need help please..my 13 year old daughter needs science fair project ideas

[ElsewheresDaughter]

she is pretty advanced and has a 97 GPA but is drawing a blank on a project idea so i told i would ask DU scientists for help :hug:
her interests are in environmental sciences and ecology. her past projects were titled "Poison PC's and Toxic TV's" and "Hungry Hungry Microbes"(iron eating bacterial rusticles eating the Titanic)

please post any and all suggestions?

thanks folks :7

[Oreo]

1. One thing I always thought was cool was colloids

You take corn starch and water and mix them together. I can't remember the ratio.... maybe 2:1. When you roll it in your hands it's a solid but if you stop rolling it "melts" into a liquid. Very cool stuff... I highly suggest everybody go out and try it.

[dryan]

3. Project I won with....

I did a display a cutaway of Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii. I did a cut apart of the mountain and the city below...not the whole city bu a few buildings. I had my Barbie and Ken doll dressed up like Romans and even made a little Roman house. I was in the 3rd grade.

[punpirate]

2. It would help to know what her interests are...

... since it would seem that there's no point in suggesting something in which she has no interest--that would simply cause her not to investigate and work on it with any enthusiasm.

When it comes to science, what does she seem to talk about most?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. ecology, the environmental sciences and mammals

[Nimrod]

7. A presentation on "useless" animals

Just an idea. The mosquito for instance is largely regarded as nothing but a nuisance, but it pollinates tiny flowers that bees and most other insects are too large for.

[punpirate]

10. Lots of possibility with those interests....

Depends upon where you live, but one of the things that might be a hit, if you live near agricultural areas is to take water samples from runoff areas and have them tested for antibiotics and/or hormones, just to show how much those substances pass through farm animals and interact with the rest of the environment, including drinking water. That could be supplemented by a little Google research on the effects of the wide use of those substances. That might incorporate many of her interests.

Cheers.

[inslee08]

5. Something with magnets is always cool

or if she's not interested in that...

The effects of certain pollutants on plant growth?

[AllegroRondo]

6. Some neat ones at my daugthers science fair this year:

1) study various brands of microwave popcorn to see which has the most/least unpopped kernels.

2) test reflexes of boys vs. girls in the class by dropping a yardstick and measuring reaction time.

3) study local news weather forcasts to see which is the most accurate.

4) study pollution levels in local streams and ponds

5) take cultures from the mouths of humans and dogs to see who has the most bacteria.

[On the Road]

8. When I Was Thirteen,

the winning project was "The Effect of Diet on Chickens." My classmate had raised two groups of chickens on different diets. She had both groups in cages at the fair so you could see the difference, which was noticeable.

[mpanno]

9. My kids are into the environment

and for science projects they always used plants and watered them with different things to explore the effects.

[applegrove]

11. Disolve teeth (or subsitute) in Coke, diet coke, Pepsi, d pepsi & classic

[seriousstan]

18. Better yet, disolve teeth in orange juice or lemonade. Much more acidic.

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tooth.asp

[applegrove]

21. But we have to indoctrinate our pups early & unfairly against corporations

[woodsprite]

12. We researched this link when looking for my daughters project

They are broken up into level (high school, etc.) and give a difficulty level. The 2nd link does give more info. The first link only gives topics and suggestions.

http://www.cdli.ca/sciencefairs/senior.html

and

http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/category0.html

Hope this helps some. I better bookmark them. Our daughter's science fair is coming up in June.

[theblasmo]

13. Timely, unfortunately

Why not something on tsunamis and earthquakes? Now that tsunamis are in the news, it'd be easy to find research. Take the disaster and make something educational out of it. I did this in mid-high and got a pretty good grade, even if my tsunami pool (a tray filled with a thick, blue-tinted liquid that you could "create" a ripple effect in) wound up spilled on the floor due to some schmuck's inability to check what his bracelet was caught on... Good luck to your daughter.

[Liberty Belle]

14. Global warming is very topical. Lots of current articles

on how it's a crisis.

Also mercury poisoning is becoming epidemic due to lax air pollution standards and water pollution standards under Bush.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

15. LB thanks..check out this picture on GWarming someone posted in GD....

[Up2Late]

24. WOW, that sucks

I think that the glacier near Anchorage, AK

[ElsewheresDaughter]

16. some great iseas here so far...thanks and please keep them coming?

i will be back this afternoon when Mo gets home from school and she will post her gratitude :hug:

[dutchdoctor]

17. how about antibubbles?

They are fun to make and the science behind them is pretty fascinating.
There are lots of websites out there that explain how to make them, just google "antibubbles".
www.antibubble.org is a good one to start!

Have fun!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. LOL pretty abstract and to advanced for an AP 8th grader...i like it tho

[DrGonzoLives]

19. Having judged a few of these

I will just say that the ones that are looked upon favorably are the ones that actually at least peripherally follow the scientific method in some way. Make hypothesis, design experiment, get results, analyze data, draw conclusions. The ones that get passed over quickly are the "look, I made something do something cool" type of things that are just demonstrations.

[bmbmd]

22. How about a study of the affect

of gamma rays on man-in-th moon marigolds?

[DemBones DemBones]

23. You might want to specify whether her project has to

conform to International Science Fair rules, i.e., whether she needs ideas for experiments or is allowed to do demonstration projects.

[Up2Late]

25. How about a Fuel Cell Car?

If you don't mine buying a kit, Edmond Scientific has this Fuel cell car kit ($139.95). It even comes with a Multi-meter that can be used for years to come.
<>
<http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3081287>

Or another cool, but cheep thing is a Spectrometer. She can show people the difference between Full Spectrum and Non-Full spectrum Lighting.
Check it out at:

Classroom Spectrometer With Scale ($6.95)
<http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3052521>
Analyze flame spectra and spectra of gas vacuum tubes, etc. Allows for measurement of light from 400 to 700 nanometers with accuracies of ±50. Housed in unbreakable plastic case. 20cm long. Scale is 37mm long. Includes instructions.:hippie: