Have you been wondering what to do with all the spare time on your hands recently? After the summer holidays begin most students claim to get bored as there is nothing to do at home. I disagree. In fact I feel there’s a lot of productive things that you can do sitting at home. Yes even in the holidays when there is no real work possible.

You can plan ahead for next year’s science fair project. Get the correct idea that you want to prove or disprove. Work out what you need to write in the science project report. Check out how you want to decorate the display board. Even make a working prototype of the model that you wish to construct.  See there’s so much you can do right now.

All this work now will save you a lot of time later on. Then at the last minute you will not be running around in a panic like a headless chicken. All the background work would already be in place and all you will need to do is implement it. If this sounds like too much work in the heat then think about it this way. You will have to do it later on in any case.

Plus at that time you will also have other things to worry about such as classes, friends, sports, and home work. So does it not make sense to be a bit proactive and finish off part of the work now? If you are looking to just have some fun try out this expeiment here. I am sure you will enjoy it as it is not work.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In the true spirit of scientific exploration you will do a number of experiments before you get to the ideal idea for your project. The trouble is that each experiment that you do will need some material specific to it. This material may be expensive at times. And your parents might not be willing to spend too much on these experiments.

The trick to cutting costs on your science fair projects is to keep all the  old ones with you. That way when you decide on making some thing in particular you will find that part of the required material is already available with you. There will be no need for you to get everything together from scratch.

This will help you as you will reuse the material of old projects and save some money in the bargain. Many LEDs and some circuits and almost all the wiring can be reused in a new project. This is a great way to practice recycling as well. By reusing the material you are ensuring that the old projects come in handy.

Your parents will also appreciate the fact that you are economizing. It will also save you time as you will have so much ready material at hand. There will be no need to wait till you shop for new material to begin your science fair project.

By the time you get to high school the magic of science has begun to fade. The gadgets that fascinated you as a child have become matter of fact. The excitement over how things work has dulled. Other things matter more than generating science fair ideas.

Our schooling system is partly to blame for this apathy. There is little scope for you as students to expand your knowledge and understanding of science. Plus no one wants to seek these answers and be considered a geek in high school.

It does not matter that the geek is far more likely to succeed in life. This is because he is focused on his passion. In high school it’s the sports heroes who rule not the science fair award winners.

So the trick to being popular in high school is to participate in many and varied activities. Try out for sports teams, appear for quizzes, become a reporter for the school newspaper, and then put up a smashing entry for the science fair.

Science experiments which are interactive in nature are less likely to be considered geeky so consider such science fair ideas. In fact a working model may even be considered cool. So if you are a closet geek in high school, don’t give up on your passion for science. Just camouflage it and you will be just fine.

The first impression your science project makes is hugely based on what your display board looks like. Even before you say a word or the judges have been able to figure out what scientific principle your project is based on. Or what science experiments you have been indulging in. That is the power vested in your display board.

Now consider how much thought you have given to it. Have you handwritten it or taken neat print outs? Is it all in black and white or have you added color and pictures to it?

By now you must have figured out exactly what I am trying to get at. You need to have a great display board to show case your science experiment. And in order to have a great display board you need to pay attention to all the details on the board. Plus you need to put in some extra effort to make it look stunning.

It will make sense to plan out exactly what you want your board to say. Is it going to give all the details, or just summarize a few well picked points? Especially true if you are making a project based on something like Electrical Conductivity. The writing style on the board, is it going to be formal or funky? How much of the project must it explain and how much should it leave to the actual presentation.

Think all the details through before you write a single word. That way you won’t waste time rewriting or reformatting the material. Once you are done with the writing, proof read the draft for any spelling mistakes or syntax errors. Then take the fair print out. That’s how you will end up with a display board worthy of your science project.

When the first numerical calculator was invented by Blaise Pascal in 1642, I am sure he never knew the chain of events he had started. From the calculator we got the Charles Babbage Difference Engine and Analytical Engine in the 1830s. The constant innovation of hundreds of people has brought us the laptop today.

The best thing about the computer as we know it today is the vast amounts of knowledge it can share with us. The entire set of Britannica encyclopedias can fit into half a dozen compact discs. Any information you need is at your finger tips if you get on to the internet. In short you have all the help that you could ever need with your project.

What is now important is how you use this knowledge available to you. Do you utilize this wonderful resource to come up with a fantastic science fair project? Or do you just go with some old idea that has been used for a dozen years at the fair before you.

Not only can the computer provide you with information to help you out with your science fair project, it can also help you with your display board presentation. The choice to use this wonderful resource is all yours. Exploit its potential and emerge a winner.