their lived experiences. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that only 75% of the dreams seemed to the lived experiences. Future research could focus on the remaining 25% of the dreams that did not seem to relate, including a few individuals who could not remember their dreams at all.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
My project develops a device to help users identify essential and non-essential possessions, facilitating informed decisions regarding disposal or donation to minimize waste. The process reinforces mindful consumption by requiring users to evaluate needs before purchasing.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Our project was to see how different activities such as exercise, coloring, and looking at a social media presentation impact mood and food choices. Studies have shown that 10 minutes of exercise can increase happy feelings. Studies have also shown screens negatively impact language, thinking, and the ability to regulate emotions, while nature restores attention and mood.
We discovered that inactive activities (a social media presentation and coloring) impact feelings in a more negative way. The active activity (walking) impacted feelings in a positive way. Our findings were that overall participants felt more energetic and happy and less anxious when they were active. Taking a walk outdoors was the best way to improve mood in our study.
Almost everyone changed their answer about food choices. The participants at baseline wanted the least fast food but then fast food increased and and stayed the same for the rest of testing. After the walk more people wanted healthy food or were not hungry. After the social media presentation more participants wanted snacks. After coloring people were less hungry again. Overall people after the media presentation wanted snacks the most and that was the highest percent we saw through out the whole testing.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
In this experiment we researched the correlation between social media use and GPA in high school students. We hypothesized that more time spent on social media would negatively impact GPA. We surveyed 109 Olympus High School students from 9th - 12th grade. We asked about time spent on social media, social media sites used, their average GPA’s, and their grade in school . We found that more time spent on social media equated to reduction in GPA. We also found however, that TikTok and Instagram were correlated with poorer GPA as compared to BeReal and Pinterest, that had a less negative impact. We were surprised however, that many students spent more than 5 hours per day on social media while still maintaining above an average GPA of 3.1. We hypothesize this could be due to the location of Olympus High School in the SLC valley, the socioeconomic status of students attending, resources allocated to these specific students, student:teacher ratio and so on. In future studies we would like to study other high schools in other parts of the state, diverse populations, and various socioeconomic situations to evaluate for changes in our results. We hypothesize it will have more of a negative impact in other areas.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Americans like to eat cookies. However, Americans are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. Our project is engineering cookies with healthy additives. WE added avocado, carrots and zucchini to snickerdoodle cookies. We predicted which additives would be most li led and least liked. Then, we then had individuals taste them and scored their favorite and least favorite. We discuss why some additives may be more liked.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
We explored how music effected how people drew. We played two types of music while fellow students drew pictures and analyzed the drawings for differences. We observed that when we prompted the students to draw pictures of ducks at school and at a park with rock music they drew crazier drawings and with the classical music they drew calmer drawings.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
We wanted to see if music could help you play basketball. We did some tests on different people to find out. Each person shot five times each at five different lines with five different genres of music (classic, country, rap, pop and rock.) We found out that for the kids the genre pop was the best, but for the adults the genre rap was the best. Over all the genre pop was the best music for playing basketball. Our recommendation for you is to listen to pop music while you are playing basketball to improve your shooting accuracy.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
The reason for this project was to see if sugar could be replaced with corn syrup without people noticing. Four batches of chocolate chip cookie dough were made following the same recipe. Batches increased by 25% corn syrup content. Subjects were then given all cookies and were asked “which cookie tastes best?” and “Which cookie tastes the worst” and recorded the data. Tasters favorite and least favorite was recorded along with ranking how much each taster noticed the sugar substitute (ranked from 0-1 by 0.25 increments).
Five subjects tasted the cookies. It was found that people do notice when sugar is substituted in cookie recipes unless it’s less than 50% substitution.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
The project was about which color yarn defines stitches more. I crocheted 9x4 stitch patches with each color. I then asked classmates how many stitches they saw on each one, and they got to look at them. I then averaged that and the yarn closest to 9 was more defined because of them being 9x4.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
The purpose of my project was to determine if my classmates spend multiple hours a day on screens since their conversations revolve around screen activities.
I created a survey and distributed it to my schoolmates.
I collected age, grade, screen time per day weekdays, screen time per day weekends, and if any screen time was spent after 8pm.
I encountered some difficulty with survey design and how to create a survey that could produce an answer directly related to a question.
I found that my schoolmates do not spend multiple hours a day on screens although their conversation might seem to prove otherwise. I also saw a decline in screen time in older schoolmates by grade and age as an area for further survey.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
It all began when I was thinking about shrinkflation and how brands are giving us less and making us pay more. This happens very often in potato chips, so I decided to test those. I wanted to measure which brands were “shrinkflating” their products the most. At first, I thought I’ll see which brands have less chips inside but then I realized that they might be giving you less but having a lower price, so I decided to find the price per chip. I know you may be asking why not do price per gram or ounce. I decided to do price per chip because it is more relevant: do you care more about how much weight you're getting or how many bites you’re getting or how many chips? In the end, I decided to do both. My question was Which type of chip has the best value for your money. My answer was Lay's. In conclusion, I learned a lot about different brands and types of chips. I learned that Lay's are giving you the best value for your money but they are giving you lighter chips. I also learned Doritos have the best price per gram and giving you the heaviest chips. I also learned that most brands aren’t giving you what they say on the container. I think this is due to how they are packaged.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
The Impact of Color on Memory Recall
I wanted to discover whether color helps memory. During which I found out that green and black are the best colors for remembering words. This is important because it can help people study in school and help remember things for work.10 research articles were used to create an experiment where I separated 10 words into sets of 5 (performed on computer then printed. Each group of 10 words received a specific color. My hypothesis was that if I print words in black then people will be able to recall them more easily because it is the most widely used color for printing and typing.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Our project is about what things affect a gymnast balance on the beam. Going to college gymnastics meet and seeing gymnast fall of the beam, we wonder what affects them. We, being gymnast as well, wanted to know how to have better balance so that we don't fall off the beam during a routine. At first, we thought only sound would affect them, like loud distracting noises or fast beat music. However, during our research, we found that there are four main things that affect a gymnast balance: vision, vestibular/inner ear, proprioception (your joints and muscles), and core muscles. We tested out all four to see which one has the most affect.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
ChatGPT has captured the news about the capabilities of AI since it was released about two years ago. It is being used by students, professionals, and the general public. There are both promises and concerns about AI that generates text. One of these concerns is whether the AI can answer questions correctly and convincingly. AI mimicking a human can lead to fraud or abuse. Based on current news, I hypothesized that ChatGPT can mimic a human convincingly. In this study, I created a list of 10 questions that I used for a Turing test to test my hypothesis. I compiled the answers to these 10 questions from ChatGPT and an adult human. These 20 answers were sorted in random order in an online questionnaire and 105 participants were asked to judge whether each answer was generated by ChatGPT or a human. I summarized correct and wrong responses from these 105 participants into a 2x2 table. The results show that humans could not tell between human-generated and AI-generated responses. ChatGPT passed the Turing test, proving the hypothesis.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Music is fun to listen to, but can it affect your heart? We studied the effects of different music genres on the heart rate.
1. Purpose of project and experiment: We tested two different genres of music–classical and heavy metal–to analyze the different effects on heart rate.
2. Methods of Research: The participants in this study were ages 11-12, all in 6th grade at Channing Hall Middle School. Participants listened to music through headphones and once they listened for a set amount of time we would take their heart rate. We would repeat this process for both types of music.
3. Data/Observation: After the experiment was conducted, all of the data was collected to see if there was a significant change between the baseline data and the data collected after listening to both genres of music. The average starting heart rate was 81.6. The average heart rate decreased to 79.7 after listening to calm music and increased to 86.8 after listening to heavy metal music. Some difficulties we encountered in our research consisted of not having enough time and not being able to test in a completely quiet environment.
4.Conclusions/Applications: The type of music that you listen to directly affects your heart rate. Calm music, such as classical music, had a relaxing effect on the body and lowered the heart rate. The opposite was true of heavy metal music. Music with aggressive vocals, heavy guitar and intense drumming increased the heart rate.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Are Your Eyes Playing Tricks On You?
I began my project with the question, Are there times when our eyes fool us into seeing things that really aren’t there. And if that happens…. WHY does it happen? How does it happen? After doing some research I formed the following hypothesis: I believe participants who look at the colored circle for the longest time (60 seconds) will see the afterimage for the longest time because based on my research I found a connection between cone stimulation and after-image persistence. I completed three trials for each participant for different time periods (10, 30 or 60 seconds cone stimulation). The variable included: Controlled variables (same paper with the red circle, room location, and timer) Independent variable (The amount of time the participants stare at the red circle - cone stimulation) Dependent variable (How long the afterimage is visible to the participants - after image persistence). In conclusion, I learned that my hypothesis was right. Based on my research and what I learned, I had discovered that an input of a longer cone stimulation led to an output of a longer afterimage persistence. In the chart, the 10 second cone stimulation had a larger output than the thirty second cone stimulation. This is actually strange because the 30 second cone stimulation time is greater than the 10 second cone stimulation time. Yet the output made it the opposite to the input.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Studies have shown that smell affects memory. My experiment tested whether rosemary sage scent improves short term memory. I set up one room with rosemary sage scent and another room with no scent. I made two trays with 20 different household items on each tray. I randomized 20 participants to which room and tray they would do first. I had each participant go to their assigned room, study their tray for one minute, read a paragraph from a book, then write down all the tray items they could remember. Then the participant repeated the steps with the tray and room they hadn’t yet done. I found on average people remembered 12.1 items in the scented room and 10.75 items in the unscented room. Comparing other variables, participants remembered 11.75 items from tray one and 11.1 items from tray two, and 11.7 items on their first try and 11.15 items on their second try. Overall, the difference in items remembered in the scented room was 1.35, while the differences in other variables (tray 1 or tray 2, and first or second try) was 0.65 items and 0.55 items. My conclusion is participants were able to recall more items in the scented room than in the unscented room. The difference in items recalled in the scented room was more than twice the difference in trays or which try it was. This supports my hypothesis that rosemary sage scent improves short term memory.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
In this project, I recorded the reaction speed of people of all ages and both genders. I started by using an app that measures how long it takes to tap the screen when the screen changes color. After doing this 5 times, the app would calculate an average. After collecting around 50 data points, we realized that it was taking too long and was too difficult to collect a large enough sample size with this method. We used ChatGPT to help us develop a web-based application and database to improve our reach. We shared the app all over social media and collected over 300 additional responses. My hypothesis was originally that men between the ages of 18-25 would have the fastest reaction speeds because that's when their minds are at the peak of development. We thought that the graph would look a little like a smiley face, with very young and very old having similar reaction times. But when we finished collecting our sample data, it turned out that the youngest started highest, and reaction times quickly dipped. But instead of going straight back up, it increased gradually, like a Nike swoosh once for those around 40 years old and older. We had several outliers in our data, but for the most part, we had a good enough sample size for it to not greatly impact our results. My conclusion was correct, younger men were consistently faster than most of the participants.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
This project investigates the impact of different types of bird seed on bird attraction, led by students Jessica, Anthony, and Lexi. Their research question centers on whether varying bird seed types can influence the diversity and number of birds visiting a feeder. With a shared passion for the outdoors and avian life, the team plans to explore the relationship between seed choice and bird activity, aiming to provide insights beneficial for bird watchers and ornithologists alike.
The students hypothesize that incorporating various dried fruits alongside traditional seeds may yield greater attraction for birds, positing that the diversity in food options could enhance feeding activity. To test this hypothesis, they will utilize two bird feeders, a camera for monitoring, and an observational notebook to record findings. The procedure involves setting up the feeders, dispensing two scoops of seeds and dried fruit, and monitoring bird activity every five hours to determine which food type is consumed more frequently.
Preliminary results suggest that birds may prefer sunflower seeds over dried fruit, as indicated by higher consumption rates. This project not only emphasizes the significance of seed choice in attracting bird species but also lays the groundwork for future research into bird feeding preferences. Ultimately, the findings could contribute valuable knowledge to both casual bird enthusiasts and scientific communities focused on avian behavior.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
This project, conducted by Zoey, Amani, and Olimpia, investigates the impact of different types of music on eating speed and food intake. The hypothesis posits that listening to classical music will result in a slower eating pace compared to heavy metal music due to the slower tempo and smoother rhythm of classical tunes. The background research highlights that music tempo has been shown to influence eating behavior, suggesting that slower music can encourage individuals to eat at a more leisurely pace, potentially leading to reduced food consumption.
The experiment involved four participants who were timed while eating pasta with sauce on two separate days, each accompanied by different music genres—classical music on one day and rock on the other. The results indicated a significant difference in eating speed; participants consumed their food more slowly while listening to classical music and ate faster when exposed to heavy metal.
The conclusion drawn from the findings confirms that music can indeed alter the speed at which individuals eat, a phenomenon described as "rhythm synchronization," where the body aligns its natural rhythms with the tempo of the music. Future research may involve varying the types of food and expanding the participant pool to explore a broader range of outcomes, recognizing that individual eating speeds can differ. This study contributes to the understanding of how auditory stimuli can influence behavioral patterns related to eating.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Objective
For this experiment I wanted to discover which nail polish is more chip resistant. It is important to test this out to see if a more expensive nail polish brand is better than cheaper one. In order to test it, I used some of my mom’s nail polish to test this. As a result of my experiment, I learned that the higher price does affect how chip resistant the nail polish is.
Method
For this experiment I used 3 nail polish brands, L.A. colors gel extreme shine gel-like polish ($5), Sally Hansen hard as nails-nail polish ($8) and Essie nail polish ($10). I applied two even coats of nail polish to each finger. I then waited for one week of regular use. At the end of the week, I inspected each finger closely to see which one had chipped more and recorded my results.
Results and Conclusion
At the end of one week I observed my nails and all the nail polishes had chipped. After observing the three nail polishes the worst quality nail polish was the L.A. colors nail polish (which was the cheapest). It chipped first and also chipped the most. The best of the lot was the Essie nail polish as it chipped the least of all. You can tell easily after looking at pictures that the L.A. colors nail polish has the worst ingredients and the worst quality. The results were pretty conclusive and the experiment was a success.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
We wondered if the events in our life were seen differently because of sound. When we came up with this idea we wanted to test it . We tested this idea by having our test subjects look at a black screen with two white balls on the screen. The two balls bounced of each other and then repeated. The first time we played the illusion we played it without sound so our test subjects thought the two balls were going through each other. The second time we played the illusion we played a bouncing sound as the balls bounced off each other therefore, our test subjects thought the two balls were bouncing off each other. In total, we tested 14 people, 12 of them them got the reaction we thought they would, and we learned that sound does effect sight. In conclusion, our results supported our hypothesis.
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
For our project we wanted to test if the price is worth the taste. We tested different neighbors and friends by having them each taste marshmallows, Sprite/Starry, and cereal. We wanted to see if they preferred the name brand of each (which is more expensive) or the store brand (which is cheaper in price). We all thought the name brand (or higher priced items) would have a better taste to most of the participants.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
My experiment is the show how different liquids can change or damage teen i used eggs to show it because it's made of calcium carbonate
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
Have you ever wondered why one bead recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of yeast and another recipe calls for multiple tablespoons? We wanted to know how the amount of yeast effected our bread. What would happen if we added more or less yeast? We tested every end of the spectrum. From no yeast in our bread to quadruple the amount of yeast. How does the amount of yeast effect the height and growth of our bread.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
We wanted to see which surface of an egg was the strongest. So we did an experiment to see how much weight pressure the different portions could withstand before cracking and the results surprised us!
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
I always told my family that it is ok for our dogs to lick us because dogs have less germs than people. I wanted to do a science experiment that tested my saying.
Dog saliva helps fight canine cavities. It is more alkane than human saliva. I believe that dog surfaces that surfaces that are mixed with dog saliva will grow less germs than the surfaces that do not have dog saliva.
My experiment was to see if the dog saliva applied on samples would have less germs on it. We did this by swabbing surfaces that might have tons of germs . We grew the bacteria in petri dishes that had agar on them and kept them in a dark, warm spot.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
What I wanted to find out if a blood borne pathogen would travel better through air or touch. My hypothesis was that it would travel better through touch. I used tonic water(which glows under a blacklight) and put it in a bowl. Then touched the walls of a containment hood for 30 seconds. I collected my data and repeated the experiment 2 more times. I cleaned the hood between each test. Then I put a high power non rotating fan into the hood and had it blow the tonic water from a small bowl for 30 seconds. I repeated this 2 more times. My results showed that a blood borne pathogen travels peter through touch not air so my hypothesis was correct.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
My project was testing the voltage of different fruits using a multimeter. I wanted to see if the voltage matched the pH level. I juiced all the fruits and measured their pH levels, then I plugged them into the multimeter to measure the voltage. My hypothesis was that the lemon would have the most voltage level and the highest pH level. My conclusion was that my hypothesis was correct. A higher pH level does indeed mean a higher voltage level.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
This project examines how long rootbeer should be left before it is alcoholic or too carbonated to drink. It also looks at how more yeast affects carbonation and alcohol levels.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
What type of leavening agent makes bread rise the most? If yeast feeds off sugar and is a living organism and baking soda and baking powder are chemical agents and I bake loaves of bread with each leavening agent then, I predict the yeast will be the largest. I took Yeast, Baking Soda, and Baking Powder and baked three loaves of each. When I put them in the oven I wanted to see what leavening agent got the biggest. Yeast got the largest out of all three of them. The Yeast mean was 4.75 compared to Baking Soda 3.125 and Baking Powder 3.083.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
I love birds and I was curious to see if there was one type of bird seed that they like best. I did research to narrow it down to three specific types (sunflower, safflower and nyjer) and I planned out a way to test them. I decided to lay three bowls out at the same time of day for one hour of each of three days. During that hour I tallied how many birds ate from each bowl. I discovered that the sunflower were the most popular.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
The purpose of our project was to determine which type of food container keeps grapes the freshest to prevent food waste so that less people experience hunger. In America, food waste is a big problem right now. Food is being wasted and there are a lot of hungry people in the United States. Instead of wasting food, people could donate food to hungry people. People might throw away food because they don't know the best way to store it and it goes bad. Grapes are a healthy snack that a lot of kids like. So we wanted to learn the best way to store grapes so they won't get thrown away. We studied storing grapes in a paper bag, paper bowl, glass bowl, and Ziplock bag. We did 3 observations 5 days apart. We observed the color, smell, and texture of the grapes. After 15 days it was determined that the grapes in the Ziplock bag kept grapes the freshest but smelled like a rotten orange. This did not support our hypothesis that the glass container will keep grapes the freshest. Further research is needed that looks at temperature, weight, indoor, outdoors, fridge, and freezer. Further research is also needed on other foods to stop all foods from being thrown away and being wasted.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
The purpose of my project was to help my dog’s breath smell better and stay cleaner. My hypothesis was if I used the Brush Free Oral Gel for dogs my dog’s mouth will be cleaner than when I used the Tropiclean Fresh Breath Dental Health Solution (liquid) treatment. To test my hypothesis, I took 4 swab samples from my dog’s mouth. Sample 1 was before the use of treatment. Sample 2 was after using the Tropiclean Fresh Breath Dental Health Solution (liquid) treatment. Sample 3 was taken after a two weeks without treatment. Sample 4 was taken after the Brush Free Oral Gel treatment. All samples were taken to a secure lab and observed on days 4 and 7. Data was collected by counting the bacteria colonies in each petri dish to see if the number of colonies was reduced after each treatment. I had difficulty applying the oral gel treatment. Time was another issue because I would have liked to test each treatment longer. After analyzing my data, I found that the Tropiclean Fresh Breath Dental Health Solution (liquid) was the best treatment to help reduce the bacteria in my dog’s mouth.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
My Uncle died from a genetic defect (Hypoplastic Left Heart) when he was a baby. This made me wonder about what things we inherit from our parents and grandparents and how they are passed down. The question I asked was, "Which simple genetic traits come from my Dad's side of the family?"
I took 9 simple genetic traits and tested them on different family members. Some of these traits include Widow’s Peak, Cleft chin and Hitchhikers Thumb and PTC paper that evaluates taste sensitivity. I used control paper that is tasteless to ensure that my family didn’t just say it was bitter. I analyzed the data to figure out which traits appeared more frequently.
I thought that the taco tongue would be the most common trait of the 9 traits that I evaluated because I know lots of people that have it. I also think that having a widow's peak is less common on my Dad's side because I think that gene comes from my mom's side.
I found out that my hypothesis was wrong. Morton's Toe was the least common trait and having a detached earlobe was the most common. I also researched what percentage of the world had what trait and compared it to my results.
I chose this science fair project because it's interesting to see what traits were carried from my paternal grandparents and what traits I got from my mom, or maternal family and it brought me closer to my family.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
This project investigates how different types of soda affect the rate of tooth decay by analyzing changes in the structure, color, and mass of teeth submerged in various beverages over time. The experiment aims to provide a better understanding of how sugary and acidic drinks contribute to dental erosion.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
The experiment observed the effects of household chemicals on algal growth. Algae thrived in liquids rich in nitrogen and phosphorus but showed signs of stress over time. The sample with bone meal caused the most noticeable impact, leading to yellowing and stunted growth. Ammonia gradually hindered algae growth, while dish soap initially had little effect but eventually caused growth difficulties. Overall, all algae samples showed signs of stress, such as yellowing and reduced growth, supporting the hypothesis that household chemicals negatively affect algae, with varying impacts depending on the chemical used.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
Microbes such as bacteria and yeast that infect humans are becoming more resistant to the drugs that we use to treat infections in people. Identifying new sources of antimicrobial compounds may lead to new treatments for antibiotic or antifungal resistant infections. My goal was to determine if diverse mushrooms that grow in Utah contain antimicrobial chemicals that could kill bacteria or yeast.
Mushrooms are one of the most diverse species on earth. Scientists have shown that some mushroom extracts have antimicrobial properties. I collected and identified 16 different mushrooms species on Boulder Mountain. Some of these had known antimicrobial properties, and some of the mushrooms were known to be toxic to humans and others were edible. I hypothesized that some mushroom extracts will be antimicrobial. I predicted that mushrooms that are highly toxic to humans will be the most effective at killing bacteria and yeast.
For my experimental design, I collected live mushrooms, dried and ground them into a fine powder, and weighed ten grams of each mushroom. I then made a liquid extract using methanol. I then concentrated the extract and used this in my experiments.
I then put live bacteria and yeast on agar plates. I soaked filter paper in each mushroom extract and added it to the agar plates tested if it prevented microbial growth. I identified four mushroom extracts that could inhibit bacterial growth and one that could inhibit yeast growth.
In summary, I found that both toxic and edible mushroom extracts could be antimicrobial.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
The purpose of my project was to see how time affects cone cell fatigue. When looking at a colored image for different amounts of time, will the recovery time of your cone cells differ based on how long you stare at an image? My hypothesis was the longer you look at the image, the longer it will take for your cone cells to recover. I conducted trials of different times and discovered that my hypothesis was correct. Whenever I increased the amount of time spent looking at the image, the time the after-image persisted also increased.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
My project is about how different amounts of salt in water affect the shape and health of red blood cells. I wanted to find out what happens to red blood cells when they are placed in different salt solutions. My hypothesis was that red blood cells would maintain their normal shape in a solution with a small amount of salt, similar to what's found in the body. I predicted they would shrink in a very salty solution and burst in pure water. Red blood cells need the right balance of salt and water to maintain their shape and function. This project taught me how important it is for the environment inside and outside of cells must be balanced. Just like our bodies need the right amount of salt, so do our red blood cells to carry oxygen and keep us healthy!
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
I wanted to see how changing the amount of flour and water affects the tiny living things inside starter. I made three kinds of starters: one with regular amounts of flour and water, one with more water, and one with more flour. I measured how much they grew and how the ph changed. The starter with the most flour grew the most, which means it had the most yeast. The starter with the most water got the most acidic, which means it had the most bacteria. So, more flour helps yeast grow, and more water helps bacteria grow in sourdough starter.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
What happens to gummy bears when placed in different solutions? Do they swell, shrink, or stay the same? In my experiment, I tested the effects of osmosis on gummy bears using four solutions: sugar water, vinegar water, normal water, and salt water. My hypothesis was that the gummy bear in normal water would grow the most. However, to my surprise, the gummy bear in sugar water grew the largest! To test this, I put gummy bears in each solution and observed changes in their size over 24 hours. The results were fascinating: while the gummy bear in normal water did grow, the one in sugar water showed the most significant increase in size. On the other hand, the gummy bear in salt water shrunk and changed color, and the one in vinegar water turned into a glop, losing its shape completely. This experiment was both educational and fun to conduct, showing a clear demonstration of osmosis and its effects. This project was a great experience, and if I had the opportunity, I would love to explore more about osmosis and its interesting effects.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
Every time I washed my hands before this project I wondered if the soap actually killed the germs on our hands. Would soap kill them or remove them? Is the soap I use often helping eliminate the spread of germs? My science fair project has finally answered my question.
Soap has many things that helps clean our hands like a surfactant. A surfactant is composed of a pin-like molecular structure. According to the University of Yale, the surfactant has a hydrophobic (water hating) and hydrophilic (water loving) part. The water loving part will attach to the water and the water hating part attaches to the oil and grease on our hands. This is how our hands get cleaned. Also, bacteria is not killed. It is mechanically removed by surfactants.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
Our project studied the effects of SPF sunscreen on the growth cycle of plants.
BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY
My testable question is how does pH impact oral bacterial growth? The purpose of this project is to learn about ideal conditions for bacterial growth and how to prevent it. My hypothesis is that if oral bacterial samples are grown at different pH levels from 1.0-12.0, then the most bacterial growth will occur at a neutral pH and the least bacterial growth will occur when strong acids and bases are present. I collected oral samples from the same subject and grew cultures on agar plates with a strong acids, weak acid, neutral pH, strong base and weak base. I grew the cultures in an incubator for 2 days at 99 degrees F and counted the colonies. My results were that oral bacteria grew best in a weak acidic environment and strong acids and bases slowed bacterial growth.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
This project investigated the effectiveness of different water temperatures on stain removal. We hypothesized that hot water would be more effective due to its ability to dissolve things better. We applied a variety of stains to identical cotton fabric samples. Each stain was then washed in our washing machine using three different water temperatures: hot (approximately 120°F), warm (approximately 90°F), and cold (approximately 60°F). We compared the pre-wash and post-wash appearance of each fabric sample to see how effective it was. Surprisingly, our results showed that cold water was overall the most effective at removing stains, potentially due to its ability to prevent the stain from setting further into the fabric. This is good news because using cold water uses less energy and that is better for the environment!
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
I have always been told swimming as much as I do will damage my hair. I love swimming and don’t plan on stopping so I decided to see if swimming will actually cause my hair to be weaker. As a competitive swimmer who spends 10 or more hours a week in the pool, how will repeated daily exposure to chlorine affect the strength of my hair? I soaked 2 different samples of the same human hair in chlorinated pool water. The first sample I soaked for 2 hours a day and allowed to dry out in between days. The second sample I soaked in chlorinated water for 24 hours a day for 6 days. I replaced the water every 24 hours with fresh chlorinated pool water. After 6 days, I tested the tensile strength of the 6 strands of hair from each group and compared it to the tensile strength of the control group that didn’t have any exposure to chlorine. While the tensile strength of both groups of hair exposed to chlorine was slightly less than the control group, it was not significantly less. Chlorine does not have a significant weakening effect on hair in one week like I hypothesized it would.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
I tested whether size has an effect on the heat of a reusable gel hand warmer. I used three different sizes (small: 76g, medium: 576g, and large: 852g) and measured their temperature every 5 minutes for 45 minutes after activating them. My hypothesis that larger hand warmers would reach a higher peak temperature was correct, but only marginally so. The more significant observation was that the larger warmers stayed warm longer than the smaller ones.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
The purpose of this experiment was to learn how adjusting the amount of yeast in bread affected how much the bread would rise.
In our experiment we made 5loaves of bread and used 5 different amounts of yeast.
1. Loaf 1: amount of yeast in the recipe
2. Loaf 2: 2x the amount in the recipe
3. Loaf 3: 3x the amount in the recipe
4. Loaf 4: .5x the amount in the recipe
5. Loaf 5: no yeast
The conclusion was that the stated amount of yeast caused the most amount of rise. Also we concluded the .5x yeast looked the best. And the flavor was worse in the 2x and 3x loaves.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Which brand of popcorn is the quickest to the first kernel pop? We chose 5 different brands of popcorn with the same flavor (butter) and recorded the average time to first pop. Our hypothesis was: 'If I change the popcorn brand, then the time it takes for the first kernel to pop will change, because different brands use different materials.' We found that Orville Redenbacher popped the fastest, because it had the shortest average time to first pop. However, we found that the expiration date could have some influence on the time it takes to pop. The popcorn brands with the expiration date the farthest away were all in the top 3. This suggests the freshest popcorn pops the fastest.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
We studied if people could differentiate between the different colors of Skittles based on taste or smell. We had participants take a blind taste test of each Skittle color. They then guessed the Skittle color. We repeated the experiment doing a blind smell test to see if the results were different. The participants would crush each Skittle prior to smelling it.
We evaluated whether kids did better than adults and whether gender made a difference. We asked each participant if they ate Skittles regularly and evaluated if that helped or not.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
My project is Bath Bomb Science. I wanted to learn how to make bath bombs and if cornstarch would help the bath bomb so I experimented. First, I gathered epsom salt, cornstarch, baking soda, citric acid, water, oil, food coloring, and fragrance. Then I mixed the epsom salt, cornstarch, baking soda, citric acid. After that I mixed the water, oil, food coloring, and fragrance. After I did all of that I mixed both of the substances together. When I'm done with that you push it into a mold and let it dry. I learned that cornstarch doesn't help the bath bomb fizz more.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
We wanted to see how butter temperature and dough temperature affect how much cookies spread. We made four batches of cookies using different combinations of melted or room temperature butter and chilled or room temperature dough. We thought the cookies with melted butter and room temperature dough would spread the most, and the ones with room temperature butter and chilled dough would spread the least. But we were wrong! The cookies that spread the most had room temperature butter and chilled dough, and the ones that spread the least had melted butter and chilled dough. This experiment showed us that butter and dough temperature work together in surprising ways to change how cookies turn out.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
I tested the pH level of 6 different candies.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
After store bought eggs and backyard chicken eggs were boiled, they were immersed in 3 different solutions (with one batch peeled immediately) to determine which method produced eggs that were easiest to peel.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
In my experiment I tested whether 20% vinegar, 5% vinegar, lemon juice, or distilled water dissolve the most calcium within a certain amount of time. My hypothesis was that the 20% vinegar would do the best job and that my control, the distilled water, would do the worst. We also measured the pH levels before testing. We put 4 Tums weighing 11g in 60mL of each liquid for 5 minutes in the first round of testing and 10 minutes in the second round. We measured which acid dissolved the most off of the Tums in the time. We found that my hypothesis was correct and that the liquids are most effective to least in this order, 20% vinegar, 5% vinegar, lemon juice, and distilled water.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
The goal of this project was to understand if Rust-Oleum provided protection for bare metal from rust. A secondary objective was to determine what liquid would cause the most rust to form. An experiment was set up to answer both of these questions. First, eighteen metal coupons were sand blasted to ensure no coatings on the metal were present. Two coats of Rust-Oleum were applied to nine of the coupons. The remaining nine were left bare. Three liquids were chosen for the tests – tap water, salt water, and coke. To understand how the metal rusted over time, the test was set up to allow for the metal coupons to be removed after a week and be inspected. This meant that there were eighteen total cups. To allow for visual comparison, the cups were lined up with three rows of six cups. Each row contained two cups of each liquid to allow both a painted and non-painted coupon in each liquid. All of the coupons were put in at the same time and after a week, the coupons from one of the rows were removed. The experiment was run for three weeks. It showed that Rust-Oleum does work, and it is worth the money. It also showed that tap water caused the most damage to the bare metal in three weeks.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Our project focuses on finding what drinks have the most electrolytes. We tested various sports drinks and other liquids to see how much electrolytes were in each fluid. We made a simple conductance sensor and a multimeter to make a measuring circuit. Our measuring circuit measured the about of current in different fluids. We then used Ohm's Law to find which fluid had the most electrolytes.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
My science project is Popping Boba Spheres. I wanted to learn how to make Boba Spheres but see if there was a difference in the main liquid used in the Sohere shape. I decided to choose three different kinds of liquids to use. The three liquids I used were Diet Coke, Crystal light fruit punch and power aid fruit punch.
First I made up the 3 different batches of liquids and Sodium Alginate. It had to be stirred really well as it thickened up. Then it had to sit overnight in a cold place. The bubbles had to settled. To be continued…..
My hypothesis was that the Power Aid would work the best at making perfect Boba Spheres. I also thought the Diet Coke wouldn’t work very well because of the carbonation and the bubbles.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Hello my name is Natalia Trujillo. My project is about smoke bubbles. Is interested think how a bubble can hold smoke inside and how using hot water, dish soap, a container and dry ice can make this happen. What I notice in my experiment is that if the water is really hot makes more pressure when we add dry ice and the bubble form so fast and easy, but if the water is not really hot the pressure is less and the bubble is more hard to form. Regular ice is frozen water. Dry Ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide (is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CO2). You have to use thick gloves when you use dry ice to be safe and don't get burn. My conclusion is that using burping water and dry ice will make more pressure and the bubble don't pop fast.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Background: “Elephant toothpaste” is a foamy product formed when combining hydrogen peroxide with yeast and water. The kids enjoy watching a YouTube scientist Mark Rober do extreme things with elephant toothpaste. Mark Rober indicated the experiment works best with warm water. The kids wondered how temperature could impact the reaction.
Methods: the kids learned about the effect of temperature on the speed of a catalyst in a reaction. They used the same amount of hydrogen peroxide and yeast, and varied the temperature of the water in 5° F increments as measured by a candy thermometer. They recorded the time until the foam reached the top of the bottle with a stopwatch.
Results: the boys found that as the temperature rose from 45 to 55°F, the speed of the reaction increased. At 60°F, however, the reaction significantly slowed down and thereafter until 95°F.
Conclusions: the speed of the reaction initially increased with warmer temperatures, but then quickly fell off after the ideal temperature of 55°F due to effects on the catalyst. They found that the ideal temperature for making elephant toothpaste was cooler than they realized or implied by Mark Rober.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Did you know you have iron in your breakfast cereal? Most breakfast cereals are fortified with enough iron that they are magnetic when floating on water.
For my experiment, I wanted to find out which one was the fastest. To do this, I raced different kinds of cereal across a pan filled with water using a neodymium magnet stylus. I wanted to know if absorbency, the amount of iron, the hydrodynamic shape, or weight would play a factor in determining which type of cereal was the fastest.
I discovered that the amount of iron in the cereal played the biggest factor in determining the speed.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
INTRODUCTION: Are permanent markers actually permanent? Or, are there different options of solution that would remove permanent marker marks from various surfaces.
PROBLEM STATEMENT: I think different surfaces will react differently to each solution. I think hand sanitizer will be the most effective solution. I believe the white board will be the easiest of all surfaces to clean.
PROCEDURE: I tested 7 different solutions on 6 different surfaces. For each surface I tested each solution on 3 total permanent marker marks (to verify my results). I recorded a score of green (removed mark completely), yellow (removed mark partially), or red (did not remove mark).
RESULTS: There was not any one solution that was effective on every surface. However, Soft Scrub and Rubbing Alcohol performed the best, with 4 surfaces cleaned completely by each. Of the tested surfaces, the White board and Tile tied as the most cleanable surfaces, being completely cleaned by 4 solutions.
CONCLUSION: Permanent markers are only permanent . . . sometimes.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Exploding Soda Fountain: Mentos and Coke - Which Coke Works Best?
Participants: Amelia Hunzeker, Kaylie Torgerson, Emma Nelson
Introduction: This project explores why Coke explodes when Mentos are added and determines which type of Coke—Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, or Coke Zero—produces the highest soda fountain. The explosion occurs due to a physical reaction between the carbon dioxide in the soda and the nucleation sites on the Mentos.
Background and Research: The team researched the science behind the Mentos and Coke reaction, focusing on carbonation and nucleation sites. They also investigated the ingredients of the three types of Coke, noting that Diet Coke contains aspartame, potassium benzoate, and caffeine, which are surfactants that reduce surface tension and help bubbles form more easily. This suggested that Diet Coke might produce the highest fountain.
Hypothesis: The hypothesis was that Diet Coke would create the highest soda fountain due to its surfactants.
Materials and Methods: The experiment used 12 two-liter bottles of Coke (four each of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero), 7 Mentos per bottle, plastic tubes, magnets, and a measuring system. Four trials were conducted for each type of Coke, and the height of the soda fountains was measured and recorded.
Data and Conclusion: The highest individual fountain was from Coke Zero at 50 inches, but Diet Coke had the highest average height at 38.5 inches. Excluding an anomalous trial, Coke Zero's average height was 44.33 inches. The hypothesis was inconclusive; Diet Coke had the highest average height, but Coke Zero produced the tallest individual fountain. For the biggest explosion, Coke Zero is the best choice.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
The project looked at how different temperatures of water (cold, hot, room) affect the glow time of glow sticks.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
When yeast eats sugar, it creates CO2 and alcohol as part of a process called fermentation. However, if yeast is surrounded by too much sugar, something called osmotic pressure can draw water out of the yeast. As it gets dehydrated, the yeast gets stressed and can’t eat as well. The objective of this experiment is to find out at what concentration of sugar yeast can best make CO2. CO2 made with this type of process can be used for various purposes such as to make bread rise, make drinks bubbly, or fed into fish tanks to make plants grow.
In the experiment, sugar was added to bottles in different amounts, from 0% to 60%, and yeast was mixed in. Balloons were placed on top to catch the CO₂ gas. I measured how much gas was made by checking the size of the balloons after one hour.
The results showed that CO₂ was made the fastest at low and medium sugar levels but slowed down when there was too much sugar. This happened because high sugar levels create osmotic pressure, drawing water out of the yeast, dehydrating and stressing it, making it harder for it to work.
The experiment partly supported the idea that more sugar helps yeast at first, but too much can hurt the yeast. Improvements to the experiment could include testing higher sugar levels and researching better mixing methods.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Jayne Lee decided to study the properties of nail polish, and determine what kind of nail polish lasts the longest: regular nail polish, or gel nail polish, which is hardened with a UV light. Her hypothesis was that the gel nail polish would last the longest, but she ran multiple tests to determine the actual result. After testing regular nail polish, and two different kinds of gel polish over the course of several months, and pitting the results against the effects of water, potential rock chips, and time, she confirmed her initial hypothesis that gel nail polish does, indeed, last the longest.
These results also have real-world applications in other areas where UV light is used in science, such as in the hardening of dental fillings, and during 3D printing.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
When my family moved to Salt lake City, our cookies started turning out flat and crumbly. So I wanted to test if altering different ingredients would affect the fluffiness of cookies - making them more appealing to eat.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
This experiment tested the effectiveness of various home remedies that can be found on the web for acid reflux in changing the pH levels of white vinegar, which was used as a substitute for stomach acid. The remedies tested were ginger juice, chamomile tea, baking soda, ginger ale, milk, and liquid antacid. A pH strip was used to measure the acidity of each mixture, with trials conducted three times for each remedy, and were tested alone for an independent variable. The results showed that baking soda was the most effective remedy, raising the pH of the vinegar to 5.5, followed by milk at 5. Antacid also had an effect, but it only reached a pH of 4.5 The other remedies, including ginger juice, chamomile tea, and ginger ale, had little to no effect, maintaining a pH around 3. This suggests that baking soda is the most effective home remedy for neutralizing stomach acid, followed closely by milk, while the other remedies may be less effective. Antacid probably works best in the stomach (where there are many acids), but not in this experiment. These findings offer insight into how common household items can also be useful to relieve acid reflux symptoms.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Do you care about the look and feel of your skin? Then you probably know that your skin prefers to be well hydrated (moisturized). Dry skin often cracks, gets inflamed easily, and looks dull. If you go to the store, you will find many skin care products that promise to hydrate your skin. Among them are cosmetic face masks that you put on your face to provide the skin with water and nutrients. In this science project we tested the hydration power of collagen, agar, and gelatin by making a face mask with each type of gelling agent, applying to skin and testing skin hydration before and after application.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
In this science experiment, you can extract your own cabbage juice indicator and use it to test the PH of different solutions around your house. Because red cabbage has this indicator pigment, it is possible to determine the PH of a solution based on the color it turns the red cabbage juice. The PH of a solution is a numerical measure of how basic or acidic it is .
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
This project explores the phenomenon of osmosis through the creation of a "bouncy egg." By soaking a raw egg in vinegar, we demonstrate how the acetic acid reacts with the eggshell, dissolving it and leaving behind the semi-permeable membrane. The experiment examines the effects of osmosis by subsequently placing the egg in a corn syrup solution, which draws water out of the egg, causing it to shrink and become firmer. Finally, returning the egg to water allows it to rehydrate and regain size, showcasing the principles of osmotic pressure. This project not only highlights key scientific concepts but also encourages curiosity and hands-on learning in middle school students. Through this engaging activity, we aim to illustrate the importance of cellular processes in a fun and interactive way.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
When every second counts for you as a busy parent, saving five minutes when cooking dinner could mean the difference between getting your kid to an activity on time or not. Chicken dinner is common for many families, and the cooking directions on the bag of frozen chicken breasts instructs that you preheat your oven. But could time be saved by putting the frozen chicken breasts into the oven as the oven heats up?
This experiment tested if preheating the oven really matters when cooking a frozen chicken breast. The hypothesis was that if the oven is not preheated then the overall cooking time will be faster, but that the frozen chicken breast will be heated less evenly as compared to when the oven is preheated before putting the frozen chicken breast into the oven.
The hypothesis was shown to be partially correct. Though cooking time was faster when the oven was not preheated, the chicken was heated just as evenly as when the oven has preheated. This was possibly because the experimental design ensured that the chicken remained moist throughout cooking. In both the control and the experimental groups, excess thermal energy went into boiling off water moisture (through latent heat of vaporization) rather than overheating the edges of the chicken.
All in all, you can safely cook frozen chicken breasts faster and without overheating the chicken edges by putting the frozen chicken breasts into the oven as it heats up.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
I gathered four beverages, Coca-Cola, milk, lemonade, and water and put the same of each in four different glasses.
Graph paper will be used to provide visual measure of the change in size at various moments.
Each glass will have a candy cane placed at the same time, with the hook providing a connection point on the lip of the glass.
Every 30 minutes the candy canes will be retrieved and placed on the graph paper in the precise spots where they began.
The sizes, especially the diameter of the candy, will be measured and compared.
Which liquid dissolves candy canes fastest?
Much to my surprise the water dissolved the candy cane the fastest, not Coca-Cola.
My hypothesis was incorrect. It appears the flavors added to all the beverages besides water may have slowed the dissolving process. I learned in my research that water molecules separate the sugar molecules. The other beverages, including Coke, have other things in them besides water, so the ratio of water is less resulting in slower dissolving.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Growing crystals in different environments, one can observe that the ambient temperature affects the rate at which the crystals grow, as well as their strength, shape, and transparency.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Determine what materials are surfactants by observing how they interfere with the surface tension of water. A surfactant is a substance that reduces surface tension. Water molecules are attracted to each other. At the surface of water this attraction or cohesion creates tightly arranged molecules called surface tension. Pepper is light and hydrophobic, so it floats on top of the water. If a surfactant is added to a dish of water with pepper sprinkled on top, the pepper will move away from the point of contact. This is because of the disruption of the water's surface tension. By observing the movement of pepper, it is possible to determine what materials are surfactants.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
In "The Quest for Color" we attempted to figure out which drying method would create the deepest shades of purple in dried flowers when creating homemade paint. We used 3 different drying methods to dry out the flowers, ground them into a fine powder using a morter and pestle, then created a homemade paint to determine which one created the darkest shades.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
This project was designed to test various types of fabric stain removers on four common types of stains. Four different homemade stain removers were tested along with four types of store-bought stain removers. The stains were grass, mud, automotive oil and crushed berries.
