SCIENCE FAIR FLOWER HILL ELEMANTARY SCHOOL
2015 IDEAS
KINDERGARTEN
Why Do Plants Wilt?
Whew! It’s hot out here. The plants are wilting in the summer’s heat. Can adding shade help your plants
stay happy?
Problem:
Can a bit of shade help stop your outdoor plants from wilting?
Materials:

Umbrella

2 planter boxes

Soil

Sprayer

6 lettuce plants

Thermometer

Moisture meter

Notebook and penci
Pasta Coquina: Make Your Own Sedimentary Rock
Why?:
Coquina is a sedimentary rock that’s formed when seawater minerals cement seashells and sand
together.
Problem:
What is coquina? What is it made of?
Materials:
1 disposable cup
1/2 cup of pasta, at least three shapes and sizes (shells, macaroni, rotelle, whatever you’ve got)
2 tablespoons water
1 disposable stirrer
2 tablespoons white glue
1 piece of wax paper
1 sample of coquina
1 magnifying glass
1 piece of paper and a pencil
Dinosaur Tracks: How Are Fossilized Imprints Formed?
How did dinosaurs leave their footprints behind so many years ago? Stomp, clomp, and squish your way
to learn how to make fossils and create your very own fossil imprints!
Problem: How did dinosaur footprints get fossilized?
Materials

1 cup damp, used coffee grounds

½ cup of cold coffee

1 cup of flour

½ cup of salt

Wax paper

Bowl

Wooden spoon

Rolling pin
Exploring the Sense of Smell: Sniffing Jars
Objective:
This project makes young children aware of their sense of smell and its ability to provide information
about the world around them. (This makes a nice “smell” component in a larger project on the five
senses.)
Research Question:
Can you match the smell with the thing?
Materials:

Several jars with tight-fitting lids

Construction paper

Scissors

Tape

Pictures of all the things to smell

Blindfold

Things to smell: a piece of onion, a peppermint, an orange wedge, a piece of banana, a rose
(Change/expand on this list as you see fit.)
Exploring Taste: Sweet, Sour, Salty, and Bitter
Objective
Young children will become aware of and have the opportunity to experience the four basic tastes:
sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
Research Questions
Can you identify the four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter? Can you recognize these tastes in a
variety of foods? (This makes a nice “taste” component for a larger project on the five senses.)
Materials
Amounts will vary if more than one child participates in the project. The materials used below are
suggestions; substitute foods as you see fit.

Twelve small containers

One spoonful of sugar

One mint candy

One spoonful of honey

One lemon wedge

One pickle

One spoonful of plain yogurt

One spoonful of salt

One salted potato chip

One bit of parmesan cheese

One bit of unsweetened baker’s chocolate

One spoonful of decaf coffee

One piece of grapefruit rind
Discovering and Sorting Seeds in Fruits and Vegetables
Problem:
In this project young children discover, identify, and sort seeds from a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Materials:

A wide variety of fruits and vegetables (include fruits/vegetables from the same family to help
with understanding the idea of families, e.g. stone fruits, citrus fruits, squash, etc.)

Child-safe knife, spoons, and other tools to help take apart fruits/vegetables

Paper

Markers or crayons
Sorting and Classification for Young Children
Objective:
Encourage children to practice and refine sorting and classification skills essential to scientific research.
Research Questions:

Can you sort the buttons into sets?

What do the buttons in each set have in common?

Can you sort them into subsets?

Can you sort them in other ways?
Sorting and classification are important skills for a scientist (think Periodic Table of Elements &
Taxonomic Hierarchy). This project encourages children to practice and refine these skills. It lends itself
to viewer participation when presented at a fair. Keep a list handy for participants to record all the
different ways they’ve invented to sort and classify.
Materials:

A large variety of buttons. Alternatively (especially with the youngest children) you may use a
variety of breakfast cereals which provides the added appeal of being safe and edible.
Plants and Water
Objective
To learn how plants transport water from their roots to their leaves
Materials and Equipment

Tall clear glass

Red food coloring

Spoon

Celery stalk

Knife
Background Information
Plants need water to grow. Plants transport water from their roots to their leaves through tubes called
xylem.
Terms, Concepts, and Questions to Start Background Research
Terms
Xylem: tubes that transport water inside plants
Concepts
Plants need water. Water is transported through the plant through xylem tubes.
Research Questions
How does water get from the roots of a plant to its leaves?
FIRST GRADE
What Happens When Oil and Water Get Together?
Objective:
See what happens when two fluids that have different densities get together.
Materials:

