Ever wonder how much it cost to put together the clothes that you are wearing? Think of it as a science project. Work out the material that has been used in the clothes. Is it natural or synthetic? If it’s natural it was grown as a crop or on the back of an animal. If it is synthetic it was manufactured chemically.

Why stop at clothes think about accessories like shoes, purses, socks and panty hose. That little black dress with the beads on the yolk which you love to wear. Ever wonder how eco-friendly it was to make? Or was it a large consumer of non renewable energy? Those permanent pressed pants that don’t ever wrinkle? How many chemicals polluted the ground to make them that way?

I’m not saying that being well dressed is a bad thing. Certainly you can’t be expected to go everywhere in your pajamas or a sweater that grandma knitted for you. However you can do a good deed by educating yourself on what clothes take a great deal of energy to be manufactured and so are not very green.

In case you missed my drift, the green has got nothing to do with the color of the garment you have on your back. Think of it as one of those wayward science projects which may not get you credits in school but will earn you brownie points with mother earth.

With so many science experiments on how to get alternative sources of energy it is amazing how something as simple as conservation can take a back step. If you conserve what you have it will last you a longer time. Yet we go out of the way to act in a wasteful manner and its not just driving a petrol car to work that I’m talking about.

Think of all the leisure activities we do which waste non renewable energy. Yes racing cars form part of the activities which waste a good deal of fuel on a non productive task.Think about the liters of fuel which can be saved each year if we did away with racing cars. I have nothing against the  formula one people.

In fact I quite enjoy races. Specially when they are powered by the human being. Think of the 100 meter dash or the marathon, isn’t it a celebration of human spirit and speed? And they are definitely a far more eco-friendly way of entertainment.  Not that racing cars is going to go out of fashion soon.

Despite all the efforts to curb our excesses, there is always a new way being found to be careless with the natural resources that we share on this planet. Maybe the next generation can do a better job of managing the planet than we did. If their science fair projects are anything to go by, they just might.

With the dependence on petroleum products being targeted for environmental degradation there is a huge hue and cry about going green. People are trying out new science projects to become less polluting. Not making a mess of the non renewable resources that are left and actually trying to live an eco-friendly lifestyle have become a priority again.

So if you decide to become more environment friendly what is it that you need to do? You need to make a firm commitment to not wasting natural resources. You need to reduce the Toys and Dolls you buy. Try avoid using those toys which need rubber such as Balloons, and Roller skate wheels.

Also avoid those toys which use a lot of plastic like Model cars, airplanes and wading pools. Not to mention Crayons. Avoid using packaging which can not be recycled such as tetra packs and instead use glass Milk jugs. In fact avoid using paper napkins and use regular cloth napkins on the dining table.

Don’t take print outs of all emails to keep your records. Burn a couple of back up CDs instead. The paper saved will be a huge help and you will find storing the CDs easier. You will save the trees and help go more green.

There are a million small things that you can do to help the environment.Why not list a set of ten things that you can use as a science experiment to live a greener life. All you need is a little love and a lot of commitment in this project.

Ever heard a song which is sung in a language you do not know and still felt peppy and happy? Or did you hear some soulful whinny number and feel depressed and sad? A team of scientists from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina seem to have found out just why music notes can cut through the language barrier in their science project.

It seems that the minor and major keys have a part to play. 4 semi tones above the keynote build an interval in a major and three tones in a minor. So when a speaker reads a text in a subdued voice it mirrors the minor intervals. On the other hand when the text is read out cheerfully it has many major intervals in it.

In addition while reading cheerful texts the different overtones of the vowels arrange their frequency relationships in a manner resembling a major chord. And this fact seems to apply across the different cultures and languages.

These emotion dependent sound patterns prove that music gets understood in the mood that it is made. That means if the tone is happy you will know it even if the language is unfamiliar. So perhaps language came after the evolution of music? The researchers are still working on it. You can work on this science project.

3.6 zettabytes or a 36 followed by twenty zeros is the amount of information that an average American household consumed in 2008. That is the figure that the researchers of a University of California science project had to report. According to them the information that a family was bombarded with from communication channels like books, computers, TV, and newspapers was worth 3.6 zettabytes.

In case you are wondering just how much information that would be, imagine this. If all that information was taken as computer print outs the entire land mass of the USA would be buried under more than 2 meters of paper. And this is only the information that one single household swallowed!

The general media consumption of the average American is tagged by the same research at 34 gigabytes per day. And that figure does not include the usage of office equipment. Since 1980 consumption has increased at about 5.4% each year. And its still rising.

Each year Americans are spending more and more time processing information that is not crucial to them. About 11.8 hours in each day are spent trying to digest the information that communication channels keep throwing up. No wonder sometimes the allure of a clean break from it all on a desert island actually sounds good. Read about more interesting science projects here.

We all know that eating too much fat is bad for us. How does one know how much fat is actually there in a pound of meat? Try out this kitchen based science experiment to find out. You may be surprised with the results.