Our household uses a lot of store-bought stain removers. This experiment was to determine if there are any homemade stain removers that work as well as, or better than, the store-bought ones. The objective was to see if a typical homemade stain remover could be found that would save money on laundry stain removal.
The experiment was conducted in two phases.
-Phase one: to determine if any of the stain removers worked well after application and light scrubbing without the need to launder the fabric in the washing machine.
-Phase two: to determine which of the stain removers worked the best after phase one testing and laundering in the washing machine.
At the end of phase one, it was determined that none of the stain removers worked noticeably better than any of the others. After phase two, however, it was found that one leading store-bought stain remover was the best at removing the stains.
In conclusion, it appears that the store-bought stain removers have the edge over the homemade ones. However, further testing can be conducted to determine if the results change by adjusting the testing methodologies used.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Many families in my community have septic tanks to contain their waste. I wanted to find out if wipes are okay to use with a septic tank and what toilet paper would dissolve best. I hypothesized that the baby wipe would not dissolve because it said to not flush it on the package. I also thought that the toilet paper that ripped the easiest would dissolve the best. To test my hypothesis I put one wipe or 4 squares of toilet paper in jars of water. I observed and recorded if there were particles in the water. I checked every twelve hours. I did a little shake of each jar too. Finally, after 60 hours I added some Rid-X to see if it made anything dissolve more. I was surprised that Rid-X did not do anything for the toilet paper. I think that it needs biological materials to work. In the end, I found that part of my hypothesis was partly correct. The baby wipe did not dissolve. The flushable wipe also did not dissolve. I thought that the toilet paper that ripped the easiest would dissolve the best but I was wrong. The toilet papers that said "septic-safe" dissolved the best.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
My science fair project investigated the expansion of diiferent liquids when frozen. My hypothesis was that the carbonated liquids would expand more because of the CO2; and that the thicker liquids would expand less because they have higher viscosity.
After freezing, the results showed that my hypothesis was correct because the liquids with higher viscosity expanded less and the carbonated drinks expanded the most. This teaches us why you shouldn't put a can of soda in the freezer. It doesn't have room to expand at all!
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Our experiment included three different helium balloons. The first balloon had a thickness typical of a standard latex balloon. The second balloon was also latex but with "ultra high float." Ultra high float is a liquid that coats the inside of the balloon. This coating has a consistency similar to glue but does not dry out. Its purpose is to prevent helium from escaping. The final balloon was constructed of mylar. Mylar is good at insulation and is used in balloons, electrical applications, and emergency blankets.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
The experiment I conducted was what cleans the pennies the best. My hypothesis I came up with was that vinegar and salt will clean the pennies the best because it has a stronger chemical reaction. To conduct the experiment I had to get containers, and add the chemicals into the containers, to find out what cleans the pennies the best. I measured how clean the pennies would turn out with each chemical. The hypothesis was supported. The pennies were cleaned the best with vinegar and salt. This is due to the strong chemicals in the vinegar and the salt adds stuff that the penny can rub on to get the tarnish off. The experiment was fun to conduct.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
This project investigates which frozen dessert—ice cream, sorbet, sherbet, or frozen yogurt—melts the slowest, driven by the desire to find the most enduring treat for consumers. Previous knowledge indicates that ice cream melts faster than the others due to its higher cream content. The hypothesis posited that frozen yogurt would melt the slowest due to its denser consistency.
The experiment involved placing equal portions of each dessert into separate bowls and timing the melting process. The researchers recorded the time taken for each dessert to completely melt and observed the consistency of the remaining chunks at intervals. Results revealed that frozen yogurt indeed melted the slowest, taking 44 minutes, while sorbet followed with a melt time of 29 minutes. The initial hypothesis regarding sorbet proved incorrect.
The study concludes that frozen yogurt is the most resilient frozen dessert regarding melting speed, providing useful insights for consumers when selecting frozen treats. Future work could explore different types of frozen desserts and the impact of storage conditions, such as using cold bowls or allowing desserts to sit at room temperature prior to testing. This research underscores the importance of understanding the properties of frozen desserts for enhancing consumer satisfaction and making informed choices.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
This project, titled "Clean the Grease!", investigates the effectiveness of different soaps in removing bacon grease. Conducted by Eimy and Ava, the research seeks to answer the question, "What soap is better for grease?" The team hypothesized that dish soap would outperform hand soap and shampoo due to its intended purpose for cleaning dishes. To test their hypothesis, the researchers conducted a controlled experiment using three pans coated with bacon grease, applying dish soap, hand soap, and shampoo to each pan respectively, and adding one teaspoon of water. They timed how long it took for each soap to effectively remove the grease.
The results revealed that hand soap was the most effective, cleaning the grease in just 30 seconds, while dish soap followed closely at 45 seconds, and shampoo lagged behind at 53 seconds. This unexpected finding prompted a discussion about the properties of various soaps and their effectiveness in grease removal. The conclusion drawn from this experiment is that hand soap is superior for cleaning grease compared to dish soap and shampoo. For future work, the researchers plan to test additional soap types and allow the grease to sit longer before application to further explore cleaning efficacy. This project highlights the significance of understanding cleaning agents and their specific uses in practical applications.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
For my science fair project, "The Power of Flour," I wanted to learn more about the purpose of flour in baking, and what effects different types of flour would have in a recipe. I baked four different batches of cupcakes, using the same recipe, but four different types of flour. I made observations of the batter as well as the finished cupcake. I made notes of the differences in the consistency, texture, density, and overall appearance between the different batches. After making my observations, I frosted the cupcakes and held a blind taste test. My experiment showed that different flours do make a difference in the texture, density, and overall appearance of the cupcakes, and there was a clear favorite after holding a blind taste test.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Vitamin C is very important for our bodies and if you don’t get enough of it, you can get sick. I wanted to see how much vitamin C is in different types of food. You can use a chemical test to find out how much vitamin C is in different foods.
When you put drops of dark iodine into a mixture of food, water, and cornstarch, the vitamin C will make the iodine turn clear. Once all the vitamin C is used up, the iodine drops will turn the mixture dark blue. Count how many drops of iodine it takes to make the mixture turn dark blue. The foods with the most vitamin C will take the most iodine drops to turn dark blue. I tested a variety of fruits and vegetables.
My hypothesis was that lemons would have the most vitamin C because I thought sour things would have more vitamin C.
The results showed that the yellow bell pepper had the most vitamin C. It took 33 drops of iodine for the yellow bell pepper mixture to turn dark blue. Broccoli had the least amount of vitamin C, and it only took 3 drops of iodine before the broccoli mixture turned dark blue.
I learned that sour foods do not necessarily have the most vitamin C, and I also learned that vegetables can also have vitamin C.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
We started by coming up with what questions we wanted to find the answers for and began collecting the supplies needed to complete our project which was two mannequin heads, hair bleach, hair developer and processor, hair foils, brushes and bowls and a safe and appropriate location to complete the project. We began by trimming our mannequins hair, then mixed the bleach chemical and applied to the mannequins hair with brush and foils. We processed the hair with bleach for 30-40 minutes. We then washed the mannequins hair and were able to determine which toners were needed to use with a color wheel to achieve the perfect blonde. We were able to answer the questions we had for this project by learning about processing times and how toners work.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
There are lots of sour candies that say they are extreme. Let's find out if they really are!
Sourness can be defined by the level of acidity in a substance, meaning that the more acidic something is, the "sourer" it will taste. This is because the sour taste is primarily triggered by hydrogen ions (H+) present in acids, which are the key factor in determining acidity on the pH scale.
To test the pH we melted the candy with distilled water then use pH testing strips to test the acidity of the liquid.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
I ran this experiment 14 times and found out how elephant toothpaste works. No one is sure who the first person was to invent elephant toothpaste, but KiwiCo invented it. The ingredients I used are: hydrogen peroxide, water, yeast, dish soap and food coloring.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
The purpose of this project is to effectively remove chlorine and chloramine from water in order to make it suitable for fish. I tested tap water, pool water, and distilled water for chlorine amounts. I planned to test chloramine as well, but learned my water treatment district does not use it. Additionally I tested ammonia, pH, hardness, and alkalinity since the test strips I used also measured these variables. We then tested these water samples after various methods of purification like boiling, using a filter, and using a water conditioner. I then recorded the results.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Determine what the proper exposure time for some print paper is to understand the process involved in making microchips. The experiment helps understand part of the process of making microchips I was able to understand a complexity of modern technology around the world.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Does the amount of baking soda impact the outcome of the baking process? We tested three different amounts to of baking soda in the standard nestle tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe: control amount, 50 percent more, 50 percent less. We then measured width, height, and observed color and texture.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
For our science fair project, we took bread, pickles, cheese, chicken nuggets, and apples then dropped them on the ground for 3 and 6 seconds then swabbed them onto petri dishes and saw the amount of bacteria on them after 2-3 days.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
I used Fuji apples and 8 different liquids to see which liquid stopped the apples from from turning brown the most. First I cut the apples into 9 even slices. Second, I put 8 of them in separate mason jars. Next I filled each mason jar with a different liquid. I then stored the jars in the fridge. I checked the apples progress each day at 4:30 pm and recorded my results with photos and in a note book. I learned that Pineapple juice worked the best because it contained the highest concentration of citric acid, which worked as a natural antioxidant to prevent the apples from turning brown. I stared the experiment on December 10, 2024 and ended in January 2, 2025.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
An experiment to determine what elements, when combined with a constant amount of Elmer’s glue and baking soda, result in a slime-like substance. Six experiments were done with each household product. Honey, prune juice, Tide, hand sanitizer, maple syrup and Sprite. The three products containing boron, an activator, when mixed with Elmer’s glue and baking soda resulted in slime. Of the observations, Tide worked best.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Which type of Gluten free flour best substitutes gluten containing bread? In order to answer that question an experiment was conducted testing different types of gluten free breads and comparing them to wheat flour bread by conducting multiple tests. The tests I did included the measurement of the density of the bread, the determination of the absorbance rate, and the height of the bread after baking. The tests were done on wheat bread, potato flour bread, coconut flour bread, chickpea flour bread, and sorghum flour bread. Every test was repeated in three trials. It was hypothesized that if chickpea flour was denser while potato flour is most absorbent and I tested both of those flours in the bread, then I predicted that the chickpea flour bread would rise higher than the potato flour bread. The results supported my hypothesis as the chickpea flour bread rose about 3.1 inches while the potato flour bread only rose 2 inches.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
I did a experiment to measure how much carbon dioxide gas it takes to inflate a balloon with certain measurements of distilled white vinegar and baking soda.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
A geodesic is the shortest natural path between two points, and shorter paths can support more weight because there are fewer places where the supports can break. Geodesic domes are made up of triangles, not squares, because triangles can distribute weight better than squares with less bending and snapping. But which material has the greatest strength-to-weight ratio? Are thicker materials stronger than thin? Are heavier materials better than lightweight materials? To answer this question, my science fair project explores the question, “How much weight can a geodesic dome support?”
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
My project tested different types of thermal barriers to see which worked best in both summer and winter conditions. I built a wall assembly and attached six thermal barrier samples. I had three barriers on the inside and three barriers on the outside. To test them, I built a chamber with a corrugated metal in the middle of the chamber to reflect heat and a vacuum to evenly distribute air.
Once the temperature was spread evenly, I used a thermal camera to measure heat transfer through each barrier. I tested the samples under both summer and winter conditions to see which insulation type and placement (interior or exterior) performed best.
After reviewing the data and creating graphs, I found that my hypothesis was mostly correct but not 100%. Spray insulation performed the best, keeping heat inside during winter and blocking it effectively in summer. This means it provides better insulation compared to the other materials I tested.
This project helped me understand how different barrier types perform and why their placement matters for energy efficiency. These results could help people choose better barriers for homes and buildings to save energy and money!
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
The project discusses the dangers of radon, a naturally occurring, colorless, and odorless radioactive gas that results from the decay of uranium in soil, rock, and water. Radon can enter homes through foundation cracks and other openings, posing significant health risks as it is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, according to organizations like the EPA, CDC, and WHO. Current mitigation methods, such as increasing ventilation, sealing cracks, and using radon mitigation systems, are common, but the effectiveness of low-cost solutions like opening windows or using fans is not well-documented. This research highlights the public health impact of radon exposure, which affects millions of homes globally, and aims to provide practical, low-cost solutions for homeowners. Additionally, the study contributes to scientific understanding by exploring how everyday actions can influence indoor air quality and radon levels.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Urban areas are becoming heat islands due to the heat absorbed and retained by buildings and roads, leading to higher temperatures. Hot pavements aggravate urban heat islands by warming and radiating heat into the air, contributing to global warming. This experiment aimed to investigate the effect of pavement materials on the average temperature of their surroundings. The hypothesis predicted that if limestone material is used for pavements, then the average temperature of its surroundings will be less compared to sandstone, concrete and asphalt respectively. Using limestone, sandstone, concrete, and asphalt as test materials, along with a control group of soil mixed with twigs and leaves, the study measured temperature changes inside a steel duct over 60-minute intervals. The hypothesis was supported. Limestone exhibited the lowest average temperature increase (11.4°F), followed by sandstone (15.26°F), concrete (21.06°F), and asphalt (25.84°F). The control group demonstrated the smallest increase (6°F).
The results can be explained by scientific principles such as the albedo effect and Solar Reflective Index (SRI) of the materials, with natural materials like limestone and sandstone reflecting more sunlight and absorbing less heat, while man-made materials like concrete and asphalt retained more heat. Possible sources of error included inconsistent placement of the thermometer, variations in the size of pavement material pieces, and external factors.
The findings have important applications in urban planning, environmental impact, public health, and infrastructure lifespan, suggesting that using natural materials in construction can help mitigate the urban heat island effect and create more sustainable urban environments.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
We wanted to test what material would be best at preventing evaporation from artificial farming canals. We filled containers with water then we covered them in different materials, leaving some containers uncovered. We put the containers under a heat lamp and after an amount of time we measured the water remaining in all the containers.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
"H2O Heroes: See the Clear Difference" is a project that focuses on creating a simple, portable water filter anyone can use to clean water from outdoor sources, making it taste better, safer, and cleaner. I learned that 1 in 3 people around the world don’t have access to safe water, which inspired me to create this filter.
To keep costs low, I used recyclable materials and everyday items like a plastic juice bottle, pebbles, cotton balls, rubber bands, and sand. These materials helped make an effective filter.
While testing the filter, I made a few changes to improve the water quality and efficiency of the filter. The goal of the project is to show how quickly and easily dirty water can pass through the filter and come out clean. This project demonstrates how simple items can create a tool to make water safer to use. By building and testing the filter, I learned more about how different materials work together to clean water and the importance of using materials that are easy to find to improve water quality.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Strong waves are known to completely obliterate beaches in one night by eroding them. As a result, people make barriers to combat this beach erosion and protect the beach from disappearing. The point of this project is to figure out which of four barriers are the best to combat beach erosion. These four barriers are breakwaters, artificial reefs, groins, and rip rap. It was hypothesized that breakwaters would have the beach erode the least because they are big islands that could easily block waves from reaching the mainland. Also, some of the other contestants didn’t seem very effective because rip rap has a lot of cracks between the boulders for water to go through, groins are better with side currents, and artificial reefs may be helpful, but waves could pass over them very easily. This experiment was done by placing a large plywood piece in a container, covering it with sand, filling it with water, placing a wave maker at the other end, putting the barrier in (unless it’s the control group), and turning on the wave machine. The hypothesis was supported by the fact that breakwaters did the best. Rip rap had the most erosion as expected. Surprisingly, artificial reefs and Groins are approximately tied for second best. This could have been because the groins were larger and spaced more closely together than most beaches.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
This experiment was about finding the best windmill regarding materials. When a windmill rotates, electricity is generated from the wind. In this experiment, I constructed three types of windmills - plastic, wood, and cardboard windmills. From these windmills, I measured how many rotations each windmill could do in ten seconds. Out of the three windmill designs I predicted that the plastic windmill would do the most rotations because the plastic blades would weigh the least, so I thought they would be most propelled by the wind. However, my hypothesis was incorrect. The wooden blades worked much better than the plastic blades, because the plastic blades were not able to rotate due to the blade shape, and the wooden blades were more stable. While I may have faced hurdles during the experiment, it was a good experience and I learned a lot about windmills.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
The purpose of building a wind turbine for my science fair project is to demonstrate how wind energy can be converted into electricity by designing and constructing a small-scale turbine, allowing me to explore the principles of aerodynamics, renewable energy sources, and the impact of different design variables on energy production.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Traditional insulation is found in 90% of the homes in the United States. This type of insulation has several environmental and sustainability issues. We wanted to see if alternative insulation options could insulate as well as traditional insulation and if those alternatives would be more environmentally friendly, more sustainable and cheaper. We tested shredded recycled jeans and hay. We found that the alternatives did insulate better than traditional insulation and may be a good alternative for homes.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
We designed a plastic recyclable frog that is able to collect trash from the ocean. It will not harm sea life and is reusable.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
A solution to the complexity of heating water for pools. This project helpes protect the environment and reduce damage and cost of water heating systems.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
One of my biggest hobbies is gardening. The problem I run into is that it takes a long time for me to pick, wash, and put away vegetables. I needed to make this process quicker. I decided to invent a simple and affordable product to make picking and washing vegetables easier for me and other gardeners. Picking vegetables from my garden can take lots of time. I gather vegetables into a bucket and take it to the kitchen. I wash the vegetables in the sink. I dry the vegetables and put them in our kitchen rack. I need to make this whole process faster and easier! I drew the model. I presented the idea to my parents and Grandpa. The idea worked but needed improvement. The vegetables dropped into the bottom, but the water had no direction. When the bottom released, the dirt came out with the vegetables. The vegetables weren’t clean. I made improvements. I shortened the drop tube and added brushes through it, moved the water connection to the side of the bucket and hooked it up to a flex-drip pipe with micro-sprayers. The sprayers provided direct water pressure. I added an on/off valve to the water pipe and a paracord webbing. This gave the vegetables a landing spot that wouldn’t collect the dirt and allowed the vegetables to dry. I removed the hinged bottom and drilled holes in the bottom of the bucket. You can use the handle of the bucket to put it on a fence.
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
There is a big problem in our world today and it is the pollution in the air by fossil fuels, for that reason I chose to do this project, to find a sustainable and clean energy alternative that drives a handmade vehicle. I had certain restrictions and criteria for the creation of this car, such as: having a budget of $20, using at least one balloon as a driving motor, and some others.
Using a plastic container (recycled) and other recycled materials as well, I built a scale prototype of an ecological car where the propulsion fuel would be compressed oxygen, by means of a balloon.
In the first test I did I got not very good results (since I expected greater performance) but I was able to maximize the result by placing an extra balloon, which gave me a better result.
The result of this vehicle was fascinating because I was able to discover that there really are clean alternatives that can replace fossil fuels. In conclusion I can say that if we propose and make a collective effort we can create a better world from clean and renewable energy such as air.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
How does the language type affect the response of the Large Language Model? My hypothesis is that formal language would be the best language for chatbots. Our procedures began by loading ChatGPT into my computer. Then we typed our five questions for the three different language types (formal, informal, and slang) into the chatbot. We would repeat these questions three times each for a total of fifteen questions. We conducted five trials. Our final result showed that formal language was better. Formal language scored the highest because it was more accurate, useful and provided longer responses. I believe it was more accurate because it understood the question better. I believe it scored higher in usefulness because it gave more scientific words, better examples and gave more academic responses. Finally, formal language scored higher at length because it gave more information and examples. Our conclusion was that the formal language was the best overall for the chatbot to understand. The other language types confused the chatbot. Informal language resulted in worse results and slang sometimes confused the chatbot.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
My project involved creating an online menu template to assist restaurants in creating their online menus.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
For my project I created an interactive video game using the coding language Scratch as a coding language. With the use of visual coding blocks and sprites I was able to make a challenging yet fun game about a goose trying to get back to its flock while facing many different obstacles and challenges.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
My project, "Decoding the Silent Language," uses AI to translate ASL letters into readable text. I was inspired by a book about a young deaf girl who struggled to communicate with her family because she relied on sign language. I wanted to solve this problem and create a tool to help people like her. I began by researching AI and realized supervised Machine Learning was ideal for my project.
I chose Teachable Machine, a free, easy-to-use platform with image recognition. In the first round of my experiment, I made ASL sign against a white background, then categorized them by each letter. I trained and tested the machine, achieving 42% accuracy. I repeated the process twice, adding more people, backgrounds, and lighting variations. My accuracy improved to 72% the second time, and finally reached 97% on the third iteration, reaching my goal. I'm now planning to make the translation bidirectional, allowing those who don't know sign language to communicate with those who do. I also want to expand the translation to other sign languages.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
As technology continues to advance, sensors are increasingly relied upon to detect and track objects in a variety of applications, from self-driving cars to motion-sensing devices. However, sensors often face limitations when dealing with fast-moving objects, leading to inaccuracies or even complete signal loss. This experiment explores the relationship between the speed of a moving object and a sensor's ability to detect it accurately. Specifically, we examine the phenomena of sensor saturation and aliasing, where the sensor's sampling rate or response time cannot keep up with the object's motion. By changing the speed of a moving object and measuring the sensor's detection performance, we test the hypothesis that higher speeds lead to greater inaccuracies in signal detection. The results demonstrate that as the speed increases, the sensor’s ability to accurately track the object diminishes, confirming the existence of these limitations. This project highlights the challenges faced by sensor technologies in high-speed environments and offers insight into potential solutions for improving sensor accuracy, which could have significant applications in fields such as autonomous vehicles, security systems, and robotics.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
We wanted to create a 3D engine in the block-based coding platform Scratch with only a single sprite that anyone can import into their coding projects. Since Scratch is completely 2D, a 3D engine would be very useful for creating games or graphics-based projects. Our initial design goal was to create an engine capable of rendering multiple 3D shapes moving and rotating on the screen at the same time. We started with a cube, then a triangular prism. Our third and current cube prototype meets all our design criteria: the user can call multiple movable and rotating cubes. Our current triangular prism prototype allows movement only, no rotation yet. All code in the project was original. This project is the first step towards creating a fully functioning 3D engine that is easily accessible and understandable for any Scratch user.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
For this experiment I wanted to discover which cubing method takes the least amount of moves because the cube can be solved faster using that method. This is important because cubers can use the faster method and have a higher chance of winning a competition. In order to test it, I solved the cube multiple times with different methods. As a result of my experiment, I learned the CFOP method takes less moves and is easier than the Roux method for a cuber at my level.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
Can technology help those with color deficiency identify colors? We believe it can! We designed an app that helps identify colors.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
Earthquakes cause loss of life, injuries, and destruction of homes. Unlike hurricanes or floods, predicting earthquakes is difficult, leaving little time for evacuation and securing public utilities. In developing countries, where densely populated areas on fault lines face high earthquake risks, limited resources make it difficult to monitor multiple geospatial variables, often resulting in no monitoring and a large loss of life.