Disposable cup

Water

Food color (any dark color)

Small funnel

Vegetable oil

Pencil and paper and a crayon or colored pencil that matches the food color (alternatively: a
camera)

One test tube with cap

Optional: some old newspaper and a smock
Do Some Liquids Expand More than Others When Frozen?
Objective:
In this experiment we observe the expansion of liquids when frozen (changed into a solid) and
determine if some liquids expand more than others when frozen.
Research Questions:
Do liquids expand when frozen (when they become a solid)? Do different liquids expand different
amounts?
Materials:

Six tall, narrow, clear plastic containers of the same size and shape (approximately 2 cups each)

Three cups tap water

Salt

Sugar

One cup milk

One cup juice

One cup vinegar

Black Sharpie

Red Sharpie

Freezer
Density Experiment
Density refers to the amount of stuff there is in a given space. Different things have different densities.
For example, a cup of water has more stuff in it than a cup of oil. The water is denser. A marble and a
ball of the exact same size are made of different amounts of stuff – they have different densities. Do you
think the less dense oil will sink in or float on the denser water? Which is denser, the marble or the ball?
How can you tell?
Problem:
How do liquids of various densities interact with each other?
Materials:

Measuring cup

Clear glass jar (labels removed)

½ cup water

Food coloring

½ cup corn syrup

½ cup vegetable oil

Marble

Small rubber ball of approximately the same size as marble

Circle of carrot, mini marshmallow, other small objects
Leaf Rubbings: Shapes and Patterns
Objective:
In this project children make leaf rubbings, recording and observing shapes, structures, and patterns in
leaves from different plants, then sort the rubbings accordingly.
Research Questions:

What shapes do you see?

What parts do you see?

How are leaves the same?

How are leaves different?

[Some useful vocabulary: petiole (stalk), veins, simple leaf, compound leaf.]
Materials:

Leaves from different plants

Plain white typing paper (do not use construction paper; it is too heavy)

A few sheets of newspaper

Crayon
Eureka! Volume and the Displacement of Water
Objective:
Demonstrate the correspondence between the volume of water displaced by an object and and the
volume of the object displacing it.
Research Questions:

What happens when you drop an object into a glass of water?

What happens when you drop a larger object into a glass of water?

How many of each object can you drop into the glass of water before it overflows?

Can you predict how many of each object it will take to make a different glass of water
overflow?
Archimedes, upon stepping naked into his bath, famously cried out “Eureka!” when he suddenly
understood the correspondence between the volume of water displaced by a submerged object and the
volume of the object displacing it. This project demonstrates this displacement of water and the
correspondence of volumes, and exercises prediction skills.
Materials:

Two glasses of the same size and shape

Glasses of other sizes and shapes

Water

A wax pencil to mark the glasses

A bunch of pennies

A bunch of small rocks, approximately the same size as each other but bigger than a penny

Other sinking objects

A tray to control spills
Building a Simulated Volcano
Objective

To make a model of a volcano

To observe a chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar

To analyze the effect of different amounts of vinegar on the time of completion of the reaction
Materials and Equipment/Ingredients

10 oz bottle

Large baking pan

Aluminium foil

Potting soil

4 measuring cups

6 teaspoons flour

6 teaspoons baking soda

4 cups white vinegar

Spoon

Funnel

Red and yellow food coloring

Water

Rocks

Stopwatch
Magic Comb
A lot of things can act like magnets—they just need an electric charge. If we give a comb an electric
charge, can it separate pepper from salt? Let’s find out!
Problem:
Can a comb separate salt and pepper?
Materials:

Plastic Comb

Pepper

Salt

Tissue

Notebook

Pen
Making Plants Grow
Objective
I wanted to learn how long a pinto bean seed would take to germinate and compare it to a kidney bean
seed and a pinto bean seed planted in the dark.
Materials and Equipment

Paper towels

3 – 10 oz. clear plastic cups

12 pinto beans

6 kidney beans

2 paper lunch bags

Tap water

Magnifying glass

Journal to write down results

Digital Camera

The materials were found at the grocery store and in our house and were easy to find.
Dishing Out the Colors
Objective
In this experiment, we will find out whether we can create motion in a dish and as a result, create a
wonderful and colorful show.
Research Questions
What properties does surface tension itself affect?
Surface Tension allows liquids to resist an external force. It acts as a sort of “barrier.” Because of this
property, some objects that are denser than water can actually float and insects can walk on the surface
of water.
Materials