You will need a pound of ground beef. A non stick skillet, a fine mesh strainer and a wooden spoon. A plastic cup and a kitchen scale. A heat source like a hot plate or a stove. Make sure you have an adult supervise your moves.

What you need to do is make two equal portions of the ground beef. Weigh them on the kitchen scales to ensure they are the same weight. Record the weight on paper. Now keep one portion away while you add the second portion to the skillet. Put this on the heat source and use the wooden spoon to cook it evenly.

Break up the meat and you will soon see some bubbles oozing out. This liquid is the fat contained in the meat. As the liquid begins to boil, strain it out of the meat containing skillet  into the plastic cup. Use the fine mesh strainer so that you get just the liquid fat and none of the meat.

Now weight the fat in the cup and the cooked meat separately. The meat usually contains between 7 to 22 percent fat. You can repeat the process with the raw meat to see if you get the same results. Try out more science projects here.

We as a society are very dependent on energy. Many science projects Sometimes this need for energy puts the environment around us at risk. This is exactly what happened in the Gulf of Mexico. While drilling for oil deep under water is quite common practice the risks were brought out by the explosion which occurred in April this year.

The whole oil rig sank and the oil well started spewing oil into the waters of the gulf. It is now considered one of the largest environmental disasters in terms of oil spills to have ever hit the coast of the United States. The company responsible for the spill is BP and it is now launching a massive clean up operation.

Maybe this economic and environmental disaster has brought home the need to have alternative fuel and energy sources even more into the lime light. Harnessing green energy or renewable energy sources has never been as big a priority as it is today.

Many science projects use solar cells and may seem like fun, but now its time to get serious about actually using the solar energy in ways so that you no longer need an electrical connection from a power plant using coal or thermal fuel to generate that power.

While fermentation is a process which denatures food to make a new substance, pickling is a process where certain foods are soaked in a solution to avoid getting spoilt. A science project could be made out of using the two processes on the same food to see what the end result of both the processes would be on the said food.

Pickling is an ancient cooking technique and is common in most global cuisine. There are a whole variety of pickles available across the globe from America to Australia. However the basic principle stays the same. When it comes down to the nitty gritty there are just two kinds of pickles. Those made in vinegar and those made in brine, that’s salt water.

The strong liquids do not allow most bacteria to flourish effectively ending the chance of the food spoiling. However as the liquids have a distinctive taste of their own they will influence the taste of the food being pickled.

For our experiment with pickling we are going to make sauerkraut, a kind of fermented cabbage which originates from Germany. It is the easiest pickle to make. You get a head of cabbage. Cut strips of the cabbage and wash well. Now dry them up with some kitchen tissues and keep aside. In a glass bottle with a wide neck toss in the cabbage. Now cover it with vinegar and leave for a couple of days. Take it out and eat pickled cabbage! For more fun science experiments check here.

Would you consider taking some grapes and turning them into wine a science project? It may seem like wine making but it is essentially a scientific process called fermentation at play. You can see the products of fermentation in any kitchen. It can include bread, yogurt, wine, beer, pickles and cheese.

During the process of fermentation you encourage the growth of microscopic organisms which can quite literally change the look and taste of the food product that you started out with. Grapes to wine for instance or milk to cheese. By encouraging the right kind of micro organism, often a bacteria, to grow you can manipulate the taste of the final food.

This is why a cheese maker is particular about the quality of rennet added to curdle the milk. And also about the time before he removes the whey from the bowl to compact the curd. This curd will then evolve into a distinctive cheese. Similarly wine makers can add yeast or not when they make wine from a particular kind of fruit.

It is possible to make wine out of rose petals with out adding any yeast to aid the fermentation. Why not try it out yourself? Take a bowl of grapes and crush them with your fingers to let the juices run. Now add a bowl of sugar to a container and the crushed grapes and juice. Mix well and seal up the container for a month. When you open the container after a month fermentation should have caused the sugar and grapes to make wine. Try out more science projects here.

Have you been to a planetarium and been fascinated by the stars? Did the whole experience leave you wishing that you could head out on the next space mission? And are you too young to be eligible for the said mission? Well there is something that you can do about getting the same experience.

Build your own planetarium. A simple science project that can be used at will to escape into the vast expanses of space. Here is how you can do it. Get a cylindrical cardboard box. Take a few sheets of thin paper and punch out the different constellations that you know onto them.

Now dim the lights, face the wall and grab your flashlight. Just place the thin paper with the star shapes  face down on the outside of the bottom of the cylindrical box. From the other end end insert the flashlight into the cylindrical box. Shine the light in the box and not on the paper directly.

Hold the box up so that the light from the holes shines on the wall lighting up the constellation that you have punched into the paper. Make sure that the room is dark enough for the star like effect to come through on the wall. Change the paper for the next constellation that you want to show in your planetarium. Have more fun with the stars here.