While monitoring more geospatial variables helps build a better prediction model, it also requires more sensors to monitor these variables. Sensors are expensive and unaffordable in many regions, leading to a lack of monitoring and increased loss of life. However, affordable options like the Raspberry Shake, costing less than one-tenth of traditional sensors, are now available. The limitation of these sensors is that they can only monitor a few variables. Therefore, my project aims to predict earthquakes with good accuracy using fewer variables. Predicting smaller magnitude earthquakes is also crucial, as they can trigger larger quakes, cause structural damage, and instill fear—challenges facing countries like Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Nepal.
My project aimed to: (1) Use actual Earthquake data (not simulated data) with 22,899 observations, (2) identify fewer variables to monitor in resource-limited settings, (3) test if a model can predict earthquakes accurately with these variables, and (3) evaluate if these models predict both low- and high-magnitude earthquakes. Using only three variables—Change in Energy, Mean Depth, and Elapsed Time—a Random Forest Classifier achieved 88% to 94% accuracy offering a usable solution for resource-constrained regions.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
Can Teachers Tell? Students vs AI
Overview
For our project, we wanted to see if teachers could tell the difference between something written by a real student and something written by ChatGPT. Some teachers worry that kids might use AI to do their homework, so we tested if teachers could spot the difference.
Procedure:
We got four writing prompts that 5th graders usually get in school. Each of us wrote a response, and then we asked ChatGPT to write one too, but in the voice of a 5th grader. After that, we gave the writings to teachers in a survey and asked them to guess which ones were written by students and which ones were AI. We also used another AI platform, Claude.AI, to see if it could tell the difference better than teachers.
Hypothesis
We guessed that teachers would be right 80% of the time because they are used to reading student work.
Results:
Teachers were only correct 25% of the time, which is the same as guessing randomly! But Claude.AI got it right 85% of the time.
Conclsuions:
Teachers have a really hard time telling if something was written by a student or by AI. But AI is actually really good at recognizing AI writing! This is important because if AI keeps getting better, teachers might need better ways to check if students are doing their own writing.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
For this experiment, I used Google’s application, NotebookLM. I found it the easiest to use because it is designed to rely only on the sources provided rather than accessing the internet (at least as far as we know).
I tested how an LLM’s accuracy changes based on the type of data it receives. My test groups consisted of five sets: 100% Correct, 100% Incorrect, 70% Incorrect & 30% Correct, 30% Incorrect & 70% Correct, and 50% Incorrect & 50% Correct. The question I posed was: “Based solely on the information I have given you, is the Earth flat or round?”
To conduct the experiment, I used a PC, NotebookLM, and a variety of source materials. The independent variable was the accuracy of the data, while the dependent variable was the response generated by the LLM.
One surprising result was that in the 70% Incorrect & 30% Correct group, NotebookLM still concluded that the Earth was round, despite most sources suggesting otherwise. Even more puzzling, in the 50/50 split, the application struggled to take a clear stance, despite previous patterns suggesting it should favor the correct data.
This experiment reinforced the idea that while AI models may seem reliable, we should always verify their responses. Even when they align with the truth, there is a risk that on different topics, they could just as easily favor incorrect information.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
This science fair project focuses on designing and testing a simple, energy-efficient air cooler using basic engineering methods. My goal was to create a low-cost and environment friendly cooling system that could be a better alternative to traditional air conditioners. This project highlights how engineering can be used to solve 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions which are caused by the use of Air Conditioners. If we continue with business as usual, emissions from cooling are expected to double by 2030 and to triple by 2050. The prototype was built using materials like a fan, pvc pipes, a styrofoam container, and ice. Different factors were tested, such as frozen water bottles, ice cubes, and the length of pvc pipes to determine the best combination for cooling air. Measurements were taken to compare the room temperature with the temperature after using the cooler. Results showed that using an insulated container and adjusting the pipe length along with changing the cooling elements with few design changes achieved the best cooling effect. The prototype reduced air temperature by approximately 19 degrees while using significantly less electricity than an air conditioner. Temperature measurements taken at different stages of melt did not seem to fluctuate. This means I could expect that same cool air even after several hours of melting. By exploring the principles of evaporation and airflow, we gained valuable insights into thermodynamics and eco-friendly design. The air cooler prototype proves that practical, energy-saving cooling solutions can be created with simple materials and methods.
COMPUTER SCIENCE & APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
Did you know that Solar Trackers improve solar efficiency by 60%? However, one setback is that Solar Trackers don’t have a shorter payback time compared to solar panels. This project is about how AI could potentially help the solar trackers increase efficiency by another 25%. This experiment was done every two hours by using AI generated code and human code. My hypothesis was that the AI generated code will achieve more efficiency than the human code because AI considers all the data points. The experimental results supported my hypothesis by showing that the AI code had more light intensity than the human code. The experiment also showed that the rain is also a factor in light intensity.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Project Abstract:
In this experiment, our group will test how dilferent ground covers - concrete. dirt, grass, and native plants - affect rainwater runoff and and groundwater recharge. We will also look at how pollutants might affect the plants and the environment. Our goal is to find out which ground cover is the best environment and helps conserve water.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
My science fair project is a dry experiment that I conducted on 3 objects to study how they change from a controlled to frozen state. I compared a room temperature raw onion, tennis ball and marshmallow to ones placed in a container of dry ice. After each item was placed in dry ice for equal minutes I observed and noted their changes. With the raw onion I compared the smell, the tennis ball I tested its bounciness, and the marshmallow I did how it felt and squished. In the beginning I thought that all the items would just crack after being in the dry ice because of how extreme the temperature can be. After conducting this experiment I learned that the dry ice affects items properties differently depending on what the item is made up of. I believe that this was an important experiment to perform so I could show people how the extreme cold can change the properties of everyday items.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
We decided to see how pollution of a caustic and acidic environment would affect the rain cloud and rainfall. We put bleach, vinegar, and water in separate jars. We then put shaving cream on top to be our cloud. We then dropped food coloring and waited to see how long the food coloring would take to fall down.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
The purpose of my project was to find out which water source had the greatest number of microplastics. I hypothesized that the Stansbury Lake water will have the most microplastics because more people frequent it to swim and boat. I think that many microplastics will be shed off of people's swimsuits and boats. I took water samples from the Great Salt Lake, Stansbury Lake, Stansbury Golf Course "Frog Pond," filtered home tap water, and Great Value bottled water. The procedure involved taking water samples, filtering them, and examining what was left on the filter underneath a microscope. After counting the microplastics found on each filter, I found out that the Stansbury Golf Course "Frog Pond" water had the most microplastics , 11 microparticles. I concluded that the reason for so many more microplastics in the Stansbury Golf Course "Frog Pond" could be because golf balls and trash fall in the water, golfers get in the water to retrieve their golf balls, and how the ponds are connected by pipes that limit how much water circulation occurs. Future research will include finer filter paper, different sources of water (even bottled drinking water varieties), artesian well water, and distilled water. I will also investigate the potential environmental and health impacts from microplastic pollution.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
My Mom is CRAZY about water. She reminds us to drink water at least 100 times a day! So I thought a water experiment would be interesting. Could I clean dirty water? What would be the best way to do that?
While I was researching ways to clean water, I found three ways that might work. Filtering with cheese cloth, filtering with cotton balls and sand, or filtering with gravel, sand and charcoal.
After setting up each experiment, I was surprised how long the cheese cloth took. Almost 24 hours!
The three ways used in these experiments are all good ways to clean water. The gravel, sand & charcoal worked best at clearing silt while giving the most clean water in return.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Clean drinking water is important for people’s health. Charcoal is commonly used to filter water. I chose to test what type of charcoal best filters water, granulated or powdered. I used three different amounts of food coloring to represent different levels of contamination. The three amounts were 0 drops, 4 drops, and 20 drops. I used 3 grams of each type of charcoal, and one cup with no charcoal as a control to be filtered. I did this for all three amounts of food coloring. I poured the colored water into the charcoal, mixed it, and then let it sit for 10 minutes. I poured each cup of water through three filters so it would strain the charcoal out of the water. After all the water filtered through, I compared the cups to a “control” sample. I used a HunterLab Colorimeter to get the L value of the water (L value means how bright or clear the water is. The higher the L value, the more clear the water is). I concluded that my hypothesis was wrong and the powdered charcoal was better at filtering out the food dye. From my results, it looks like powdered charcoal is the way to go so that we get the clearest and safest water to drink.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Snow quality can be influenced by human activity through pollutants and chemical changes. This experiment analyzed snow samples from Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah, comparing areas with high, medium, low, and minimal human traffic. The goal was to assess the impact of human activity on snow chemistry.
Samples were collected, melted, and tested for pH, microplastics, and concentrations of zinc, lead, copper, nitrite, nitrate, and sulfate. Control samples served as a baseline.
The hypothesis was that increased human activity would decrease snow quality, leading to higher contaminant levels. Results partially supported this: zinc was higher in high-traffic areas (2–5 ppm) than in control zones (0–2 ppm), and sulfate was elevated in medium and high-traffic areas (250 ppm) but lower or absent in control areas. pH remained neutral (6–7), showing mild acidification. Microplastics, lead, and copper were undetectable, while trace nitrite (0.5 ppm) and occasional nitrate (up to 10 ppm) were found in high-traffic areas.
Future research could track seasonal variations in snow chemistry and expand to other ski resorts. Investigating long-term zinc and sulfate accumulation would provide insights into environmental impacts. Increasing sample size and conducting PFAS testing in a lab would improve accuracy.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
My experiment tested what material that you could put on top of water to keep it from evaporating as quickly as it would with no cover. The hypothesis was that aluminum foil would keep the water condensed because it would reflect some of the heat and light. To measure how much the water evaporated, I used a scale. I measured the weight of the water in fluid ounces. My hypothesis turned out to be incorrect. The ping-pong balls I put on some of the containers shaded the water and, because of that, slowed the evaporation of the water better than the aluminum foil did. The aluminum foil was sinking, and that probably contributed to the ping-pong balls working better than the foil.This was an interesting experiment to do.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Last year, I tested the toxicity in the dry lakebed of the Great Salt Lake (GSL) using zebrafish embryos. Using this method, I discovered some potential "hot spots" with higher toxicity in the areas surrounding the lake. This year, I used the same method to test different microenvironments within a few selected "hot spots" to determine how the different microenvironments affected the toxicity in the lakebed of the GSL. My hypothesis was that the aquatic microenvironment would assist in reducing toxicity in the lakebed of the GSL. My hypothesis was supported by evidence, as the samples from the aquatic microenvironment did not cause great harm to the fish in comparison to the dry soil sample. Our results indicate that aquatic microenvironments greatly assist in reducing toxicity in the lakebed of the GSL, which will shed lights on how to diminish the toxicity levels of the dry lakebed of the Great Salt Lake.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
To test the impact plants have on erosion, we grew grass under grow lights in trays. I then added cups of water to the trays with and without grass while tipped at 45 degree angles. We documented the results.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
The objective of this experiment was to discover the effect of 2 Molar hydrochloric acid on the corrosion rate of different mineral groups (halides, sulfides, silicates, carbonates, and native minerals). The hypothesis created is," If the carbonate mineral (calcite) is reacted with 2 M HCl, then it will have the highest corrosion rate, which is the most loss of weight in grams. The hypothesis is supported by the fact that calcite is a carbonate mineral, meaning it contains something called a carbonate anion (a part of a molecule which is negatively charged). Because this part has a negative charge, it is good at attracting positively charged particles, like the hydrogen ions in acids. The minerals used were calcite, quartz, fluorite, graphite, and pyrite. The weights were checked before and after adding the 50 mL of HCl. The average results for all three trials were the calcite completely dissolved, and the other four minerals lost a few grams. This experiment has significant real-world applications, especially in understanding mineral degradation in natural environments and industrial processes. For instance, acid rain (sulfuric acid), a product of environmental pollution, can accelerate the corrosion of carbonate minerals and rocks in soil. Understanding how different mineral groups corrode under acidic conditions is essential for developing strategies to reduce mineral loss.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
The experiment is testing creating tornados using dry ice and different temperatures of water. The purpose of the experiment is to answer the question "Is the size of a tornado affected by the temperature over the water in which it's created?" It does the affects of tornados and ties into how global warming is affecting them.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Hydrogels may help get rid of plastic pollution. One way hydrogels can do that is by replacing plastic absorbent pads. I tested this idea by storing blackberries in jars with hydrogel, absorbent pad, paper towel, or nothing and rated the freshness of the fruit over time. My second test was with clamshell containers with hydrogel or absorbent pad and 40 blackberries to begin, and then eliminating the ones that went bad over time. In my third test, I put cut apple slices in a container with hydrogel or a container with nothing and rated the fruit quality over time. In my first fresh test, the hydrogel berries remained freshest longest. In my second fresh test, the results were close. In my third fresh test, the hydrogel and nothing tied the whole way through. In conclusion, hydrogels can replace absorbent pads in fruit packaging. Some limits of hydrogels that I observed: they do not last long unrefrigerated or without water, and they cannot be stored for a long time. If I were to continue to look at hydrogels, I would also test other types of hydrogel, how long it takes for a hydrogel to biodegrade, and if I can rehydrate a hydrogel to increase its usability.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
My project is about learning to use Shade Balls in more than one way to help the environment. I was able to research about the use of Shade Balls in California lakes and reservoirs to slow down the growth of algae and in my research found that many people also wondered about the effects that the Shade Balls might have on evaporation. This is what lead to my project. I was able to create a model for testing that theory by using many buckets of water with several different variables to conclude that Shade Balls do help slow down evaporation.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
The Great Salt Lake is shrinking due to drought, overuse, and climate change. As the lake level has dropped, its salinity has increased. The tiny shrimp that live in the Great Salt Lake are called brine shrimp (Artemia Salina). These shrimp only live in a few places on earth. They are one of only a few species that can thrive in the high salinity environment of the Great Salt Lake. They are hardy, but there are limits to what they can put up with. We tested how salinity affects brine shrimp hatch rates, and found that increasing salinity causes extreme drop-off off hatching rate. This has implications for the future of the lake and the shrimp that support the local economy, global food supply, and migratory birds.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Microplastics, tiny plastic particles less than 5mm in size, are found across ecosystems, including freshwater, marine environments, food, and air. They originate from secondary microplastics, formed by the breakdown of larger plastic items like bottles, bags, and primary microplastics, intentionally produced for products like cosmetics and industrial abrasives. Composed of synthetic polymers, microplastics appear as fibers, fragments, beads, and films.
The experiments’ objective was to determine if water samples collected in locations with the highest human activity, waste, and pollution will have the highest concentration of microplastics. Findings could help evaluate the safety of recreational, fresh and drinking water.
In this experiment water samples from suburban, rural, and urban water sources were compared to a control of distilled water. The water was then filtered using a Fristaden Lab Vacuum Filtration Apparatus and the particulate from the samples were collected on the filter paper and analyzed for the presence of microplastics.
The hypothesis was that water samples from urban water runoff would have the highest concentration of microplastics. The hypothesis was only partially supported because microplastics were identified in all water sources evaluated. The assumption was that urban water runoff would be the dirtiest however suburban and urban water each had a location similar in concentration of microplastics.
Further research could involve sampling the same water sources across different seasons and weather events to understand environment factors affecting microplastics presence. Additionally, future studies should explore advanced methods for detecting smaller microplastic particles and distinguishing them from natural fibers in water sources.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
I went to Yellowstone last year and saw a bunch of lakes and geysers. I got to see Old Faithful erupt and I got to sleep at a cabin. But I’ve wondered, why do geysers erupt at different times? Old Faithful erupts about every hour, but some geysers take days, weeks, and years! What causes this?
There are chambers under geysers, and normally magma comes from the ground to heat up water in the chamber, so pressure builds up. There are also tunnels running through the geysers that connect the chambers and they lead to the surface. The length can vary and will probably change how long it takes for it to erupt. I think it will take longer to erupt if it has long tunnels and shorter but smaller eruptions for shorter tunnels. So I decided to create my own geyser.
What I discovered was taller geysers take slightly longer to erupt than shorter geysers, when they both have the same amount of water. But my experiment is only a little bit of what contributes to my question. I could have changed a lot of other things to see what else would change, like I could keep testing my hypothesis by using different sized flasks. I could change the liquid as well. The reason I didn’t for this experiment is because the materials are expensive and hard to find. If I did it again I would do it outside because it sprayed hot water all over the house!
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Ashley Duncan from Entheos Academy Kearns
The title of my science project is “How Ice Melts in Different Substances.” What I did for this project is, I set out four of the same shape and size containers. Then I filled one of the containers with salt, another with sugar and another with baking soda. For the last container I put plain ice in it to see how fast each substance takes to melt and which ones were faster at melting the ice. I found out that the container with the salt in it melted the ice the fastest. The second fastest was the baking soda and lastly was the sugar other than the plain ice that melted slowly on its own.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
I put three objects into soil in a decomposition box and recorded how quickly it took for them to decompose. I tested an eggshell, a baked noodle, and a small piece of banana The purpose was to see how the type of material of the three objects affected how long the object took to decompose. My hypothesis was that the object with a softer material will decompose quicker than an object with a harder material. My hypothesis was correct.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Is snow as clean as it seams? We will test snow vs bottled water.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
I wanted to find the best filtration substance for water. I tested four filtration substances on dirty water from the Sugar House park pond: a paper filter, gravel, sand, and charcoal. I used tap water as a comparison. I rated how clear each water sample was and tested them with test strips.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
This experiment explored whether or not the type of biodegradable plastic affects the decomposition rate. The hypothesis was that the cornstarch plastic will decompose faster, this is because gelatin and agar agar powder seem a lot thicker than cornstarch. To conduct the experiment, I measured the amount of decomposition on October 21, October 29, and November 5. The hypothesis wasn’t supported. The gelatin decomposed quicker than the agar agar and the cornstarch. This project demonstrates how biodegradable plastics can play a crucial role in reducing plastic pollution, offering a sustainable solution to protect our environment for future generations.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Everyone has drunk water at some point. It is even older than the sun! But, have you ever wondered if you should even be drinking your water? In this research project, we will find out! Get ready for a ton of research, and maybe you’ll change your mind about drinking from the tap. We are going to see how safe our drinking water is. In this project, we will find out how tap water compares to filtered water!
To answer this, we will need to find out what is in tap water, and what is in filtered water.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
I came up with this project because of the number of fatalities due to unfiltered water about 1 million a year. This is a water filter so if you are in a survival situation you can use this as a way to get drinkable water. But in order for it to work you need cotton balls, activated carbon, a lot of sand, rags or cloth, and big and small pebbles. You must put a good amount of each material or else the water will go too fast, and you will not get the results you need. Also, when it reaches the raw water plant classified as "raw water", they put ammonia and chlorine to eliminate bacteria but that really makes our water worse than it already is. Before that, it already picks up the bacteria from underground wells. Rainwater leaches into those wells, and that is where we get our water from. However, rainwater that is leaching into those wells is generational. Chlorine, which is put in swimming pools is also put in our drinking water along with ammonia and other chemicals that are added and could cause blindness, respiratory problems, or even death. Also, it could bring in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). VOCs could cause nausea, dizziness, and over long periods of time could cause death. Fluoride is also put into 70% of America's water and it is also in your plants, water, food, or anything that needs water. Fluoride is a toxin that is put in your toothpaste, and it says on the back of the tube "if accidentally swallowed contact a Poison Control Center right away." However, these events can only occur when you have drunk dirty water without filtration over a lifetime.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
I began my project with the curiosity of what causes landslides and are there things we can do to help reduce landslides. My question, “Do all landslides have the same angle of repose and slope?” After doing some research I learned that surface friction plays an important role. I formed the following hypothesis: I believe the landslide simulation with sandpaper will result in the largest average angle of repose because my research shows the coefficient friction increases the angle of repose needed for the objects to become unstable and slide down the slope. I created a landslide simulation using a clipboard, pennies, and a protractor. I simulated different types of surfaces using sand paper, and a paper towel. For each different surface I placed the pennies on the clipboard and began tilting it to test the angle of repose needed for the pennies to slide down the clipboard. I had the following variables: Controlled variables (clipboard, pennies, tape, protractor, and location) Independent variable (sandpaper and paper towel) Dependent variable (angle of repose). I completed three trials. In conclusion, I learned that my hypothesis was correct! During my research I learned that friction with surfaces increases the angle of repose needed for objects to become unstable and slide down a slope.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
In this project, I tested the durability of beeswax wrap, and if it was a replaceable product to plastic wrap. I tested how fresh it left apples and bread after four days. After I compared both results to see which kept the product fresher. To make sure it was fair, I used the same size apple and bread. Also the same size beeswax wrap and plastic wrap. I applied heat to both types of wraps to see which would withstand direct flame. This is my project.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Microplastics, small plastic particles that are less than five millimeters in size, come from the breakdown of larger plastic items like plastic water bottles and black take-out containers. Microplastic pollution (MP) stress reduces plant growth and development by limiting photosynthesis and blocking the plant from processing and absorbing food. Being unable to develop and absorb their food can lead to death of the plant. The objective of this experiment was to discover if the growth of plants is affected by plastic. The trials tested were soil with shards of plastic water bottles, soil with pieces of Styrofoam, and plain soil (control group). Two zinnia seeds were planted in twelve trials for each experimental group. It was hypothesized that the control group would have the best plant height and overall condition compared to the plants grown in the soil with plastic shreds. Surprisingly, the plants planted with the Styrofoam had the greatest height average compared to other trials. Research indicates that because Styrofoam is a blocker of evaporation, the soil in the Styrofoam experimental group blocked the evaporation and kept the soil wet longer than the control group did. Even though the heights and leaves were the biggest as well as the highest leaf count, the number of sprouted seeds was the fewest. This may be because microplastics can negatively impact seed germination.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
For my project, I made three different water purifiers. These included Filtration (with activated carbon granules), Distillation (vaporizing water and collecting the water vapor), and Chemical Additives (A P&G purifier of water packet). I found dirty pond water to purify, and went about testing the methods. In conclusion, the distillation method cleaned the pond water best.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Urban heat islands occur when cities experience significantly higher temperatures than nearby rural areas due to the absorption and retention of heat by different surfaces. This project investigates which roofing type absorbs and retains the most heat, aiming to provide insights that could help reduce urban heat islands, lower energy consumption, reduce water consumption, and potentially save lives.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
I chose to do the Egg in the Bottle experiment because I thought it would be a fun and interactive experiment and I could try to experiment with multiple variables. The variable I chose was to record the speed that three different sized bottles would suck in the egg to see if the different sizes of the bottles would change the reaction time. My hypothesis was that the biggest bottle would suck in the egg the fastest. First, I gathered my materials and started to set up. Next, I lit a piece of thick paper on fire and quickly dropped it in the bottle and placed the egg on top. Finally, I repeated the process with all three different bottles and observed. What I observed was the biggest bottle had the longest reaction time and the smallest was the quickest. This concluded that the smallest bottle had the fastest time because the smaller vessel built up the most air pressure. When you heat up the air in a bigger bottle it doesn’t create as much air pressure. For example, if you put a little air in a big ball, it wont bounce as high as if if I put that same amount of air in a smaller ball, it will bounce more.
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Observe harvester ants to see what type of food they are drawn to.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Hydroelectricity is a good alternative because it can theoretically, create over 50% more energy than air. Kinetic energy running through a generator creates electrical energy, and in this case the kinetic energy is water molecules. My question addresses the extent at which changing the amount of turbines has on the measurement of electrical current output. The data shows a negative correlation between the amount of current and energy when more turbines were added. This suggests possible errors in the management of variables such as distance of the fan from the motors or angle of the fan on the motors. However, I still think hydroelectric power is still more efficient than wind turbines, and can still create more than 2 times the amount of power than wind turbines, although my data does not suggest this phenomenon.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
I was having trouble reading at night while my brothers were sleeping. It was too dark and a lamp was too bright. A handheld lamp was too awkward to hold while holding a book at the same time, so I decided to attach a light to my glasses. I created a pair of glasses that have an LED light that turns on when the glasses are opened. I had to create a way for the light to be attached to the frame of the glasses, as well as turn on and off when the temples were opened and closed. I had to research how electricity is conducted through a circuit and how power gets from the battery to the lightbulb. This created a new problem of how to attach a battery to the frames of my glasses which I achieved by attaching a felt pouch. The light turns on when the positive wires coming from the battery connect via a terminal which presses against some tin foil that is connected to the positive wire on the LED. The negative wires stay connected the entire time. Overall, I was able to create a design that has an LED light attached to my glasses with a battery pouch that consistently turns a on when opened.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Sometimes my food is too hot, and I don’t want to blow on it to cool it down, but I’m also really hungry and I don’t want to wait for it to cool down. I designed a fan that could attach to a spoon (or fork) to do the blowing for me. The fan is powered by a small battery pack and is activated by a momentary button on the handle. I arranged the battery pack so that it would be comfortable to hold and I placed the button where it would be easy to use. I tested the fan by putting rice, water, and tomato sauce in the spoon, and measuring the temperature while the fan was running for thirty seconds. The fan was effective at cooling water and rice, but not as effective at cooling the tomato sauce.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Resistors are used everywhere, from thermistors to dimming lights. They are used to resist the flow of electricity. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of the resistance of a load on the voltage drop of a circuit.
The resistors used were ranging from 560 ohms to 422k ohms. The source of electricity was a 9 volt battery. The voltage drop across each resistor was recorded. The trials with the least resistance (560 ohms) were the control groups. The hypothesis was tested using alligator clips and connecting them to the battery and the resistors. The volt meter was used to measure the voltage drop before and after the resistor. The results recorded for this method were calculated when the battery voltage was inconsistent but approximately 9 volts. The data was adjusted as if the battery was a constant 9 volts.
The hypothesis was that if the resistance of a load was larger, then the voltage drop across the resistors would be larger in value. This hypothesis was supported. The voltage drop across each resistor showed a significant change. For example, 560 ohms dropped from 9 volts to 6.48 volts while 1k ohms dropped from 9 volts to 7.47 volts.
Further research may include measuring the drop of current in a parallel circuit with different values of resistance or even doing the same experiment but on a breadboard. The main improvement would have been, to make sure the voltage of the battery was constant throughout the experiment. Because the battery voltage was not constant, the data would not be quantifiable or consistent.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
For our science project, we explored the potential of magnets as a source of clean energy. Our initial experiment involved attaching magnets to a model car to see if it could move on its own. While we managed to get the car to move, it required an initial push by hand. Through further research, we discovered that magnets alone cannot currently be used as a standalone energy source, but when combined with electricity, they play a crucial role in devices like DVD players, vacuum cleaners, and even Tesla vehicles.
To delve deeper, we built a simple electric motor called a homopolar motor using batteries, copper wire, and neodymium magnets. After assembling it, we carefully adjusted the copper wire until it successfully spun, with a small ballerina figure attached to it. We then conducted an experiment to test whether different battery sizes or magnet strengths would affect the speed of the ballerina’s spin. Our results confirmed our hypothesis: both battery size and magnet strength influenced the motor’s performance. The most powerful and fastest spin was achieved using a C battery paired with our largest magnet.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
For our science fair project we wanted to create a device that emails you when your dog is out of water. Dogs can run out of water quickly, causing dehydration. We built a system for a water bowl that emails you when the water is low. We tested different sensors on the water bowl and different ways to power them. We found out that the contactless capacitive water sensor worked best out of the three sensors we tried. Once we found the correct sensor, we developed a program to send an email notification. Out of the two ways to power the water bowl, battery power and wall plug, the wall plug worked best. Some of the problems we ran into were writing and debugging the code, sensor reliability, and battery life. This device would be helpful for anyone who has a dog or a cat. There aren't many products on the market like ours.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
My project is to see what types of fruit and vegetables produce any voltage, and to see how many citrus fruits it would take to light up an LED. To perform the experiment the fruit and vegetables had to be turned into a battery by adding two different types of metals into them. I did this by taking a nail as the negative and a copper wire as the positive and placed these into the fruit or vegetable. I then used a voltage meter, I set to the VDC setting 2 VDC, I then placed the red lead on the copper wire and then the black lead on the nail to get a reading on the voltage meter and recorded the voltage measurements using excel. I then connected the fruit in a series to create enough VDC to light up a LED.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
In this project, I made an attempt to build a simple vacuum cleaner by organising the simple materials that are available in our surrounding environment.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
I experimented with different blades, on a small electric fan. I used wide and thin popsicle sticks, and light cardboard. I then recorded myself using wind (a blow dryer) to power the wind turbine (small fan). The fan, once it had enough power, would turn on a small light that was attached to it. Experimenting with the different blades, and slowing down the recording, I was able to determine the best design for the wind turbine.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
I researched the science behind maglev trains and designed three similar prototypes based on an electromagnet coil design. These prototypes were tested against each other. Differences in design were analyzed and the results in train speeds were recorded.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
In our science fair project, "Solar Drive," We researched a solar-powered car versus a battery-powered car. The goal was to compare their speed in different surfaces: a flat surface, a smooth inclined surface at a 45-degree angle, and a rough surface. Through out the project we recorded observations.
We built a small car that is both solar powered and battery powered. When we tested the battery section we covered the solar panel, and in the solar section we took out the batteries.
During the tests, we measured speed performance across each surface type. The battery powered car worked best on all of the surfaces. The solar car didn't reach the 46.5 inch mark on two of the three tests.
Overall, "Solar Drive" demonstrated that solar energy needs a bit of improving before it advances in the world.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
My project for the science fair is a study of calories and energy vs density.
After some research, I came up with the hypothesis that higher density objects will have more calories.
First I collected exactly 8 cubic centimeters of two samples each of 6 different materials.
To measure my calories I built a calorimeter out of wood, a can, a thermometer, and some water in the can. I measured the change in water temperature in my calorimeter after I burned each material. I used that data to calculate the calories.
Last, I compared the calories to the density to confirm if density correlated with calories.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
In long boarding, speed wobbles can occur when going too fast. If weight is added, would less crashing occur and would it become easier to avoid speed wobbles? My goal for this project was to study the relationship between weight and speed in long boarding. My hypothesis was if you increase the weight on the longboard, the speed will also increase by two mph. This experiment was carried out on a hill with an 8% incline which then became flat with a total riding distance of 265'. For each weight category, the ride was repeated twice -- once standing and once crouched down. For the first and second rides, no additional weight was added. For the first weight category, four lbs were added. For the second, 10 lbs were added. For the third, 45 lbs were added to the longboard. The data showed I do go faster with added weight, but not as much as expected. My speed increased an average of 1 mph faster per weight category, with crouching down increasing it more than standing.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
This experiment aimed to discover which citrus fruit out of clementine, lemon, and grapefruit would make a better battery. This is important because this is an alternate energy source with zero negative environmental impacts. To test it, I used a multimeter to find the readings for each fruit. I hypothesized that the grapefruit would have the highest voltage because it is the largest of the three fruits. Being the largest, the grapefruit has the most amount of citric acid exposed to zinc and copper, which creates a higher charge. My results contradicted my hypothesis because the clementine got an average of 0.87 V, the lemon got an average of 0.83 V, and the grapefruit got an average of 0.84 V. As a result of my experiment, I learned that size is a minor factor, and ripeness is a much greater factor in the amount of voltage generated by citrus fruits. The more concentrated the fruit is, the more acidic the citric acid is, which produces more electrons. The way a citrus fruit battery works is that the citric acid reacts with the zinc, creating electrons. The electrons flow towards the copper, which has a positive charge, thus creating a circuit. Although my hypothesis was proved wrong, I was able to learn why and more about citrus fruit batteries.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
Purpose: To determine if a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) or a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) creates more power.
Hypothesis: When turbine blades are the same size, a HAWT will produce more power than a VAWT.
Methods: Assembled 2 identical DC motor/LED light kits. 1 motor was placed horizontally and the horizonal blades were attached and placed on the right. The other motor was placed vertically with the vertical blades attached and placed to the left of the HAWT assembly. A divided black out box was set over the lightbulbs. A hairdryer was positioned 45’ left of center, center, and 45’ right of center. Four observers recorded which light was brighter at all 3 positions and at 2 different hair dryer speeds.
Results: All 4 observers gave the same results. When the hairdryer was set at low speed and positioned 45' left of center neither the HAWT or VAWT lit up and when it was centered or at 45' right of center the VAWT was better than the HAWT. When the hairdryer was set to high speed, at45' left of center neither the HAWT or VAWT lit up. With the hairdryer centered or at 45' right of center the VAWT was better than the HAWT.
Conclusions: The VAWT performed better than the HAWT because of the bigger blade area so the wind could catch the blades easier.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
Thermocouples have been intriguing ever since the science was first discovered by Thomas Johann Seebeck in the1700s. These devices can make a charge of electricity simply with hot and cold water, except that it is often too small to be noticed after resistance is factored in. The objective of this experiment was to determine if the length of a wire in a thermocouple affects the resistance. To do this, thermocouples made of wires with different lengths were used: 6 in., 8 in., 12 in., 18 in., and no wire at all as a control. The hypothesis was that the shortest wire would show the smallest resistance in ohms on average because more electrons would make it to the other end. A multimeter was used as the measurement device. As each thermocouple was hooked up to alligator clips to measure ohmage and one end was dipped in hot water and the other into ice water, which attracts the electrons to decrease the resistance, for one minute before pulling it out, recording the result and then repeating the experiment nine more times. The results showed that the hypothesis was supported, and the 6 inch wire had the least resistance on average, though the deficit was extremely small, the pattern continued with one anomaly of 8 inch and the 12 inch’s average resistances. The readings of every different length of wire fluctuated and the ends were held by humans, which may have affected results, however most constants were controlled.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
This science project investigates the optimal angle at which to hold a match when lighting birthday candles. What if you only have one match to light the candles on your birthday cake, which angle would you hold it to last the longest?
The experiment involved lighting birthday candles at three different angles: 90 degrees (straight up), 45 degrees (halfway between horizontal and vertical), and 0 degrees (horizontal). Each angle was tested with multiple trials to ensure accuracy. Data on the success rate, time taken to light the candles, and the number of matches used were recorded.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
For my project, I researched the question 'Which performs better, hot, cold, or room temperature batteries?'. My hypothesis was that room temperature batteries would be the best. To answer the question I set up experiments where I used a digital multimeter to find the voltage of batteries at different temperatures. I did this with three different brands of AA batteries. Some were left in the freezer, some were left at room temperature, and the others were warmed up using a hair dryer. The results of my experiments showed that cold batteries put out a higher voltage than the room temperature or hot batteries.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
I designed and built an updraft tower to test its ability to generate enough wind speed to power a small LED bulb and to evaluate how tower height affects draft speed. After researching how solar updraft towers are designed and used in the real world to generate power, I made mine by using 3D-printed materials, and heat from a 3D printer bed was used as the energy source. I recorded the air temperature at both the base and top of the tower, along with the wind speed inside the structure. After several tests and revisions, I found that increasing the height of the tower positively impacted the draft speed. To power the LED bulb, a draft speed of 5 mph was required. Although I achieved an updraft speed of 3.8 mph, it fell short of the necessary speed to light the bulb. Despite this, the project provided valuable data and highlighted areas for potential improvement in design and performance.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
As of 2024, roughly 4.5% of electricity produced worldwide is generated by solar panels. Although a relatively small percentage, solar panels are the third largest renewable energy technology with hydropower and wind being the top two. However, most solar panels remain stationary so they will not absorb sunlight efficiently. One way to optimize the efficiency of solar panels is to automate them to track and follow the sun's path. The objective of this project was to discover which hourly angular increment allows solar panels to produce the highest voltage. It is predicted that if the position of the solar panel is incremented by 15 degrees (1 degree every 4 minutes) every hour from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., then it will generate the highest total energy compared to other angular increments. Three programmed micro:bits were automated to calculate and record the average voltage production from the control group and the solar panel mounting systems that rotated 10, 15, and 20 degrees each hour. The data showed that the hypothesis was supported; the groups of trials incremented by 15 degrees had a total average production of 1.981 volts. The group of trials incremented by 20 degrees had an average production of 1.954 volts, which was 0.027 volts less than the average of the groups incremented by 15 degrees. The group of trials incremented by 10 degrees produced an average of 1.741 volts. As expected, the group of trials with no increment produced the least voltage, an average of 1.618 volts.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
I really enjoy skating and wanted to know more about how to make the ball bearings in my skates work well. I decided to test which lubricant was the best overall on the ball bearings. In my inline skate wheels I tested 4 different lubricants: Bones Speed Cream, vegetable oil, WD40, and bike grease. I made a device to test how long each bearing would spin when the same amount of force was applied. I made it a blind test so I would not have any biases about any of the lubricants. For the first part of the experiment, l tested clean ball bearings with these lubricants. My hypothesis for this part of the experiment was that bone speed cream would be the best. I tested each lubricant eight times and then took the average of each time. After that I soaked each bearing in dirty water overnight and then tested each lubricant eight times again. My hypothesis for my second experiment was that biking grease would spin the longest after being soaked in dirty water. My results showed that with clean bearings, WD40 is the best. My results also showed that after the bearings had been soaked in dirty water WD40 was still the best. The best lubricant overall was WD40, and it was the second cheapest of all the lubricants at $1 per oz.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
Our experiment was that we first put the popcorn in the microwave for two minutes, thirty seconds. Next, we opened the bag and counted how many unpopped kernels were left and how many popped kernels there were at the end. We tested each brand 3 times to draw an average from each brand and find a conclusion. In the end, we figured out that Orville popped the most, Act 2 Butter Lovers was second, next Kirkland, and last was Pop Secret.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
The project is to figure out if applying voltage to electromagnets increases their strength. We took specific steps when creating the magnets. We then used d batteries in series to increase the voltage. We first tested picking up steel screws with one battery, then increased it to two batteries and attempted to pick up screws, then increased it to three batteries and attempted to pick up screws. As we increase the volts, we saw that we were able to pick up additional screws each time.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
What is the effect of blade size on a windmill? How does the size of the blade affect the amount of energy produced? If I use different sizes of blades for a turbine, I think the larger blades will produce more energy because it will capture more wind. I set up 2 houses each with a light bulb connected to a wind turbine. I had 3 sizes of blades to test. I used a multimeter to check the output of energy. I used a blow dryer within inches and then moved it back 1 foot. I tested on both high and low settings. I also used a leaf blower from 5 feet away. I learned that a medium-sized turbine created more energy and the largest one needed more wind to light up the light bulb. With the leaf blower, the medium windmill produced an average of 1.37 volts compared to 0.85 with the large windmill and 0.67 with the smallest one. One problem I had was that with the blow dryer, I couldn't get the light bulb lit up on the larger windmill, but it would flicker. I thought maybe it needed more wind because it was bigger. So, I used a leaf blower from 5 feet away and that was enough wind to light up the bulb on the biggest windmill. So, I think it takes more wind to produce energy with a larger windmill and less wind to produce energy on the medium and small windmills.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
We have heard of potato batteries and this made us wonder if you can make batteries out of other fruits and vegetables; and if so, which fruit or vegetable would produce the most electricity. When two different metals are placed in a conductive solution, electricity will be produced. This is the idea behind wet cell batteries. In our experiment, we placed copper strips and magnesium strips into produce, connected them with alligator clips and an LED to make a complete circuit. We measured the voltage created with a voltmeter. We conducted the experiment with five different types of produce: potatoes, celery, apples, lemons, and oranges. We did three trials and we found that on average, potatoes produced the most voltage. We read that for fruit to conduct electricity, they need to contain electrolytes and need to allow electrons to flow through them. Potatoes make good batteries because they are high in potassium and they don't have segments like lemons and oranges, which might block the flow of electrons. Although fruit and veggies don't make effective batteries, we are still curious to know if there are other, more exotic fruits which would conduct more electricity.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
My project is about thermal energy. I built a carousel with a fan and I put candles under the carousel, which caused the carousel to spin. This happened because heat from the candles rose in hot currents, pressing up against the blades causing the fan or carousel to spin.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
This project investigates how wheel size influences the distance that a mouse car travels. By using the same car and changing out the wheels, I was able to control for all other variables. My research prior to running the experiment taught me about rotational inertia and mechanical advantage. These two concepts play a big roll in how a mouse trap car will respond to different wheel sizes. The big wheels have more rotational inertia. This means the bigger wheels will move slower due to the extra weight, but you get it back when no more energy is being put in and you are just coasting. Mechanical advantage is the ratio of the output force over the input force. With the mouse trap car, the slower the energy transfer from the spring to the wheels, the more efficient and thus the farther the car. With bigger wheels, the mechanical advantage ratio is lower and therefore the energy transfer is more efficient. Based on this information, my hypothesis was that the mouse trap car would travel farther with the bigger wheels. To test my hypothesis, I ran the same mouse trap car with two different wheel sizes, 4.25 in. wheels, and 3 in. wheels. I ran each wheel size five time per set, switching wheel sizes between sets and three sets for each wheel. I then used this data to make graphs to visualize how the wheel sizes compared. My hypothesis was correct and the bigger wheels traveled farther
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
For my project I wanted to know if the temperature of a baseball would affect its travel distance. My hypothesis was that yes, the temperature of a baseball would affect its travel distance and that a warmer baseball would travel farther. My experiment was heating up baseballs in the oven and hitting them off a tee. I did the same for baseballs that I put in the freezer. Then I measured how far they traveled. My hypothesis was correct.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
My science fair project is about why does a balloon inflate when in contact with hot temperatures and why it deflates when in contact with cold temperatures. To test this out we first put a balloon neck in a water bottle and put it over a pan of hot water, and then we watched it inflate. Then when we put it in the freezer it deflated. And after researching a bit more, we found out the cause of the balloon expanding is because the temperature of the bottle increases, the solubility of the has decreases and the Internal pressure increases. The balloon deflated because the particles compact together.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
My project is about how objects and substances react when put into a vacuum chamber. I chose six different objects/substances. I came up with a theory about what would happen when the air was removed. I then wrote down what happened and whether I was right or wrong.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
We wanted to see whether a lemon or a lime produced more voltage. We conducted our experiment by using galvanized nails, copper wire, alligator clips and a multimeter.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
Bang for your buck is about testing how long different battery chemistries last and how much they cost. This measures price to performance using automated data collection.