Food coloring in colors of your choice

Milk

Dishwashing liquid

A large dish with raised sides
Make Slime! How to Create a Colloid
It's oozy, it's goopy, and it's just plain fun. Snails make it, and slugs slide on it. It's slime!
Slime is an odd substance. It is soft and squishy like a liquid, but it sticks together like a solid. In this
experiment, you'll make slime and discover what makes something a liquid or a solid. Can an object have
attributes of both?
Problem:
To make a colloid—slime—out of everyday materials.
Materials:

Guar gum

Water

Tablespoon

Plate

Stop watch

Blender

Paper or notebook

Pencil
SECOND GRADE
The Single Fixed Pulley System
Problem: What is a fixed pulley? What does it do?
Materials

Ribbon spool

Dowel

4 feet of thin rope or string

Duct tape

Small plastic doll
Why Doesn't the Ocean Freeze?
Problem:
Why doesn’t the ocean freeze?
Materials:

8 cups water

2 tablespoons salt

2 large plastic bowls

Freezer

Spoon

Dry-erase marker
Can Plants Grow Without Sunlight or Water?
Objective:
Test whether plants can grow without sunlight and water.
Research Questions:
How do plants make their own food? Plants contain a green pigment called chlorophyll, which can make
food from water and energy from sunlight. But what happens when you deprive plants of water and
sunlight? Can they live? For how long?
Materials:

Potted plant

Pen and paper
Is it a Fruit or a Veggie?
Some say a tomato is a fruit. Some call it a vegetable. Most of us are not entirely sure which is which.
And what about flowers? This project defines and classifies edible plants, and makes for a tasty science
fair display!
Problem:
This project aims to identify, describe and classify many different fruits and vegetables.
Materials:

Computer with internet access

Color printer

Digital camera

Assorted fresh fruits and vegetables

Magnifying glass

Microscope (optional)

Typical office/craft supplies (such as paper, pens & poster-board)
Ripening Avocados
Have your parents ever brought back some avocados from the grocery store that were rock hard? It’s
not worth waiting a whole week just to make sure your delicious avocados ripen! In this science
experiment, you’re going to determine the best way to ripen your avocados quickly, and discover the
cool chemical reaction that makes this speedy ripening process possible.
Problem:
Do certain storage conditions help avocados ripen more quickly?
Materials:

5 very firm avocados

1 banana

1 apple

3 brown paper bags

Access to a refrigerator
Magnet Experiment: Are Two Magnets Twice as Strong as One?
Nearly everyone has had some fun playing with magnets, trying to pick up different magnetic things,
feeling the repelling force when pushing poles together, or even prying strong magnets apart. But how
do they work?
Magnets create invisible areas called magnetic fields, in which other magnetic things will be attracted or
repelled. Magnets usually contain high amounts of the element iron.
Each magnet has two poles, the north pole and the south pole. The North Pole gets its name because it
is the magnetic north pole of Earth, which is currently near Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada. This
means that the north pole of all magnets on Earth point to this location, including the ones on your
refrigerator and the magnets you will use in this experiment. The south pole of all magnets on Earth
point to the South Pole in Antarctica. The magnetic poles of the Earth gradually move over time because
of the flow of the Earth’s core, which contains a lot of iron.
The term “opposites attract” comes from the concept of magnetism: north-south magnetic interactions
will attract each other, while north-north and south-south interactions will repel each other. When
bringing a magnet near an object that contains a lot of iron, like a steel paperclip, the magnet can lift up
the object. Magnetic fields can be combined to be stronger or weaker depending on how they are put
together.
Problem:
Determine whether the strength of the magnetic field created by two magnets is twice the strength of
the magnetic field created by one magnet.
Materials

