Archive for May, 2009

Science Projects around the home

One of the main problems of a summer vacation is that you are stuck at home with nothing to do. Sure there may be summer school assignments that you need to finish, but that is boring. What you are looking for is some interesting activity to do around the home.

If you are convinced that the only way to enjoy the summer holiday is to leave home and head for the shopping mall here’s news for you. There is a lot that you can do at home and enjoy the experience as well. Most of the science experiments can be performed at home with no extra costs.

Adult supervision may be needed for some of the science projects that you decide to undertake so do make sure you tell your Mom what you are planning to do. If you need some ideas to set up a science project take a look at this article here. I am sure you will find the experiment fun to perform. Just make sure that your Mom has taken out the eggs she needs to cook with out of the egg tray before you begin!

This is an old and well loved experiment. It brings your ingenuity into play. The whole exercise forces you to be as creative as you can get to protect your egg.  See what materials you can use. You will have a few nasty spills to clear up, but that’s part of the fun. Involve your siblings and get set to see who will win the egg drop competition.

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Science in Laser technology

Its has always been fun to watch lasers in action. Remember the Jedis in Star Wars?Well lasers are actually nothing more than “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”. Pick the first letter in that phrase from all the words and you get LASER.

A Laser is a beam of light which has many uses. Not the least of which is being helpful in non invasive surgery. Here the patient does not need to go under the conventional surgery using a scalpel, but a beam of light in laser form is used instead. Usually stones are operated using the laser method.

What you see coming towards you is a thin beam of light traveling in a line. This concentrated light can be used to do some fun science experiments. If you choose to use this thin beam of light through fluid you will see how it gets distorted. It is rather like passing sunlight through a prism and looking at the refractive index.

You can even use different lasers and see how the reflected light varies in each case. Get some different colored lasers and see which one bends the most. Or the least, either way you look at it. Record your findings in a journal. You can even expand this into a full fledged science fair project.

There are lots of fun things that you can do with lazers at home. Check out this article for more ideas. If you have some new ones of your own, feel free to share them with me.

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Soda and Science

What can soda teach you about science? If you think about it, quite a lot. Look at the contents of a soda can. It has carbonated fluid which is a fancy way of saying that it is fizzy water. The temperature of the soda can can be changed at our will.

If you put it into the fridge it will become cold. It you leave it out in the sun it will get hot. Now consider the pressure that the contents of the soda can is able to generate. When you open it the contents will give a loud sigh. And some extra gas that has escaped from the fluid will ooze out of the can.

This will reduce the actual pressure that the can is experiencing on it. Have you ever forgotten a bottle of soda in the freezer? Has the extra chilling caused the bottle to change its shape? Yes it does happen when the pressure exerted gets too much it will even burst the contents out into the open. So if you are planning on doing a science project with soda be careful.

Soda can be quite dangerous. If you are looking for a relatively controlled and safe science experiment to do with soda, try out this one here. There should ideally be an adult around to supervise what you are doing so that you don’t get in to any trouble later. You will enjoy it when the temperature difference causes the graphs to go in different directions.

So you see, soda can actually teach you quite a lot of science and help you with your science project. Bet you never saw that coming. Think about that the next time you grab a can to quench your thirst.

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Starting a Science project

It is always exciting to start a science project. Some times if we think of it as school work and it doesn’t sound like fun. After all getting an entry for the science fair is not as much fun as having fun doing science experiments. The truth is that work never is fun.

So when you set about starting out any science project, don’t look at it as work. Look at it as a fun experiment that you are going to do with a few friends. That will make the task so much easier and you will enjoy doing it as well. It is far easier to get projects done when you are playing at them rather than working at them.

So before you decide to start a science project sit back and think of things you like to do. Not everyone wants to make a baking soda volcano and built an ant farm. While it might be dangerous to potter around with electricity without the supervision of an adult.

Think of something that you can manage on your own. A little adult help may be needed, but that’s okay. If you are getting stuck for ideas I would recommend that you visit my other site. I am sure that you will find enough ideas to keep you busy for a while there.

The important thing is to have fun. As soon as you begin to enjoy the science project you will do a good job on it. That will hold true for other activities in life besides science projects.

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What Happens To Your Science Project After the Fair?

After all the excitement of getting a great idea for your science fair project and making it is over, you suddenly feel lost. All the urgency of getting the model to work is over. In most cases it would be working just fine by the time the day of the science fair arrives. Then suddenly this project has no meaning.

At least that is how you feel when you walk out of the fair location. As you carry your project home, you wonder what you will do with it now. Most likely you will put it into some corner of the room and forget about it. Or if its too large, it will get stored in the garage and never see the light of day again.

Here’s what you can do to ensure that the project stays in use. When you decide to make a working model pick an idea that is useful inreal life. For instance how about making a radio? Not only will you have fun making a working model, you will continue to use it to listen to songs and news on the radio.

Or pick up a project which will help some one around you. For instance pick out a small gadget that can make life easier for a friend. Maybe a key finder which helps them trace that bunch of keys that they are always losing. It would work to comb the beach for treasure as well.

Such a project will stay in use long after the fair is over. Prepare for the fair with these points here and have fun with it long after the science  fair is finished.

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