ENERGY: CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL
This project is testing different water temperatures on the brightness and duration of an activated glow stick. Glow sticks are lights that use chemicalluminescence to form light, unlike an average light source that uses heat. Glow sticks were invented in the 1960’s by a man named Edwin A. Chandross to prove that chemicals can make light, he found out 3 main chemicals are the solution;1) hydrogen peroxide 2; sodium salicylate(this mixes the chemicals) 3; an electron rich fluorescent dye, in which with just a simple snap the glow sticks glows (due to the combining chemicals). Basically the objective was to see how temperature can affect the lighting from the chemical reactants. This experiment may help optimize how glow sticks may have an effect out doors, to make better lighting sources that use less heat or last longer, and to test why chemicals react up during heat or cold.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
This project is about discovering if applying the aerodynamic properties of a golf ball to an airplane wing will result in an increasing of the angle of attack. The Angle of Attack (AoA) is the angle between the chord line of an aircraft wing and the direction of the relative wind, essentially describing the angle at which the wing is meeting the oncoming airflow; it is a critical factor in determining how much lift a wing produces and is crucial for flight control. If the dimple pattern on a golf ball helps the ball travel better due to aerodynamics, and I test this by building half of the wing with dimples and the other half without, then I predict that the side without dimples will stall sooner than the side with dimples. Overall, it was in mind that the golf ball dimple pattern on the surface of the aircraft wing could potentially help make plane flight safer by increasing the angle at which the stalls occurs.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
We created a wind turbine with common household items. We then tested the time it took for the wind turbine to lift the washers (weights) to the top. We ran three trials on each weight (six different weights), for a total of 18 trials. We averaged the times and plotted our findings.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
I wanted to see how different heights of a building would affect how long it would stand during an earthquake. So I built an earthquake simulator and buildings out of legos that were different heights. Then I tested them by putting each building on the simulator and did three shake tests per building. I recorded the times and found the average time each height stayed standing. I found that the higher the building, the quicker it would fall.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
We tested creating artificial gravity by building a wheel that spins on an axis. When it spins, sliders move toward the outside of the wheel demonstrating artificial gravity.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Determine if you put weight on pinewood derby car affect its speed on a track. We placed weight in the front, middle and back to see which car would go faster. We found the car with the weight in the back was the fastest.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Do you ever wonder what temperature combinations cause your clothes to shrink? For my
science fair project this year, I asked, “How does washing and drying fabric affect its size and
structure?” In my research, perhaps the most important piece of information I learned was this:
lots of clothing is made from polymers, which are chain-like molecules very tightly linked
together. When polymers are made into clothing the molecules are stretched out, but when heat
and agitation from the washer and dryer are applied, the molecules go back to their original
states, and the clothing shrinks. Using this, I formed my hypothesis: that the fabrics washed in
high heat and dried on high heat would shrink the most and the fibers would condense the most.
To conduct my research, I got 6 brand-new, identical, 100% cotton dish towels. I measured them
all and examined them through a pocket microscope. Then I put 3 dish towels in ice-cold water
for ten minutes, wrung them out, weighed them to ensure they had the same amount of water.
Then I dried one on high heat in the dryer, one without heat in the dryer, and one air-dried. I
repeated this process, but instead used stove-hot water. I then re-measured and reexamined
them and gathered the data. The dish towels washed in colder water shrank the most. I
concluded that my hypothesis was partially correct, though, because the dish towel that shrunk
the most was washed in cold water, and dried on high heat.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
When I saw videos on the internet of a fan running on rubber bands, I wanted to see if it would really work and help people stay cool. To begin, I used an old pedestal fan and removed the power source (ability to use electricity). I designed the fan to use energy from three rubber bands using expansion and contraction. The design was made to resemble a cross. The cross was the point of contact for the rubber bands and connected to a pivot point on the axle. By being offset, this allowed the rubber bands to use their elasticity while in motion. One constraint was the types of rubber bands used. Rubber bands naturally lose their elasticity due to increased temperatures from contracting and expanding. To solve this issue, I chose different sizes of rubber bands. I found that the large and stronger rubber bands did not perform very well because they are too strong. I had better success with the thinner rubber bands; they lasted a longer amount of time. I also tested four different colored rubber bands (tan, blue, red, and yellow). The red rubber band ran the longest time but failed to continuously run. After several failed attempts to get the fan to run continuously, I concluded it was not an achievable task. This type of fan went against the laws of thermodynamics associated with perpetual motion. I failed to create a solution for people, but proved not everything you see online is 100% accurate.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
My project is about pendulums. I wanted to know what factors would influence the swing of the pendulum--the length of the string, the weight, or the angle that it was dropped. I tested all three factors by counting how many swings happened in 30 seconds. I hung a fishing weight from a piece of fishing line. I held the string at either a 45, 90, or 115 degree angle. I used string lengths from 6 -24 inches. I learned that the only thing that changed the speed was the length of the string. The angle does not change how fast it swings. If it is dropped from a higher angle, the acceleration increases the speed and it reaches the vertical point at the same time as a string that is dropped from a lower angle. The weight didn't change the speed because gravity has the same pull on all objects--the weight doesn't matter. The length of string does matter. A longer string makes a larger swing and is slower. A shorter string makes a shorter arc and is faster. A pendulum needs gravity and momentum to work. They work together to keep a pendulum moving. Friction is what makes a pendulum stop.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
The purpose of this project was to design and create an automatic silly string launcher. The launcher would use sensors to detect sound or other input and then use some mechanical means to push down on the silly string nozzle.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
The Wirtz Generator is creating a renewable source of power generation. It uses a wirtz pump (a rotating spiral tube that creates pressure to push water from a lower level up to a higher elevation) to pump water up a tube and dispense it onto a water wheel that will turn. The water wheel is connected to the axle of the wirtz pump with a rubber band turning the pump axle to keep the pump turning. The pump axle is also connected via a rubber band to a small dc motor that will light up a small LED bulb. The idea is that this prototype could be refined and enlarged to be a source of renewable energy power generation.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
The Sheet Belt is a project that I designed to make it so that I can sleep better for good health. It is a design to keep your top sheet on the bed. It is made with hold'em clips and zip ties held to the bedframe. My first prototype was pockets and magnets on a sheet and they were way too high. If the pockets were on the bed frame, the sheet would be only halfway on the bed. My second prototype was to move the pockets down and attach magnets to the bedframe. That did not work. Even though the magnets were strong enough to break each other when they got close, they were not strong enough to go through 3 layers of fabric to the bedframe. My third prototype was one with hold'em clips and the zip ties. I used 3 zip ties to grab the bottom of a hold'em clip and clip it on to the sheet. I did 4 attachments on one side and 2 on the other. That prototype worked. I tested it for several nights and my sheet never came off.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Paper airplanes can be observed flying differently depending on various factors, and my project was designed to test how a papers weight affects distance traveled for paper planes. I believed that using lighter paper would help the airplane fly farther because the plane would weigh less.
First, I researched and selected a simple, yet effect plane design to, remain constant during my experiment. Next, I obtained 6 different styles/weight of the paper including, construction, lined, amazon basic’s, graph, and granite paper. Then I went to the American Preparatory Academy D3 high school gym. This would ensure that there were no unexpected variables such as wind, to interfere with the experiment. I conducted three different trials for each of the six samples. During the experiment, I noticed that the lighter the paper, the more lift the airplane had. Meaning it would fly up toward the celling and come down. I also noticed that the heaviest paper that had flew the farthest and straightest, with little to no lift in its trajectory. The data on my board reflects the averages of the trials for each sample. The lightest plane, weighing 3 grams on average flew 29.2 feet. The heaviest plane weighing 8.49 grams had gone an average of 37.3 feet.
In conclusion, the construction paper airplane had flown the furthest distance, and the graph paper flew the shortest distance. The findings of this experiment did not support my hypothesis. Further testing with different designs could clarify the relationship between paper weight and flight distance.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
I was watching Spiderman and saw him use a web shooter to grab objects. I realized that people in wheelchairs can also use a tool to grab objects far-away from them. I wanted to make a web shooter that can help people like people who can't move. Before I made the web shooter, I tested different yarn to see which one could shoot the furthest for my web shooter. I predicted that the thin yarn would go farther than the thick yarn.
To test my hypothesis, I first had to create the shooter and bullet. I created a bullet using straws, paper, super glue, and attached a spring with a magnet on top. I made the shooting part by creating 2 different sized paper tubes. I measured the yarn by first placing the yarn to the bullet, then putting the bullet into the shooter. By pulling the fishing line connected to the holder, the bullet shoots out.
I found out that the thin yarn went the furthest. When I measured the thick yarn, it traveled around 9.1 inches. The thin yarn went the furthest and the thick yarn didn't go far. I used the thin yarn in my web shooter and the web shooter is able to shoot out 70 inches, grab magnetic objects, and come back in.
In conclusion, my web shooter was successful and it went well during testing. The thin yarn traveled the furthest and was used in the web shooter.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
My project title is Robot Races. I measured the time a robot mouse takes to go 8.3 feet to see which variables affected the time the most. I did this project because first I like mice and rats, second I have pet rats, third I like to code, and finally, I enjoy working with hardware. Also, I plan to have a career in coding. The procedure: first, my dad and I had to figure out how to do this project Second, we ordered the materials Third, we built the micro mouse and put the code on the mouse. Finally, we ran the tests for the different variables. The question that I experimented with was which variables affect the time on the micro mouse the most? I tested out the code, the motors, the weight, the wheels, and the surfaces. In conclusion, my hypothesis was incorrect, and the Motors had the most effect on time. I had thought it was code that would affect the time the most.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
My goal for this problem is to make a device that simulates a real batter that I can pitch to. It is really annoying when your sibling does not want to play Wiffle ball with you, so you have to play alone. That is why I wanted to make a self batting device.
I designed a device that simulates a real batter. I tested my device by pitching a ball into the strike zone and watching the ball travel through the device and through the ball launcher and if it comes out and only launches one ball then it works. My testing was very successful. I learned from testing that sometimes it only takes one thing to go wrong like the sensors don't detect any motion which doesn't trigger the servo motors and no ball comes flying out. Overall I do think my device was a success because the batting bot did all the things it was programmed to do and I was able to work on my pitching. I do think I need to add a couple of improvements like change the material of the strike box and make the strike zone a little bigger. I would also like to make the PIR sensors more reliable. My device can be used by other people to help them work on their pitching. I really enjoyed doing this project because it will help my pitching and it is really fun.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Using 5ml of water on goalie gloves I tested to see if it helps the performance, if it makes them more sticky.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Klister is a very sticky wax that is used for soft, warm and old snow. All cross country skiers have a problem removing it quickly before it gets everywhere. I tested three different removal methods (cornstarch, sawdust, and Swix fiberlene) to see which one was fastest. My hypothesis was that the cornstarch method would be the fastest. For each method, I put the klister on and then timed how long it took to get it off. For cornstarch and sawdust, I sprinkled it on and then timed how long it took to get it off. For Swix fiberlene, I followed the ironing instructions provided by Swix. For Experiment 1, every five seconds I tested if the klister was still on by compressing a black piece of paper to the kick zone and checked if there was any residue. They all took the same amount of time (25 seconds). For Experiment 2, I tested every 2 seconds including prep time (cornstarch: 61.33 seconds, sawdust: 27.64 seconds, fiberlene: 112.32 seconds). In the end, my hypothesis was not supported, but my results were interesting. Sawdust is a new method with advantages over the other two methods. It’s biodegradable and causes less of a mess. Future research should test whether the results of the experiment would be different if they were conducted by different people, test whether different grains of sawdust are faster or slower, and test which method experts prefer.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
This project investigated the relationship between football size and kicking distance. The hypothesis was that larger footballs would travel farther when kicked. Four different sizes of footballs were used: peewee, junior, collegiate, and official NFL size. A consistent kicking force was attempted along with starting at the same point each kick. Each football size was kicked 3 times, and the distance of each kick was measured and recorded. The data collected was then analyzed to determine the average kicking distance for each football size. Preliminary results indicated that peewee size traveled the furthest followed by the official size. However, further analysis is needed to determine the statistical significance of these results and to explore other factors, such as air pressure and football material, that may also influence kicking distance. This experiment provides a foundation for understanding the physics involved in kicking a football and how the size of the ball plays a role.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
I wanted to see if an electromagnet could hold more paper clips than a regular magnet. I put different battery sizes on the electromagnet to see which one could hold more paper clips. According to the research I found the electromagnet was supposed to hold more- be stronger. However, due to lack of proper resources the regular magnet was stronger. The surface area for the electromagnet was not as large as the regular magnet. The project needs to be recreated.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
To solve the problem of wiping off my kitchen island countertop, I designed and created a robot that autonomously cleans island countertops. I collected materials and started building. After the first test, my robot did not really work so I redesigned my robot with improvements that I thought would help, then tested it again. After the second test, it was a little bit better but I made some more adjustments to my prototype and tested it yet again. The next test was even better but I just kept redesigning and improving my robot. On the final test it worked perfectly. My robot did what I wanted it to do and it helped me do my chores more efficiently.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Hydraulic lifts use hydraulic pressure to efficiently lift and lower heavy loads, playing a vital role in industries like automotive and warehousing. Our recent experiment aimed to test the lifting effectiveness of three fluids: water, vegetable oil, and original Coke. We hypothesized that water would be the most effective fluid, with vegetable oil following closely. After experimenting, our findings mostly supported our hypothesis. Water was indeed the best fluid for lifting, thanks to its excellent fluid dynamics and low viscosity, followed by vegetable oil. While the original Coke was less effective, it provided insights into how different fluids affect the homemade hydraulic performance. We conducted these tests using a homemade hydraulic lift that demonstrates all the basic principles of hydraulic lifts. The data also clarified why hydraulic systems prefer oils, which offer better lubrication and resistance to compression. Once in motion, oil-driven systems maintain efficiency and reduce energy loss. In conclusion, our experiment validated our hypothesis and underscored the importance of fluid selection in hydraulic system effectiveness, offering valuable insights for industries using hydraulic lifts.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
There are many different types of water bottles claiming to keep your water colder for longer. We were curious to see if they really could keep it cold for a long period of time. We gathered many different brands and types of water bottles for the experiment. We tested the temperature of water in each bottle over a period of time. There were some interesting conclusions in the end.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Our question is what is the best way to break in leather. We used five pieces of 12 by 2 inch leather (one being the control). Fro the first test we soaked the leather in warm water, second test we used manual manipulation for about an hour, and the third we microwaved for 30 to 40 seconds. our final test was putting shaving cream on both sides of the piece of leather overnight for three nights. We recommend manual manipulation and microwaving because it results in being the most comfortable to wear.The only problem we ran into was non microwavable materials like belt buckles.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
After reading at night, I don’t like to get out of bed to turn off my lights. I could have used Alexa voice control or a remote controlled bulb. My original solution was to have a button that I could press, that would send a signal to a piston that would flip my light off. For my first attempt I used an Arduino to connect a button and piston. This attempt did not work as well as I thought it would because my wires couldn’t reach from my bed to my light switch. I made 3 revisions to my original design. The first thing I changed was my button and piston to a LEGO Spike button & motor. It turns one way when pressed lightly and the other way when pressed hard to turn on & off the light switch. When you release the button it stops moving. This worked worse since I couldn’t find a place to secure the motor where it could easily flip the switch. After that I changed to a “hydraulic” system with a 3D printed boxing glove on a syringe that flips the switch. It uses two syringes connected by tubing. This attempt was the best one of my three attempts except my mom wouldn’t let me put in at least 15 ft of tubing full of water. In conclusion I never got a light switch flipper up and working but it was a fun project.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
What is the effect of the size of a wheel on how much force it takes to get up a ramp? The objective of this experiment is to determine if the size of the wheel changes how much force it takes to get up a ramp. This experiment will help determine what size wheels vehicles need to get up a steep incline.
This experiment was performed by creating a ramp structure which consisted of a pulley, a 3 ft long plank of wood, string, basket, legos, and a cart. The plank of wood is the ramp the cart will proceed up. The string will be attached to the pulley. On one end of the string the cart will be attached and on the other end of the string the basket will be attached. When legos are placed into the basket, the car will advance up the ramp.
The hypothesis is the bigger the wheel the less force it takes to get up the ramp and the smaller the wheel the more force it takes to get up a ramp.My hypothesis was supported. The biggest wheel took the least amount of force to get up the ramp, and the smallest wheel took the most amount of force to get up the ramp.
Further research may include testing other types of tires such as tires with different treads or tires made of different materials.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
The goal of my science project was to understand and demonstrate how Newton’s three laws of motion affect the movement of a balloon-powered car. Newton's first law says that an object in motion stays in motion unless something else stops it, and an object at rest stays at rest unless something pushes it. The second law explains that lighter objects move farther when pushed with the same force as heavier objects. The third law states that for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction.
To test these laws, I utilized toy cars, balloons, and straws. I hypothesized that a balloon with more air would make the car go farther because more air would create more force. I tested cars of different weights and sizes, “straws” of different diameters, and balloons with varying volumes of air.
The results showed that lighter cars, like the homemade cardboard car, traveled farther than heavier ones. A bigger balloon also helped the car go farther, though sometimes the balloon rubbed on the wheels, slowing the car down. The experiment proved that adding more air to the balloon generated more force, making the car move farther.
This project helped me learn about Newton’s laws of motion and how they apply to everyday things, like toys, sports cars, and even rockets. The experiment showed how action and reaction, force, and inertia are all important in understanding how things move.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
In this project, I explored how the stitch size of crocheted patch affects thermal (heat) properties. Using three crocheted, square patches stitched using different-sized crochet hooks (4.25mm, 6.5mm, and 10mm), I measured the change in temperature over 30 seconds at the surface of the crocheted patch when placed on a heat source. I predicted that the temperature change of the patch will be greater for
larger crochet hook sizes. I found that the tighter the stitch using a smaller crochet hook, the better the insulation was.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Built a wind turbine and tested different size and shaped blades to see which blade turned the fastest
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
A Strandbeest is a skeleton made out of cloth, pipes and zip ties. It is wind powered and is supposed to kick up sand to make dunes higher in the beaches of the Netherlands, to protect the country from rising sea levels. I wanted to replicate a Strandbeest leg design using easy to get materials and at a manageable scale. For this project, I constructed a Strandbeest leg out of balsa wood and brad fasteners and I traced the path of the leg using a pen. I veritied that my prototype had a stroll path with a flat bottom, which is important to keep the Strandbeest stable.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Bunk bed curtains are curtains that hang over the top bunks of beds and provide light protection and privacy.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Gas cars are contributing to global warming. Electric cars are better but have lithium batteries that are bad for the environment. Our goal for solving air pollution is to reduce gas cars on the road by providing another option. A magnetic motor will solve the problem of relying on gasoline to generate energy for a car. Some constraints we encountered were: making something that scientists think is impossible is very difficult to do; sometimes we do not have the right materials so that is also difficult; and it can take longer than the time we have. Lastly magnets are expensive. Our attempt to create a magnetic powered car included: breaking our problem down, starting with our first design and then tweaking the parts that did not work to make a better, more productive design. We ended up running six different tests. In the final attempt, we were able to successfully move the car/engine using magnets, but it required some human energy in the step before.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
If you have ever slept on the top of a bunk bed, you might be familiar with the fact that there is no where to put items that may typically have on a night stand. There isn’t a space for you to put an alarm clock, book, or a water bottle. I explored and created the idea of a mobile nightstand. My project allows an individual who is sleeping on the top bunk the ability to use a nightstand and store items one may need while eliminating the need to climb up and down a ladder at night or throw items off the bed because you have no where to store them. With my project, there is now space for those!
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
My project was to create a way to use a balance board on carpeting.
Last January, I broke both bones in my lower leg. In order for my leg to heal correctly, I had to get seven screws and a plate in my leg, use a wheelchair, and couldn’t walk for a few months. Recently, I started physical therapy to get my leg back to normal strength. Part of my treatment was to use a balance board, which is a small board with an uneven base that you stand on to improve your balance and strengthen your muscles. I found that the balance board I purchased was too slippery to use on a wood floor and was too easy to use on carpeting because it didn’t move very much. The only place it really worked was in our unfinished basement or garage on a thin exercise mat on concrete (this was also the setup at my physical therapist’s office). I felt like I would use the board more if I could do my balance exercises in a more comfortable place. This way I would probably heal faster!
I first attempted to make or modify a balance board that would work better on carpeting, but later realized that creating a stable base was a better option. I was able to find materials and help at Home Depot, and soon had a base for my balance board that worked really well.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
This experiment tested which water bottle—Stanley, Hydro Flask, or Owala—is best at keeping beverages cold over a 5-hour period. I hypothesized that the Hydro Flask would retain cold temperatures the longest due to its double-wall vacuum insulation and tightly sealed lid.
To conduct the test, I filled each bottle with 2 cups of room-temperature water (67.1°F), then added ½ cup of ice. I monitored the water temperature until it reached 40°F, then sealed the lids and started the 5-hour observation. Temperature readings were taken every hour using a thermometer to track how well each bottle maintained the cold.
The results showed that the Hydro Flask kept water the coldest over a 5-hour period, confirming my hypothesis. The Stanley bottle performed well but warmed slightly faster than the Hydro Flask. The Owala warmed the quickest, likely due to differences in insulation and lid design.
These findings highlight the importance of insulation technology and lid design in determining a water bottle’s performance. The Hydro Flask proved to be the best choice for maintaining cold beverages, making it ideal for outdoor activities, sports, and daily use. Future studies could expand on this experiment by testing different environmental conditions, bottle sizes, or additional brands.
This project provides valuable insight for consumers looking for the most effective water bottle for cold retention.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
To demonstrate how different materials can be utilized in mechanical energy transfer.
MECHANICAL & MATERIALS ENGINEERING
I wanted to find out how fast a glider will be based on the wing's angle. A better understanding of aerodynamics, wing lift and descension, will determine how fast and far the glider will go. Based on how far the glider went, it will mean that the glider went fast and/or had better lift.
To do this experiment, we will use a balsa wood glider to represent an airplane. It will have features like airplanes have except it doesn't have an engine and a rubber band launcher will represent the engine. We will use different angles on a wing to see which one of the angles fly the furthest.
My hypothesis is if the plane's wing angle is at 45 degrees, then the plane will go farther and faster. This hypothesis was tested by launching a balsa wood glider with a rubber band with different wing angles starting at 90° to 75º, then 60° to 45º, until 30°. I measured the distance to see which one resulted in the fastest glider.
My hypothesis was not supported, I thought that the 45° wing would go the farthest because it had wings similar to the F-15 Strike Eagle. Surprisingly, the 30° wing had the farthest launch on average. This might have been due to the angle of the wings cutting through the air molecules easier.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Does how much liquid/different types of liquid you drink in a day affect your blood plasma levels?
To find out how hydration affects blood plasma my test subject drank different types and amounts of liquids and then had blood drawn and spun in a centrifuge to measure the content of blood plasma.
The hypothesis was that the greater the volume of liquid the subject drank would result in greater hydration. Also, that drinking water would result in greater hydration versus other liquids.
On the test days, the subject was restricted to drinking only the required amount/type of drink within 9 hours of the blood draw. Variables included test subject following the instructions, foods eaten (liquid and salt content), and exercise levels (losing water through sweat).
I found drinking more water did result in greater volume of blood plasma and that water was the most hydrating drink. Interestingly I found that drinking 80oz of caffeinated soda had the same volume of blood plasma as only 40oz of water. Leading to the conclusion that drinking soda does not aid in hydration well.
To repeat the test I would have additional test subjects, additional types of drinks, and also maybe limit the types of food on test days to have better controlled results.
In conclusion, what we drink and how much we drink affects our blood plasma levels. Proper levels of blood plasma is important for heart and kidneys function and to carry lipids, hormones and vitamins to our body and brain.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
A project focusing on the use of SCOBY and how it can benefit and improve the public health industry. Testing household bacteria to show how antibacterial it can be in less than a day.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
The purpose of my science fair project is to explore the effects of exercise on blood glucose after eating. I hypothesized that if my grandma exercises immediately after eating a meal, her blood glucose levels will decrease more than if she did not exercise. To test this, my grandma ate the same meal on separate occasions, once with exercise and once without, and her blood glucose levels were measured after each meal. Results showed that exercise did help to reduce blood glucose after eating. These results showed that my grandma can exercise after eating to help lower her blood sugar.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
I have very Dry hands and have tried many different types of lotions. I am curious on what lotion works best for dry skin. My project will investigate what is the effect of lotion on retaining moisture over time. My favorite lotion is Aquaphor with the main ingredient being petrolatum, which is what Vasaline is made of and is an occlusive ingredient in lotion. My hypothesis is that if I put Vaseline on pig skin, the Vaseline will stop water loss better than other lotions because petrolatum blocks the evaporation of water. I tested 4 lotions (Vasaline, Eucerin, Coconut oil, and Aloe) on pig skin and measured the weight loss over 36 hours. My results found that coconut oil lost the least moisture (1.00% loss) followed by Vaseline (1.34% loss). I found that Aloe (4.39% loss) dried the skin more than the control group (3.87% loss). I found that occlusive ingredients like coconut oil and Vaseline work best in retaining moisture compared to other lotions. I would like to study if there are other natural occlusives that would work better than Vaseline.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
This science project uses UV-sensitive plastic beads to explore how sunscreens' different strengths protect skin from harmful UV rays. The sunscreen strengths used in this experiment are tested at various time intervals to measure efficiency in blocking UV rays. It is thought that those beads that change color the most have the least amount of sun protection versus those beads that have the least amount of color change.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
My project consisted of studying which beverages caused the most tooth staining. I soaked donated human teeth in 7 different beverages for two weeks. I made observations before and after the two-week soaking time and compared the changes. I wanted to know which beverages stained the teeth the most. My conclusions were that the darker beverages stained the teeth the most.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
My science project investigates the potential skin benefits of a Vitamin B12-infused cream, nicknamed “Pink Magic,” in improving symptoms of atopic dermatitis. Vitamin B12 has been studied for its anti-inflammatory properties, making it a promising topical treatment for this chronic skin condition. To conduct the study, 10 participants applied the Vitamin B12 cream to their forearm. Observations were recorded before, during, and after treatment, evaluating dryness, scaling, and other markers of skin irritation. A control group using a non-medicated cream helped compare results and determine whether improvements were due to the Vitamin B12 treatment or other factors, such as hydration. The findings concluded that Pink Magic cream significantly reduced inflammation and improved skin appearance compared to the control. I also conducted a moisture retention test and a patient satisfaction survey. 80% of volunteers preferred "Pink Magic" citing a more soothing feel. Also, during the moisture retention test, "Pink Magic" retained moisture the longest compared to the control cream. The project highlights the potential for non-steroidal treatments in dermatology. Ultimately, “Pink Magic” seeks to provide scientific insight into the role of Vitamin B12 in skin health while offering a possible new, fun colored approach to eczema care.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Regulating sugar intake is crucial for maintaining overall health, and excessive sugar consumption can lead to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, which are major public health concerns in the U.S. Therefore, better sugar regulation could improve public health outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and enhance quality of life. This research aims to find a convenient way to help people with health conditions reduce sugar consumption while still enjoying fruits. To address this, I applied the concept of density and hypothesized that fruits with higher densities would have higher sugar content. I used salt water solutions with varying concentrations to sort fruits, including red grapes, green grapes, and clementines, and then squeezed their juices to measure the sugar content using a refractometer. In all my experiments, the results consistently showed that fruits with higher densities had higher sugar content compared to those with lower densities—even clementine pieces from the same clementine. I also observed that red grapes identified as having higher sugar content were darker (meaning they are very ripe) than those with lower sugar content, which further validated my hypothesis. This study offers an easy and convenient method for individuals seeking to control their sugar intake and could potentially benefit a significant number of people with health conditions by providing a simple way to select fruits with lower sugar content.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
My experiment shows a visual representation on how colorblind people see the world. The hypothesis was if I remove one of the primary colors of light, by turning off the flashlight I will get the picture in different colors because all colors are made from the primary colors of light. To conduct my experiment I shined the primary colors of light on a picture in a black box, and then removed one of the colors, which made the independent variable the primary color removed. My hypothesis was supported. The colors on the picture changed because one of the primary colors is missing. This is due to the primary colors’ absence preventing certain colors from appearing, altering the picture’s color. The experiment was fun and unique.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
I wanted to design an experiment to test the best way to clean hands. I went through several different options to test this because I wasn't able to grow actual bacteria. The method I chose used purple paint and a micro scope that could take pictures. We tested different soaps and hand sanitizer to see which one would leave the least dirt/debris. I used the paint to represent dirt, debris, and germs. I did a lot of research to help me make my hypothesis and analyze my results and combine this information to reach my conclusion. I learned a lot from doing this project and have good ideas for next steps. It definitely affected how I washed my hands and what I prefer to use.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
The problem is that drinks are decaying teeth and this experiment can help you know which drink is the worst for your teeth. I tested 8 liquids for the experiment. To set up the experiment I used four eggs, each one in five ounces of liquid. I used two eggs with toothpaste and two eggs without it to see which liquid does the most damage and how toothpaste protects the egg. Red Bull did the most damage by far, even though it was not the most acidic or the most sugary. Toothpaste helped protect all of the eggs. My data shows that having the most sugar and being the most acidic does not mean that the drink will do the most damage to your teeth. It also shows that toothpaste protects your teeth a lot.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
We created homemade respirometers to detect how quickly we can exhale carbon dioxide at rest and during exercise. We did the project because we both enjoy being active and during our research we learned the more efficient you can breathe the quicker you can be.
We first learned about cellular respiration. Cellular respiration is the process of glucose, food, combined with oxygen forms into energy, carbon dioxide, and water. The more efficient you can be with your breathing, for example deep breathing vs shallow breathing, the more oxygen is available for your muscles and less carbon dioxide buildup which can slow you down.
In the respirometers, we put in a pH dye indicator called Bromothymol blue. We used a pH color chart to determine the pH level of the dye in water and compared it to dye mixed with CO2.
The experiment tested the time it took for the colored water to turn from a dark blue to a green using 3 empty water bottles all the same size, 2 aquarium tubes, 1 1/2 cups of water in each water bottle, 1 tsp Bromothymol blue dye in each water bottle, an aquarium pump to aerate the experimented respirometers, clay, a timer, 2 straws to equalize the pressure in the water bottles, and one test subject to experiment on (Joey Harris, the team leader). We tested it several times at rest, during 1 minute of exercise, 2 minutes of exercise, and 3 minutes of exercise. The data and results showed a significant difference between rest and exercise and a difference between each timed exercise.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
To continue my diabetic research this year I'll bake homemade bread with a different flour in each loaf. I looked up different flours and picked flours different from all-purpose flour. Also, last year I did a project called "What is the best sweetener for diabetics" and I will use the results from that project to do this one. I counted the carbs on all the flours and figured out all the carbs per loaf. I calculated the ratios of each flour to all-purpose flour to know how much to put into each loaf. I looked up how long it takes for bread carbs to affect your blood sugar and the answer is 30 minutes to one hour after eating, so I tracked my dad's blood sugar at 30 minutes and one hour. I used my dad's Dexcom app to track his blood sugar, and his Omnipod to track the insulin he uses. I charted all the ingredients, carbohydrates, and blood sugar results to see which flour would be best for my diabetic dad to use.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
People have used silver as an antibacterial agent for many years. There are a few different ways that scientists think this works. Because so many bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics, it is a good idea for us to figure out a variety of antibacterial agents. In my experiment, I tested to see whether colloidal silver is effective at killing E. coli.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Purpose: To study different gels that would be suitable for prednisolone delivery across the tympanic membrane.
Method: 1) Five different gels were investigated and prepared. 2) Fixed amount of prednisolone (60 mg) was added to the hydrogel/polymer of choice, 3) Gels were placed in a dialysis semi-permeable membrane to test diffusion for 2 weeks.
Results: Propylene glycol helped in the solubility of prednisolone. Cellulose gels had better consistency than Carbopol gels. Within 1 day prednisolone had diffused out of the dialysis membrane and continued for 1 week.
Conclusion: Prednisolone gel could be formulated for ear drum application with possible once a week application.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Purpose: I wanted to know how different substances in foods & drinks affect enamel and what causes cavities. Since I couldn't use actual human teeth, my research said the enamel on our teeth is similar to an egg's shell. Both are made up of similar chemical compounds, mainly calcium, so using eggs would be a good comparison. The solutions I used for testing were plain water, salt water, sugar water, and vinegar.
Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that vinegar will be the worst for your teeth.
Procedure: I got 4 eggs of the same weight from the same carton. I put them in 4 glass cups filled with plain water, salt water, sugar water, and vinegar. I let them sit for 5 days (120 hours). I checked on the eggs every 24 hours and made observations, especially to the shell’s hardness.
Results: The plain water egg had no changes. The salt water egg had no changes, except salt deposits on the shell. The sugar water egg had sugar stuck to the shell and gained a little weight (0.1 oz). The shell on the vinegar egg completely dissolved by 72 hours and the egg gained 1.2 oz of weight from vinegar seeping in without a shell. It also turned yellowish.
Conclusion: My hypothesis was correct because of the high acidity in vinegar. Sugar is also not good for your teeth because the bacteria in our mouths eats the sugar, multiplies, and poops out acid which then destroys our enamel.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
This project tested a variety of fruits for vitamin C. The end goal was to find out which fruit offered the most vitamin C so I knew which one to eat when I was sick and needed that extra help to get better. Although it doesn’t tell how much specifically it gave me a good direction on which fruit has the most.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Comencé con la pregunta: ¿La leche vegetal tiene tantas proteínas como la leche de vaca? Después de investigar un poco, creé la siguiente hipótesis: creo que la leche de vaca tendrá más proteínas porque, según mi investigación, la leche de vaca tiene más gramos de proteína que la leche de almendras, la leche de anacardo o la leche de coco. Utilicé tiras reactivas de proteínas para probar la cantidad de proteína en cada tipo de leche. Realicé 3 pruebas y convertí los resultados en promedios. Mis variables fueron: Variables controladas (mismo tipo de guantes de nitrilo, tiras reactivas de proteínas y vasos de plástico), Variable independiente (tipo de leche), Variable dependiente (cantidad de proteína detectada).
En conclusión, descubrí que mi hipótesis era correcta, lo cual no fue una sorpresa. Sin embargo, lo que me sorprendió es que la leche de anacardo mostró más proteínas que la leche de coco porque mi investigación muestra que por onza la leche de coco tiene 0,6 gramos y la de anacardo solo 0,1. Creo que podría ser que las tiras reactivas no sean las mejores para mostrar cantidades exactas y funcionen mejor para mostrar más bien un rango.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
will solid or liquid carbs effect my blood sugars faster
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
UV A and B rays can cause changes to the skin. UV A rays go deep into the skin causing melanoma, which is the most fatal type of skin, cancer, and most common. UVB rays can cause brown spots, wrinkles, damage to collagen and cells and proteins in the skin. The objective of this experiment was defined out the effectiveness of sunscreens on blocking UV A and B rays. My hypothesis said that tinted sunscreen will block the skin most from UV A and B rays. To test this I evenly spread a layer of sunscreen on a slide and place a UV meter underneath the slide and an UV light 2 inches above the slide. I conducted five trials per type of sunscreen. In order from best to worst for blocking UV light: tinted sunscreen, spray sunscreen (chemical), mineral sunscreen, and chemical sunscreen. The real world application for my experiment is to help dermatologist recommend sunscreen and also help every day people avoid melanoma, skin damage, and different cancers.
MEDICINE, HEALTH SCIENCES, & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Music can help with your heart beat and blood pressure. The nerve X is located near the eardrum which triggers the body to relax or calm down. Many people also use music as therapy, most people prefer classical music because it helps them calm down faster.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
I built a machine called a clinostat for my science project. A clinostat is a tool that spins seeds so they don't know which way is up or down, simulating microgravity. I wanted to see if plants need gravity to grow.
I am going to be an astronaut and this is important for astronauts so they can learn how to eat fresh fruits and vegetables in deep space mission.
I set up 4 different groups of seeds:
Normal Gravity: These seeds were planted in a regular pot where gravity works normally.
Simulated Microgravity at 40 and 60 rotations per minute: These seeds were placed on the clinostat, which spins them so they don’t feel a strong pull of gravity.
90-Degree Gravity: These seeds were placed at a 90-degree angle to see how a different gravity direction affects growth.
After a few days, I observed that the seeds in normal gravity grew well, but the seeds on the clinostat did not grow.
Thanks to NASA, we know plant growth in space is possible but this project taught me that microgravity affects plant growth.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
In this experiment, participants set out to test how gravity, friction, and weight affect the speed of a Lego derby car. Each participant formed a hypothesis, predicting which weight would result in the fastest run. To ensure accuracy, they tested each weight twice, starting with no added weight and increasing incrementally up to 10,000 grains.
As testing progressed, several unexpected results challenged initial assumptions. Some participants believed that adding more weight would always increase speed due to greater momentum, while others thought too much weight might slow the car due to increased friction. The data collected revealed patterns that were both predictable and surprising.
Through repeated trials, participants observed how the interplay of gravity and friction influenced the car’s acceleration and top speed. While heavier weights sometimes led to faster runs, they also introduced new challenges, such as increased drag and potential instability. These findings led to discussions about additional variables that could be tested in future experiments, such as track surface, wheel design, and aerodynamics.
In the end, the participants not only reached a conclusion about the optimal weight for maximum speed but also developed new questions to explore. Their experiment demonstrated the importance of testing, observation, and critical thinking in the scientific process. With more ideas in mind, they left the project eager to conduct further experiments to deepen their understanding of physics in motion.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
There are a lot of paper airplane designs out there, and some work well, and some don’t. This experiment was to find out if thicker paper would fly farther than thinner paper and if the design made a difference. Two kinds of paper were used, regular copy paper and cardstock to make 5 different designs, a total of 10 paper airplanes. Each plane was thrown 5 times from the same spot in a large, indoor room. The spot where the plane ended up was marked and measured from the spot that it was thrown. The airplane that flew the furthest was Model 2, with thin paper.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Made aluminum foil boats in 3 sizes in 3 different shapes. Measured the size of the hull. Filled each boat while floating in water with as many pennies as they would hold before they sank. Measured the amount of cargo (pennies) each boat could hold. Evaluated if size or shape of boat made a difference in how much cargo it could hold.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
This project utilized risk matrix modeling to predict Type 2 diabetes in an individual given a dataset of physical measurements, and compared risk matrix modeling to logistic regression modeling, utilized in a separate project. The dataset included an individual’s Body Mass Index (BMI) and glucose (blood sugar) levels. A risk matrix was created for each of three age groups spanning from ages 21 to over 65. Classification tables were used to sort the predicted outcomes compared to the real outcomes. The accuracy rates of ages 21-44 and 45-64 for both models were 60% to 70%. The logistic regression model was more accurate than the risk matrix model in ages over 65. In ages 21-44 and 65+, risk matrix modeling produced false negative rates of 0% compared to 13% and 6%, respectively. In ages 45-64, logistic regression modeling produced a false negative rate of 15% compared to 24%. Logistic regression modeling proved to be more accurate and reliable than risk matrix modeling by a small margin. Overall, this project demonstrated that risk matrix modeling was a reliable and accessible tool for predicting Type 2 diabetes in ages under 64.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
The idea of project was to understand the science of spinning tops using LEGOS. LEGOS were used to make spinning tops of various designs to make them spin longer. The project was designed to answer two questions. What would be the effect of weight distribution on the LEGO spinning top and how does the length of spinning tip affect the spin time? Three top designs were made with the weight distributed at the center and more on the edges by making LEGO tops of three different widths. The spin times of all the designs were tested 10 times for each design. The data showed that the spin time is less when weight is distributed at the center. The spin time increased when the weight is distributed to the edges by making the LEGO tops wider. An additional LEGO spinning top was made and tested for spin time using two different tip lengths. The data showed that the tip length has an inverse effect on the spin time. The smaller the tip length, longer is the spin time. A top that has more weight at its edges has a higher amount of inertia than one with same weight concentrated at the center. A higher moment of inertia results in greater angular momentum and makes the top resistant to changes caused by friction. A shorter tip lowers the overall center of mass of the top and increases stability by reducing the gravitational torque acting to topple the top.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Many factors can affect how far a marshmallow travels after being shot through a tube. These include air pressure buildup, friction, stabilization, initial velocity, and launch angle. In our study, we tested the length of a tube and how it affected the distance of the marshmallow. Our results indicated that when using a plastic tube, the longer the tube, the further the marshmallow traveled, showing us that the length of a shooter affects the distance a marshmallow can travel.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
In this project, we were viewing the effect of playing instruments 3 inches from 3 glass cups full of water. The instruments we used for this experiment were cajon ukulele, electric guitar and acoustic guitar. Finally, we tested this on rubber carpet and wood. In conclusion, the results were that all instruments except the acoustic guitar did the best on wood and the acoustic guitar did good on carpet.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Minecraft has many different objects and most of them have different durabilities than others. I wanted to see if Minecraft was accurate when ranking objects. I started by finding which objects I was going to test. I thought of objects that everyone knew, but weren’t expensive. I settled on four main categories: rock, wood, soil, and miscellaneous. To see how strong a material in Minecraft was, I made a 10x10x10 block of an object, and used TNT on it. To test objects in real life, I made a system similar to the Rockwell Hardness Scale, using a steel ball and a weight. I used a scale of 10 to compare the two tests. My results showed that most materials were stronger in real life than in Minecraft. The experiment also showed that Minecraft was not that accurate when ranking their blocks.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
My question is: How does the amount of water in a bottle affect the sound produced when it is blown across? I used NASA, National Library
of Medicine, and Sciencelearn.org to research sound waves during my background research. My hypothesis is: If I blow across the top of a bottle multiple times with increasing amounts of water inside the bottle each time, then the time with the most water in the bottle will produce the highest pitched sound because sound travels faster in water than it does in air. For my experiment, I blew across the top of a glass bottle and measured the ffrequency of the sound produced in Hertz four times for four trials, added 50 mL water, and then repeated blowing until I had added 250 mL water to the bottle. The results were that when the bottle had 250 mL water in it, not resonant sound was produced. The sound increased by approximately 30, then 40, then 50, then 110 Hertz. I am left with the questions "Why did it suddenly increase by 110 Hertz?" and "Why was no resonant sound produced when the bottle held 250 mL water?" In conclusion, my hypothesis is incorrect and my findings can help almost anyone who uses sound in their job.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Hypothesis: If I change the density of water by adding enough salt can I make a denser object float?
Interested in studying concept of buoyancy. Investigate why some objects put in water will float while others will not. Using an egg I experimented with changing the density of water to see if I can make something that normally sinks in water can be made to rise above water. I added salt to water and performed serial dilution and arranged the dilutions in 5 cups from most to least concentrated.
Starting with least concentrated I tested in which solution the egg would float. It began to float in the second to last cup salt concentration 0.125 g/ml.
I determined that by altering the density of water I was able to cause the egg to float by using a certain concentration of salt solution
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
The project was to see what is the effect of wing shape on the time it takes for an airplane to reach the ground. This is applicable in real life, for we can develop more efficient aircraft. To do this experiment 4 different airplanes with a paper clip on the nose of them were launched by a paper airplane launcher-a brand new pencil with a hair tie on the tip of it. The times were tracked by a stopwatch and tracked with a pen and a notebook. Each airplane got 8 trials each
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Our project tested various household items to see which created the highest electrostatic charge when you rub a balloon on them. The charge was measured with an electrostatic voltmeter. We chose to test a fluffy blanket, fluffy socks, a human head with hair, a dog with hair and a beanie. We rubbed a balloon on the item for 25 seconds then measure the charge with the voltmeter. Our findings showed that the dog hair produce the highest charge and the fluffy socks and human hair gave the lowest readings. The results provide helpful information so people can be aware of which items around the house can produce the most electrostatic charge.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Our question was: How much faster will you go when you are riding with aerodynamic posture, and will clothing and pedaling affect the speed? We rode a bicycle down a hill with all possible combinations of these three variables (posture, clothing, and pedaling) and timed each ride. For each combination we did five repetitions. We found that you go fastest with aerodynamic posture, tight clothing, and pedaling. For us clothing mattered more for a faster time than posture, but pedaling mattered the most. This is useful for anyone who wants to win a race with a friend or sibling.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
My partner and I both love baseball. One thing about baseball though is that it is a very expensive sport. Some companies try to sell you composite baseball bats for over 50% more than an alloy baseball bat. So we wanted to test if there really is a difference and if there is, is the increase of price worth it. Going into this project Oliver and I both thought that the CatX Vanta would out perform the Victus Vandal because Marucci is a more well known brand and carbon fiber inside makes the sweet spot of the bat better.