2 or more identical magnets

Steel paper clip

Stack of index cards, sticky notes, or paper

Stack of felt or cloth squares

Ruler
Snow to Liquid Ratio
You might notice that winter forecasts of a foot or more snow are fairly common. This is very different
from rain forecasts. Even in rainy areas, single rainstorms that top five inches are unusual. If the rainfall
were as deep as the snowfall, regular flooding would be inevitable. This difference between the depth of
snow and rainfall prompts questions as to whether these two are equivalent.
If you listen to ski reports or participate in winter sports, you are familiar with “wet snow” and “dry
snow.” Since wet snow contains more water than dry snow, meteorologists say that wet snow is more
dense than dry snow. Wet snow forms when the temperature in the lower troposphere is near the
freezing temperature. Dry snow forms when the troposphere temperature is colder. The water content
of snow is related to temperature because cold air can hold less water that warm air. The ratio of snow
to water is roughly 10 to 1 or less if the snow is wet. This ratio increases to 11, 12 or even more inches of
snow for every inch of water if the temperature is colder and the snow is dry.
Problem:
The goal of these experiments is to learn about different types of precipitation, evaluate the density of
snow and calculate the ratio of snow-to-liquid.
Materials:

Tall, narrow can (such as the one that Pringles potato chips come in)

Ruler

Internet access
Warm, Warmer: How Does Exercise Change Body Temperature?
Objective
You know you feel hotter after running around, but are you actually hotter? How much hotter? Use a
liquid crystal thermometer to find out whether exercising makes a difference in people’s temperature.
Research Questions

Does exercise change your temperature?

Does everybody’s temperature change the same amount?
Materials

Liquid crystal thermometer

Volunteers

Watch that shows seconds, or a stopwatch

Paper and pencil
Which Food Will Mold the Fastest?
Make sure no one has access to the cabinet where the samples will be stored during the
experiment. Moldy/spoiled food can make you sick.
Objective
To see what kind of food, left un-refrigerated, will mold first.
Project Goals

To leave food out to see which one will mold first.

To see what foods need the least refrigeration.
Materials and Equipment

Banana

Cheese

Milk

Bread

A cabinet in which to place the samples for one week

Paper and pencil

Camera
Erosion Experiment
Problem:
How does erosion affect structures made of sand and soil?
Materials:

Sand

Soil

Garden hose

Plastic cups

Battery-operated portable fan

Notebook

Pencil

Stopwatch (optional)
Floating Eggs: A Pre-Breakfast Experiment
Problem:
Will an egg float better in salt water or fresh water?
Materials:

Salt

2 clear containers

Measuring spoons

Stirring spoon

Water

2 raw eggs
How do Sedimentary Layers Form?
This project shows one way that sedimentary layers are formed as sediments (mud and silt, sand,
pebbles and rocks, other materials) settle over time.
Problem:
How do sedimentary layers form?
Materials:
Empty two-liter bottle with cap
Bunch of different types of mud, dirt, sand, and pebbles
Water
Ruler
Piece of paper and a pencil
Which Cup Best Prevents Ice from Melting?
The type of cup that you choose can greatly affect the life of your ice. Understanding how different
materials act as insulators can help you make educated decisions in your choice of cups or coolers for
transporting cold substances.
Problem:
Which type of cup is best for preventing ice from melting?
Materials:

Styrofoam, plastic and paper disposable cups of equal size

Ice cubes

Timer

Beaker/measuring cup

Small colander
Pepper and Soap Experiment
Rub-a-dub-dub, there’s pepper in my tub! In this experiment, you’ll use pepper floating on water to
demonstrate how soap affects the surface of water. This is a quick experiment, but it’s so fun to watch
that you’ll want to repeat it several times.
Problem:
How does soap interact with water?
Materials:

Shallow bowl or pie tin

Water

Pepper

Dish soap

Toothpick

Paper

Pencil
Eraser Test
There's a reason nearly every pencil -- traditional or mechanical -- comes with an eraser. No matter how
much you concentrate, mistakes happen! Get down to the rubber with this science project that tests the
effectiveness of different types of erasers.
Problem:
Which eraser works the best?
Materials:

3 different pink erasers

3 different white erasers

Pencil with eraser attached

Ruler

Paper

Notebook
Shape Words
The mind is a funny thing. It can trick you into thinking just that. In this project you'll explore how our
minds react to shapes that may be harder to recognize than usual.
Problem:
If you mislabel a shape with the wrong shape word (for example, a triangle that says circle), will it take
people longer to identify the shape?
Materials:

Paper

Scissors

Pen

Timer

Volunteers

Notebook
THIRD GRADE
Do Different Types of Oil Mix or “Stack”?
Objective
In this experiment, we will find out whether different types of oil mix or stack on top of one another.
Research Questions

Can you think of different ways that oil is used?
Introduction
It is widely known that solids have different weights, but liquids also have different weights as well. Oil is
viscous in consistency and slippery in texture. There are many different kinds of oil. Some are edible (like
peanut or coin oil) and some are used for lubrication in personal and industrial applications.
Materials

Peanut oil

Canola oil

Corn oil

Olive oil

Baby oil

A large, deep clear glass or plastic container

A large spoon
Does Storing Cucumbers and Tomatoes in the Fridge Spoil Its Unique Flavors?
Objective:
In this experiment, we will find out whether storing cucumbers and tomatoes in the fridge will destroy
their unique flavors. We will be comparing it against unrefrigerated tomatoes and cucumbers.
Research Questions:

How does a refrigerator work?

