A Few Physical Science Project Ideas
by Mr. O’Connor, October 2016
❏ How does the angle of sunlight affect the power output of a solar cell?
❏ How does the amount of dust on a solar cell affect its power output?
❏ How does changing the distance of the resistance on a lever affect the amount of effort required
to lift it?
❏ How does a pendulum’s length or weight or angle of release affect its period?
❏ How does acidity affect the rate chalk dissolves?
❏ How does air pressure affect how high a ball bounces?
❏ How does the color of water (or other fluid) affect the rate of evaporation?
❏ How does friction affect the angle of slope of a resting object?
❏ How does paper towel brand affect its tear strength?
❏ How does surface area affect evaporation rate?
❏ How does temperature affect the rate a tablet dissolves?
❏ How does the amount of glue affect the strength of a bond?
❏ How does the angle of a ramp affect the distance a ball rolls?
❏ How does the angle of launch affect the distance a rubber band travels?
❏ How does the angle or shape of windmill blades affect the rate of rotation?
❏ How does the brand of golf ball affect the height of rebound?
❏ How does the concentration of a salt solution affect its electrical conductivity?
❏ How does the diameter of balls of equal mass affect the time it takes to roll down a ramp?
❏ How does the diameter, cross-sectional shape, or height of a paper tube affect the amount of
weight it can hold?
❏ How does the diameter, mass, or height of a dropped ball affect the diameter or depth of a
crater?
❏ How does the length of a cantilever affect how much weight it can hold before breaking?
❏ How does the number of coils of wire or battery voltage affect how much weight an
electromagnet can hold?
❏ How does the size of sand grains affect the angle of repose of a pile of grains?
❏ How does the type of fluid affect surface tension?
❏ How does the size of spherical grains affect pore space, or the volume of fluid it can contain?