We were both very shocked by the data. When we were analyzing the data we had no idea why the Victus Vandal hit the same as the CatX Vanta. We decided to do a little bit of digging and we figured out why the two bats hit almost the exact same. It’s because every competitive baseball bat complies with a BPF standard. In conclusion, it is not worth it to buy a composite baseball bat because they sometimes can be over 50% more expensive than the alloy baseball bat and they don’t hit farther or faster.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Underinflated car tires can lead to reduced fuel efficiency, greater fuel consumption, and greater CO2 emissions. The ideal gas law shows that as temperature decreases, tire pressure will decrease. So, for example, if your tires are properly inflated on a warm day, they may be underinflated if the next day is cold. Some tire shops inflate tires with nitrogen, instead of air, on the premise that nitrogen-filled tires will better maintain the recommended tire pressure. My project investigates the difference between air-filled tires and nitrogen-filled tires as temperature changes. The data I collected suggested that there is very little difference. As a consequence, tire shops that use special equipment to fill tires with nitrogen may be wasting their money (and the money they charge consumers).
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Most lacrosse players do not know how shooting strings affect their lacrosse stick. The goal of my project was to explore how shooting strings affect my lacrosse stick. I created a simple machine that would mimic the throw of a lacrosse stick and used this machine to test the effect of shooting strings. I created a catapult that would throw the lacrosse ball like a lacrosse player. I used the same stick, the same stick head and threw the ball with the same velocity for each test. The only variable that changed was the number of shooting strings. I found that the shooting strings affect the launch angle of the ball. The shooting strings add friction and act as a centripetal force that counteracts the centrifugal force and holds the lacrosse ball in the pocket longer. This means that the release point in a player’s shot or pass will be later when there are more shooting strings on the stick head.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
This science project, The Fallacy of Perpetual Motion, investigates the impossibility of perpetual motion by examining how friction and air resistance affect the motion of objects. The research question explores why perpetual motion machines cannot function indefinitely without an external energy source. Through a pendulum experiment, the study tests whether a swinging pendulum will continue moving forever or gradually lose energy due to frictional forces.
The experiment involved constructing a pendulum and measuring its swing time across multiple trials. Results showed an average swing time of 379.18 seconds (approximately 6 minutes), with minor variations. The findings supported the alternative hypothesis, confirming that air resistance and friction at the pivot point cause energy loss, making perpetual motion impossible.
The study highlights historical attempts at perpetual motion, including Leonardo da Vinci’s overbalanced wheel and Bhāskara’s mercury wheel, both of which failed due to friction. Additionally, it draws connections to modern technologies such as regenerative braking, maglev trains, and flywheel energy storage, which aim to reduce energy loss but cannot achieve true perpetual motion.
Future research could explore variations in materials, vacuum conditions, and starting angles to further understand how energy dissipation affects motion. This project reinforces the principles of thermodynamics and the limitations of energy conservation in real-world applications.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Surface tension is defined as the energy required to increase the surface area by a unit amount. I decided to build a small raft with a sponge on the back then by adding different liquids I would see the cohesive forces of which liquid would pull or push away from the other and propel the raft forward. I used 10 drops of my chosen liquids; laundry detergent, avocado oil, vinegar and hand soap. I observed the motion and measured how far the raft was propelled forward or if at all. I came to the conclusion that laundry detergent propelled the raft the farthest. This happened when the molecules separated from one another and no longer formed a connected layer.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
It is known that when lightening hits sand, it will create glass. This experiment was conducted with two types of sand, as well as silica-based cat litter. In this experiment, high-voltage electricity was applied (using a microwave transformer and sent through two metals rods) to dry sand, wet sand, and cat litter. The production of fulgurites (glass) was observed and measured.
The experiment was conducted with expert supervision to ensure safety with high voltage applications.
No glass production was found in the wet sand. The dry (beach) sand produced the longest glass fulgurites, while the cat litter resulted in short, wide fulgurites. The appearance and texture of the glass fulgurites were very different between the dry sand and cat litter, which may be due to different physical and chemical transformations within the material when electricity (and resulting heat) are applied.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
In This experimental we tried to inflate a balloon with soda and mentos, making Carbon dioxide (CO2) to inflate the balloon.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Capillary action is the movement of a liquid through small spaces due to adhesive and cohesive forces, such as when wax is drawn up the wick of a burning candle. How does a liquid's temperature affect capillary action? I hypothesized that capillary action would move a hot liquid faster and farther than a cool liquid because the hotter liquids are less dense and flow more easily. I tested my hypothesis using capillary ropes and colored water heated to three different temperatures. The water traveled up the ropes farther and faster as the temperature increased, confirming my hypothesis, though the size of the effect diminished as the temperature increased.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
The objective of this experiment is to find the effect of the location of the audience on the
amplitude of the sound from two speakers. Sound waves interact through constructive and
destructive interference, which can either amplify or cancel the sound. The experiment was
inspired by the speaker system in the house. The experiment can lead to further advancements in
noise canceling technology and theater design.
Two speakers were set up to play a sound of the frequency and sound volumes were
measured at different locations. It was hypothesized that when the difference in distance to the
two speakers is a multiple and a half of the sound wavelength, destructive interference will
reduce the volume.
The results show that there were large differences in the power at different locations,
clear examples of constructive and destructive interference. However, the locations of
interference were not always in line with the expected ones. The deviation could have been
caused by the speaker design and surroundings of the experiment.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
For this experiment, I wanted to discover how high the basketball bounces on each surface because then I will know how hard to dribble on each surface. It is important because I play basketball, and this strategy would really help me do well in a game. In order to test it, I used a relatively high surface to stand on, a 28.5 Spalding Street Outdoor basketball, an air pressure gauge, a tape measure, a camera, and a tripod. As a result of my experiment, I learned that a Spalding basketball bounces the highest on a surface of concrete, With the average inches being 53.5, concrete is the surface with the highest bounce.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
Cannot attend fair in person.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
White LEDs, incandescent light bulbs and sunlight look like they have the same color light. My experiment is about the differences in the lights' spectra. Using a diffraction grating, I discovered the spectra of sunlight and the spectra of a white LED are different in many ways! Like how the LED has a brighter purple color then sunlight, and how the LED didn't have as much orange. Over all, all the spectra of the white lights I studied were different in lots of ways even though they looked like they emit white light.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
My question was, "What is the effect of temperature on Coke geysers?" My hypothesis was, "If I make the coke hotter, then it will make the geyser go higher because heat often changes the size of the reaction. I placed some coke bottles in a hot water bath, some in a ice water bath, and left some at room temperature. I then measured the height of coke explosion for each temperature. I also compared the difference in weight before and after the explosion between each temperature. I learned that colder temperature coke shot lower and higher temperature coke shot higher.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
On a day that it snowed, I took all three of my sleds to a hill at Sterling Elementary. I picked a spot at the top of the hill and marked my starting point with a marker flag to ensure I went on the same path every time. I used a 200 foot tape measure, to measure from the marker flag to the front of the sled after I went down the hill. I went down the hill on each sled three times. I took the average of the three runs for each sled to see which one went the furthest.
PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & MATH
In my project I was interested to know how mass affects velocity. I thought that an object with more mass would build speed based upon its mass and it would become faster as it moved downhill. I used various balls of different shapes and weights and textures for my experiment. I formed my hypothesis, selected my spheres, and weighed each of then.
PLANT SCIENCES
I wanted to see if a Buckwheat,Clover, Little Bluestem, or a Houseplant was better at slowing down soil erosion. I started by planting my Buckwheat, Clover, Little Bluestem and waited for them to grow. I cut a hole in an empty container and put the houseplant in that container. I used a watering can and poured about two gallons. Using the containers they were planted in, I did the same thing with buckwheat, clover, and little bluestem. I thought the buckwheat would be the best to reduce soil erosion. But my hypothesis was wrong, it was Little Bluestem let out the least amount of dirt and water.
PLANT SCIENCES
We figured out that if you play music and talk to a plant, then it will grow more because you are interfering with the natural growing process. We investigated and measured how different variables affected plant growth. The variables were playing music, talking nicely, or doing nothing to each set of plants. Six pea plant seeds were planted in small pots, and three basil plants were planted in larger pots. Each set of plants were grown in the same soil, watered every other day, given the same light, and grown inside the house. We measured each plant weekly. We came to the conclusion that talking nicely to the plants made them sprout first and grow more due to producing more germination in the seeds. Some observations we noticed were some plants stayed the same, some grew each week, and that because of the cold, the basil plants sometimes got smaller because they don't like the cold. Our experiment showed saying nice things made the plants grow more. We concluded this because the plants that were talked to nicely starting when they were seeds, were the first to sprout because according to our experiment, the vibration of our voice produced germination.
PLANT SCIENCES
The purpose of this project was to determine which type of animal poop/fertilizer (bunny, cat, chicken, fish, or worm) helps plants grow taller than plants that receive no fertilizer. According to my research, organic fertilizers are often better for the environment than chemical fertilizers. This project can help farmers and gardeners find natural fertilizers that help plants grow taller and are better for the environment.
PLANT SCIENCES
For my STEM fair project I wanted to find out which natural fertilizer would help seeds grow fastest. I researched and found that coffee, sugar, eggshells, and dead leaves are all used as fertilizers. I chose bean sprout seeds because they grow quickly enough to fit the timeline of my experiment. My hypothesis was that eggshells would help plants grow the fastest because they are nutrient dense.
For my experiment I planted the seeds in soil mixed with each of the fertilizers, as well as a control with no fertilizer. I gave them the same amount of light and water every day and tracked their growth. My data showed that the control plant actually grew tallest and healthiest. Coffee was a close second and sugar completely stopped growth and caused mold. The eggshell and leaf fertilizers were in between. Because of this outcome I learned fertilizers might not help plants in their early stages and may only need water and light to grow well. If I did this experiment again I would test fertilizers on more mature plants to see if they absorb nutrients differently when the soil becomes more depleted.
My hypothesis was wrong, but this taught me the importance of having a control. While I thought the eggshells would win, I figured if I was wrong it would be one of the other fertilizers. Not only was the control the winner, it helped me realize that even when your idea is wrong you can still learn important information.
PLANT SCIENCES
In my experiment, I tested how different lighting affects a plant’s growth. My hypothesis was that plants growing in sunlight would grow faster than plants growing in artificial light or darkness. I tested my hypothesis by putting 6 radish seeds in sunlight, 6 radish seeds in artificial light (a white LED), and 6 radish seeds in darkness. My observations were that the plants growing in darkness were tall, like they were trying to reach for the light, but these plants weren’t very healthy and didn’t have color and their leaves didn’t open. The plants growing in artificial light were tall and healthy, but some of their leaves didn’t open. The plants growing in sunlight were short but healthy, and lots of their leaves opened. My conclusion is that my hypothesis was incorrect: the plants growing in artificial light grew faster than the plants growing in sunlight. One reason why I think the plants in artificial light grew faster was because they had direct light, but the plants growing in sunlight got indirect light. If I were to repeat the experiment, then I would do it in spring, when the sun is out for longer and it’s warm enough to put the plants that would grow in sunlight outside, to get more direct sunlight.
PLANT SCIENCES
Our project is about plant propagation. We took stem cuttings from a houseplant called a Pothos and placed them in different liquids to see which would grow roots first. We cut the plant on the stems that were connected to a leaf and made sure there was a node on the stem. We took 4 different types of liquid and placed the cuttings in the liquid in a sunny place. The liquids were plain water, water with prop drops, water with plant food and sprite. We observed daily and took notes to see which cuttings were healthy, which cuttings grew roots first and if the liquid was affected.
PLANT SCIENCES
I used three groups of kitchen scraps with their roots immersed in water to see which ones would grow the best. There was one green onion, one leek, one celery, and one living lettuce in each group. They were also placed under a grow light on a 12 hour timer. One group had 0 V of electricity (the control), another had 6 V DC current, and the third had 12 V DC current.
Over the course of two weeks I measured their growth daily at the same time. At the end of two weeks, the plants with 12 V DC current had grown the best, the control group (0 V) had grown second best, and the group with 6 V DC current had grown the least.
PLANT SCIENCES
Planting seeds in my garden hurts my back from all the bending over. I wanted to make planting in the garden easier on my body and easier overall, by making a device that can help measure the distance between the seeds and allow me to plant the seed all without bending down to the ground. I researched what seeds are best planted together and what materials would be sturdy enough to use. I tested different ways of making it and the one I concluded would work, does a great job and would be beneficial to many people.
PLANT SCIENCES
For my science experiment, I wanted to discover if water is really the best liquid for plants or if other liquids, like club soda or sugary sodas, can make them grow better. I decided to test this because I’ve always been interested in plants, and I wondered if something in other liquids could make plants healthier or grow faster. This could help people who want to know the best liquid for plant growth. I tested three liquids: water, club soda, and Sprite. I measured the height of each plant to see which liquid made them grow the tallest.
PLANT SCIENCES
Using the same kind of flower, I will experiment using different liquids to see which will keep the flowers alive and looking beautiful the longest. My substances will be: distilled water, tap water, tap water with the packet of flower food that comes with the flowers, tap water with a few drops of bleach, sprite and carbonated mineral water.
PLANT SCIENCES
My project used the method of freeze drying to determine the water content of four different types of fruit. My hypothesis was that watermelon would have the highest water content by far but I was surprised during the testing to see how relatively close all four fruits tested were.
PLANT SCIENCES
Known factors that affect the ripening of bananas are temperature and ethylene gas, but I was curious if exposure to light would affect the ripening as well. I tested nine bananas from 3 different bunches by placing them into 3 cohorts that had different exposure times to light. I controlled for temperature. The cohorts were (1) 24 hours of continuous light, (2) 12 hours of continuous light and 12 hours of darkness and (3) 24 hours of darkness. I compared the colors of the bananas to paint chip samples daily for 7 days to see if there was a difference in color to indicate ripening. I found that there was no difference in the final colors between the cohorts. I learned that spending money and energy in the form of light will not ripen bananas faster and would be wasteful.
PLANT SCIENCES
Hydroponics means that you are growing plants without soil. Plants are suspended in some structure and given plant food and water. There is no soil in this method of growing plants. Hydroponics is a growing industry and it’s even how they grow food in space. Our experiment looked at different amounts of plant food to get optimal growth in a hydroponic system. Our results show that the best condition for seedlings in hydroponics is ½ of the recommended concentration. Double the concentration of plant food did give us slightly more leaves per plant, but it also killed more of the plants, so overall we had fewer leaves. The most leaves produced was in the ½ concentration with a whopping 27 leaves, the least number of leaves was double the concentration with 11 leaves. The half concentration also produced the largest leaves, with an average size of 2.2cm and the least was the control with 0.68 cm.
PLANT SCIENCES
I chose to do my science project on Hydroponics vs soil because I have a beaded dragon that needs fresh daily lettuce for his diet. While I start planting lettuce sears in soil I also plants sears in a hydroponics grower. After multiple attempts of plants the sears in the soil the hydroponics grew substantially better and faster.
PLANT SCIENCES
Acid rain is widely known for its destructiveness of crops. It damages the leaves’ wax, roots, and nutrients. This slows down the plant’s growth and makes it more vulnerable to harmful insects and diseases because of the nutrients deficiency. To protect plants against this, neutralizers are added into the soil to raise the pH level and help protect the plant against the acid best. The objective of this experiment is to discover which neutralizer protects the plants best against the acid. The different neutralizers tested were calcium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, and calcium oxide. It was hypothesized that the sodium carbonate would protect the plants the most because it creates CO3^2- which raises pH level and neutralizes acid. One tablespoon of the neutralizer was sprinkled on the topsoil of the basil plants before they were watered with acetic acid, while one basil plant had no neutralizer to protect it from that watering. Then, observations were taken of the plants’ health after they were subjected to the acetic acid. The results showed that the calcium carbonate protected the plant the best and survived until the end of the experiment. As expected, the plants with no neutralizer protected the second least. Surprisingly, however, the calcium oxide protected the second best, and the sodium bicarbonate protected the least. This leaves sodium carbonate protecting the third most. The research suggested the lime would prove best. However, the neutralizers could have been mixed, from an incompletely cleaned tablespoon proving mistakes in the data.
PLANT SCIENCES
This project will demonstrate the effects of different liquids with respect to plant growth. The experiment utilized six identical plants of similar size, fed a consistent amount of liquid every other day. Liquids were chosen based on average household availability and common plant care knowledge. Measurements of height and width taken at each watering. Photo documentation done at beginning, midpoint, and end of the two-week experiment. The results were surprising and led to discussions on acid-base balance, osmolarity, bioavailability of micro nutrients, and mold.
PLANT SCIENCES
This experiment explores whether the types of water affect the plant growth in terms of plant height, root health and number of plants grown. The Hypothesis is that various types of water do change plant growth. To conduct the experiment, I collected purified, tap, rain, and alkaline water for the plants. Then I observed the growth of the plants for two weeks from the sprouts to the plant height and leaves formation. The independent variable is the type of water I used. I measured the root length, plant height and number of plants sprouted. My hypothesis is supported because the plants grew taller every day and the best water helped it to grow healthily. To support more for my project I also did mineral testing on the soil where my plants grew. I have tested the PH, Phospherous , Potassium and Nitrogen levels for measuring the effects of water on the soil. I enjoyed conducting this experiment and it was so much fun.
PLANT SCIENCES
I began my experiment with the question, Can hydrogen peroxide function as a pesticide and fungicide in a way that helps plant cuttings to grow and thrive? After doing some research I learned that hydrogen peroxide is used to help kill bacteria and fungus that can kill plant roots. Based on what I learned, I wrote the following hypothesis: I believe that the spider plant cutting that receives the low hydrogen peroxide growing solution will have the most growth and health because based on my research I learned that hydrogen peroxide releases oxygen and kills bacteria and fungus. I followed procedures very carefully for three trials.
PLANT SCIENCES
My project was about finding out what light source works the best on plants. I used LED lights, incandescent lights, and sunlight. The plants I used were peas. I observed their growth under the 3 different lights within two weeks. One pot of peas was assigned for each light. To record and organize my data, I used a bar chart and a table.
PLANT SCIENCES
For this project I wanted to find out what temperature water would affect a plant’s growth the most. This is an important topic because of climate change. I wanted to find which temperature water would affect a plants growth the most if climate change affects our water temperature drastically. For this project I used ice cubes, 65-degree water, and 120-degree water. I used these temperatures because they were very different from each other. I used radish seeds for this experiment because research shows that they grow very quickly. I also had twelve different plants for each temperature water in case one of the seeds did not grow very well. I watered the plants every three days to ensure that the plants were not overwatered and the ice cubes had time to melt. I made sure that the plants all had the same amount of sunlight. To make sure that I watered the same amount for each plant I melted an ice cube and used the same amount of liquid for each temperature water. I ran the experiment for approximately 3.5 weeks and discovered that ice cubes affect a plants growth the most, 65-degree water affects a plants growth the second most, and 120-degree water affects a plants growth the least. For other experiments on this matter, I could use different types of water, different types of seeds, or I could try running the experiment for longer.
PLANT SCIENCES
In our project, we explored the question: "Do plants react differently with other liquids?" We wanted to find out if plants could survive and grow using liquids other than water. We were curious about how different liquids, like soda and milk, affect plant growth. Our hypothesis was that if we watered the plants with soda, milk, and water, the plant watered with milk would have a bad smell and not grow well.
For our experiment, we used three pots with seeds and watered each one with a different liquid: one with water, one with Dr. Pepper, and one with milk. We measured the height of the plants every week to see how they grew. The results showed that the plant watered with milk died, the one watered with soda grew a little shorter, and the plant that received plain water grew the best.
In conclusion, our experiment demonstrated that plants do not grow well with liquids like milk and soda. This reinforces the importance of water for plant survival. For future work, we plan to measure the growth again and compare it to the previous heights. We would also discard the milk plant because it became stinky. This project helped us understand how important water is for plants and what happens when they are watered with other liquids.
PLANT SCIENCES
I tried to grow plants with only artificial lights and water. I grouped my plants into 3 separate groups, ones with water and sunlight, ones with artificial lights and soil, and ones with both artificial lights and just water. I made a net pot for the plants in the water. I made 2 boxes for plants with artificial light, 1 box with a study lamp, and 1 box with a grow lamp, to see if the grow lamp would be better than the study lamp, if yes, how much better. I also gave some of the plants in water fertilizer to see if that would help the plants grow faster. Then I put the plants with sunlight on the windowsill, the plants with the study lamp in 1 box, and the plants with the grow lamp in the other box.
I then compared the groups to see how they did. Surprisingly the plants with sunlight did the worst, possibly due to the cold temperature and wind next to the windowsill, none of the plants grew. Next, the plants with the study lamp did better with the no fertilizer plant growing roots although they were small. The grow lamp had the best results with all of them growing in some way. The one in water and no fertilizer grew leaves, and the one with soil sprouting. The one with fertilizer started growing roots. Fertilizer and soil didn’t help much and sunlight performed worse.
PLANT SCIENCES
My project is about having three different types of pots and seeing which one will grow a plant faster and seeing which one will help it grow best. Also, I will be observing which plants are not growing and the time it is taking to grow. Observing if it has anything to do with the pot. Making sure I use the same steps for each plant.
PLANT SCIENCES
Testing the effects of acidic or base water on the growth of young tomato plans
PLANT SCIENCES
This experiment aims to determine where plant cuttings grow roots the fastest in soil water or water with fertilizer. Since hydroponic systems allow better control over environmental conditions, I hypothesized that plant cuttings in fertilized water would grow roots faster than those in normal water and soil. How I did the experiment was I cut plant shoots and placed them in water with fertilizer tap water and soil I measured all the roots at the end of the week and graphed my data. The plant cuttings in the fertilized water grew the fastest supporting my hypothesis my weekly data consistently aligned with this outcome.