How would you describe the taste of tomatoes? Cucumbers?
Before refrigerators and freezers were invented, people cooled their food and kept them from spoiling
by putting it in ice and snow. This was obvious not convenient and does not nearly have the same power
as a mechanic refrigerator/ freezer does.
Materials:

Tomatoes (enough for your chosen # of test subjects)

Cucumbers (enough for your chosen # of test subjects)

Refrigerator

Test subjects (the more the better)

Pen/paper for notes
Dew Point, Humidity and Weather
If you wake early in the morning, you may notice that the ground is wet with dew. This dew doesn’t
come from rain, but seems to magically appear on surfaces. During the night, the temperature of the air
drops. Since cold air does not hold as much water vapor as warm air, the water vapor turns to the liquid
dew that you see on surfaces in the morning. This process is called condensation. If the temperature did
not drop, there would be no condensation and no wet dewy grass in the morning. Meteorologists refer
to the temperature at which this takes place as the dew point. The dew point is the temperature the air
has to reach for condensation to take place. Since the dew point is higher when the air is moist, it is a
rough measure of humidity.
Problem:
The goal of these experiments is to learn about condensation and the dew point.
Materials:

Metal or glass cup

Bowl full of water and ice cubes (even a big jar works well)

Thermometer

Warm water

Syringe (any kind as long as it can deliver liquids 3-5 cc amounts)
Defying Gravity
Objective:
To investigate how magnetism can defy the force of gravity.
Research Questions

Can the force of gravity be defied?

Which is more powerful: gravity or magnetism?
Gravity is a force that pulls all things to the earth. Magnetism is another very strong force that is even
stronger than gravity.
Materials:

shoebox

thread

paperclip

small magnet

tape
How Does Smell Affect Taste?
Both your sense of smell and sense of taste detect chemicals. Your tongue is covered with about 10,000
taste buds, which detect five different kinds of tastes: salty, bitter, sweet, sour and umami. Umami,
discovered by the Japanese, means delicious in that language. Umami taste buds detect savory flavors.
You also have some taste buds on the roof of your mouth and inner surface of your cheeks. The
chemical receptors involved in your sense of smell are located in a postage stamp-sized patch of nerve
cells called the olfactory tract located at the roof of each nasal cavity. These receptors can detect up to
a thousand different types of chemicals.
Have you ever noticed how food tastes different when you have a cold? Smell and taste are definitely
connected. Let’s investigate.
Problem: How does smell affect taste?
Materials

15 volunteers, none of whom are allergic to any of the foods you are giving them. You might
ask about strawberries especially.

Assortment of fruit

Knife

Cutting board

3 large plates

Q-tips

Essential oil of peppermint

Clipboard

Pencil

Plain crackers

Water

Cups
Why Does Honey Crystallize?
Has your sweet treat turned tough all of a sudden? If you’ve ever struggled to get honey out of a jar,
you’ll know that this treat is sometimes a liquid and sometimes a solid. In this experiment, you’ll
explore the properties of honey to answer the question: Why does honey crystallize?
Problem:
What makes honey crystallize? What factors change the speed at which honey crystallizes?
Materials:

5 small, identical food jars with lids

Masking tape to act as labels

Cotton ball

Popsicle stick

Honey (If possible, get natural honey that’s from a local farm. Some honey is mixed with other
substances, and this could change the results of your experiment)

Measuring spoons

Canola oil

Water

Freezer

Timer

Toothpick

Digital thermometer
Greenhouse Project
The greenhouse effect is the trapping of heat in the atmosphere. Without the gases in the air, heat from
the sun would bounce back into space. Too much gas in the air causes too much heat to be absorbed
into the atmosphere, therefore disrupting the earth’s equilibrium (balanced state).
Problem:
How do gases and pollution affect the earth's atmospheric pressure?
Materials:

Bendy straws

Plastic wrap

Tape

2 Thermometers

Watch, clock, or timer
Gymnosperms: Pine Cone Experiment
Pine cones, fir cones, spruce cones: if you live in a cool climate, you’ll see these seed-bearing structures
all over the parks and the roads. Why do trees make cones? They’re the places where trees make and
keep their seeds. In this investigation, you’ll explore the different properties of pinecones and discover
how they can grow new trees and help you tell the weather!
Problem: How do pine cones make more trees?
Materials

Several pine cones

Spray bottle

Pan

Water

Ruler

Washcloth

Magnifying glass
How Does Frost Form?
One of the hallmarks of autumn, besides leaves falling and children returning to school, is frost. Frost is
the fine layer of water crystals that forms from water vapor in the air. In August, you might have felt the
wet dew covering the grass in the morning. Dew forms when water vapor in the air condenses onto cool
surfaces. Condensation is the name for the process of a gas changing to a liquid. If it gets cold enough at
night, the water vapor goes directly from a gas to solid. This process is called deposition. The reverse
process, sublimation, is when a solid changes directly to a gas.
How does frost form? Jack Frost isn’t the only one who can make frost—you can too!
Problem: How Does Frost Form?
Materials

8 oz. clear plastic glass or a Pyrex-type glass measuring cup

1 cup of ice

Two tablespoons water

Paper towel

3 ½ tablespoons rock salt

Spoon

Thermometer (optional)

Fan (optional)
How Does a Compass Work?
You are lost in the wilderness. You know there is a highway several miles north of you, but you don’t
know which direction north is. Luckily, you have a magnet with you! How can you find your way using
your magnet?
Problem:
How does a compass work?
Materials:

Bamboo skewers or disposable wooden chopsticks

Drinking glass

At least one small bar magnet

Thread

Marker

Graph Paper

Tape
How to Separate Salt from Water
Salt, a mineral with the main component being sodium chloride, or NaCl, has been used for millennia to
help preserve food (and make it tasty!). In ancient times, salt was used as a form of currency in some
cultures. During the period when the ancient Phoenicians controlled the salt trade in the
Mediterranean, salt was as expensive as gold! In this lab, we will learn how to separate salt from water
through a solar process—you can use the sun to evaporate water, leaving behind the salt.
Objective: Evaporate water to form salt crystals.
Materials

Baking sheet

Black paper

Salt

Water

Cooking pot
Paper Towel Science Project: Capillarity
Yikes! You’ve just spilled water all over the table! Never fear, there are paper towels nearby. As you
clean up your mess you notice that water is spreading throughout the paper towel. What is going on
here? The water is being absorbed, or soaked up, by the paper towel material through a process called
capillary action. Capillary action, also known as capillarity, is the rising or absorption of liquids through
small gaps and holes certain materials.
Paper towels are permeable and porous, meaning that they contain small spaces that both liquid and air
may pass through. Liquid is able to rise through a property of water called cohesion—that is, water
molecules like to stay close to one another (which also helps to explain surface tension). Water also likes
to bind to certain other materials through a process called adhesion. In this paper towel science project,
we will be testing which type of paper towel contains the highest rate of capillarity (or ability to absorb
water into its many small spaces).
Problem: Which of your 5 paper towels demonstrates the highest level of absorption or capillary action?
Materials




5 different types of paper towels cut into 3”x3” rectangular strips (be sure that you use a
variety: rough, soft, brown, white, recycled material, etc.)
5 cups filled with a small amount of water
1 marker
Notebook
Rust Chemistry: How Does Rust Form?
When you hear the term “chemical reaction”, you might think of scientists in white lab coats mixing
dark powders to create explosions. Maybe you think of the flurry of bubbles you saw when you mixed
baking soda and vinegar in kindergarten. You probably don’t think of your bicycle rusting after you
leaving it out in the rain—but rust is indeed the result of a chemical reaction!
A chemical reaction happens when one or more different substances is changed into something else.
For instance, when baking soda is combined with vinegar, carbon dioxide gas—a new substance—is
created. In a chemical reaction, our starting substances are called the reactants; the substances at the
end are called products.
Corrosion is the chemical reaction where metals break down slowly because of other elements in their
environment.. Rusting, a well known example of corrosion, is the breakdown of the metal iron. The
reactants of this chemical reaction are iron, water, and oxygen, and the product is hydrated iron oxide,
better known as rust. Rust, unlike iron, is crumbly, orange, and pretty much useless for building things.
In this experiment, you’ll discover what kind of conditions help rust form or prevent it from forming at
all, and why.
Problem: What substances cause iron to rust?
Materials

4 small containers or jars with lids (make sure they are completely dry)

Labels or tape

Permanent marker

Tablespoon

Teaspoon

Iron filings, available from http://www.teachersource.com/product/iron-filings-1-poundpackage/electricity-magnetism

Bottle of water, ideally distilled (You don’t want microorganisms in the water or traces of salt to
interfere with your experiment)

Calcium chloride (available at pool stores, or you could use the drying packet that is included in
packages of dried snack seaweed)

Vegetable oil

Ruler

Vinegar
Magic Glass of Water
Is the glass half full or half empty? When speaking in terms of matter the glass is always full. A drinking
glass without water is said to be “empty”. However, air within the glass is the matter that fills up the
glass. Using these concepts we can invert a glass of water without spilling a drop.
Problem:
How does the phenomenon of the inverted glass of water serve as an example of the properties of
pressure and surface tension?
Materials:

Drinking glass

Piece of cardboard (4” x 4”)

Water
Do Hand Soaps and Sanitizers Prevent the Growth of Bread Mold?
Have you ever gone to make a sandwich only to discover that the last two slices of bread have mold on
them? We are always told to use soaps and hand sanitizers to clean our hands of tiny organisms, but will
they prevent mold growth, too?
Problem:
Determine whether or not hand soaps and sanitizers prevent the growth of bread mold.
Materials:

8 slices of fresh bread with no preservatives

16 sealing plastic sandwich bags

Latex or Nitrile gloves

Sticky labels or masking tape

Pen

Toaster

Knife

Spray bottle

Baking sheet

Camera

Measuring teaspoon

Liquid Soap

Hand Sanitizer
Crayon Rock Cycle Experiment
Did you even wonder why some rocks are round and smooth while others are broken up into small
pieces? Maybe you've even discovered a rock in your backyard that's made up of several layers. If so,
you've just seen the three types of rocks that make up the rock cycle. The best way to understand how
the rock cycle works is to re-create it using a box of ordinary crayons. Ask your mom, dad or other adult
to act as your scientific assistant: This crayon rock cycle experiment will require their supervision and
help.
Problem:
How does a rock change from an igneous rock, sedimentary rock, metamorphic rock, and then back into
an igneous rock?
Materials:

Box of crayons

Wax paper

Cheese grater

Double broiler

Crayon mold

Notebook

Pencil
Sizing Up Marshmallows
Objective:
This project determines if air pressure will cause a marshmallow to expand when heated in a
microwave.
Research Question:

What happens when you heat a marshmallow?
Marshmallows are mostly made up of sugar and water surrounded by air pockets. These air pockets
inside the marshmallow expand and push against the sides of the marshmallow. Since the marshmallow
is flexible, will it expand?
Materials:

Four marshmallows

Paper towels

Microwave

Pen and/or pencil

Lab notebook
Does Hot Water Freeze Faster Than Cold Water?
Have you ever refilled the ice cube tray in your freezer after using the last ice cube in your cup of juice?
You probably automatically poured cold water in the ice cube tray without asking the question, "Does
hot water freeze faster than cold water?"
It makes sense to believe that cold water would turn to ice before hot water because the hot water
would need to cool first before it could freeze; but how do you know if that idea is correct? Test this
theory—untested idea—will tell you whether cold water actually freezes faster than hot water.
Problem:
Does temperature affect how quickly water freezes?
Materials:

Freezer

3 bowls of equal size and shape

Sticky labels

Marker

Water

Measuring cup

Thermometer

Notebook

Pencil
Egg Lab
Objective:
An egg is surrounded by a thin membrane. This only lets water into it. The egg itself is a cell and will
show the swelling in cells. When it is put into fluid that is not able to penetrate its surface, what will
happen?
Research Questions:

Why didn’t the 100% corn syrup egg grow?

Why would the cell membrane not dissolve?

If the egg were too swell too much what would happen?
A cell may swell by absorbing nutrients surrounding its cell membrane. If it swells too much, normally it
splits into two. The egg in this experiment won’t split into two, but you will see what happens to a cell
when it swells and when it cannot absorb its surroundings.
Materials:

Water

Vinegar

Corn syrup

Eggs

3 containers to hold the eggs