+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Much Energy Is Stored in Different Types of Food?

For Students 9th - 10th
In this project you'll learn a method for measuring how much chemical energy is available in different types of food. You will build your own calorimeter to capture the energy released by burning a small food item, like a nut or a piece...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Which Fruits Can Ruin Your Dessert?

For Students 3rd - 8th
Here is a basic project for investigating enzymes that prevent gelatin from solidifying. This way you can understand why it is some fruits are not recommended for inclusion when it comes to making gelatin.
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Much Baking Powder Do Quick Breads Need?

For Students 6th - 8th
If you like to bake, this could be a good project for you. There is a purpose for each of the ingredients in your recipes, but not everyone is always aware of what that purpose may be. Though this lab takes multiple days, you will...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Can Baking Soda Substitute for Baking Powder in a Recipe?

For Students 9th - 10th
There's nothing quite like the smell of fresh-baked muffins for breakfast on a Saturday morning. If you're into baking, you might want to try this insightful project that lets you witness the chemistry behind making muffins. You'll get...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Determining Iodide Content of Salt

For Students 9th - 10th
In this week long "kitchen chemistry" project you will use chemicals from the supermarket to test for the presence of iodine and iodide in salt. These are common micronutrients added to some preparations of table salt. A materials list,...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Egg Substitutes

For Students 3rd - 5th
Egg allergies are not uncommon, therefore many egg substitutes are sold in order to bake, and cook recipes that call for them. In this science project idea, you'll investigate how to modify recipes so that even egg-allergic friends and...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Which Orange Juice Has the Most Vitamin C?

For Students 9th - 10th
In this project you'll learn how to measure the amount of vitamin C in a solution using an iodine titration method. You will hypothesize which juice will contain the most vitamin C, and then compare the amount of vitamin C in three...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Much Do Different Pet Species Eat?

For Students 3rd - 5th
How much food do you think your pet eats compared to other kinds of pets? In this experiment you will compare the food intake of your family pets to find out which pet eats more for its body weight.
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Get Down and Dirty: How Does Soil Change With Depth?

For Students 6th - 8th
What covers less than 10% of the Earth's surface, yet is a vital natural resource for terrestrial life? What filters ground water and supports most of our food production, not to mention the production of building materials and paper?...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Does Packaging Affect the Ripening of Fruit?

For Students 3rd - 5th
Why do different types of fruits come packaged in different ways? In this project, you will experiment with different ways of packaging fruit to see if it has an effect on the freshness of the fruit. Will a different kind of packaging...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Diets Affect Earthworms and the Soil They Enrich

For Students 6th - 8th
In this environment-oriented experiment, you will mix it up with earthworms, soil, and various types of organic kitchen scraps. The basic idea is to set up small earthworm colonies to compost different types of food waste. You test the...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Candy Confusion: Can Small Children Mistake Medicine for Candy?

For Students 9th - 10th
Many medicines come in bottles with special child-proof caps so that small children can't accidentally open the bottle and eat the pills. To a small child who can't read the label, the pills might look just like candy. This project helps...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Minimizing Bacteria in the Thawing and Cooking of Meat

For Students 9th - 10th
Here's a practical project that sheds light on safe practices in the kitchen. Use this information to determine which method of defrosting meat is safest and which method of cooking kills the most bacteria.
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Lowering the Freezing Point of Water

For Students 9th - 10th
When it comes to making ice cream, in order to make the mixture cold enough to freeze, you surround the container with ice and rock salt. This experiment helps you learn how the addition of salt (or other substances) affects the freezing...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Tough Beans: Which Cooking Liquids Slow Softening the Most?

For Students 3rd - 8th
Beans are important to the diets of many people, that is why you always find it cooked a specific way or in a specific dish in different cultures. Here you will learn how the liquid that beans are cooked in affects how quickly or slowly...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Effects of Food Preservatives on the Growth of Microorganisms

For Students 6th - 9th
The problem of protecting food from spoilage has been with us since prehistoric times. The solutions to this problem have changed with advances in technology and knowledge about what causes food to spoil. This project uses liquid...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Food Supplements Affect Weight Gain of Juvenile Mice

For Students 9th - 10th
As your mom and dad always tell you, a healthy diet is important to good health. This project is designed to see what happens to mice when they are allowed to load up on sugary snacks. Do you think that they will gain excess weight? Do...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Forensic Science: Building Your Own Tool for Identifying Dna

For Students 9th - 10th
When biologists want to separate different pieces of DNA, RNA, or proteins they use a technique called gel electrophoresis. In this science project you'll build a gel electrophoresis chamber and use it to discover how many components are...
+
Website
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Mag Nificent Breakfast Cereal

For Students 3rd - 5th
You will devise a way of testing foods for supplemental iron additives in this experiment provided by Science Buddies. Then you will use your design to test different breakfast cereals to see how much iron they contain. The goal is to...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Harmful Algal Blooms in the Chesapeake Bay

For Students 9th - 10th
Harmful algal blooms occur when algae, which form the base of the ocean food web, grow in massive numbers and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds. In this project you will learn how to...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Yeast Reproduction in Sugar Substitutes

For Students 9th - 10th
There's nothing quite like the smell of fresh-baked bread to make your mouth water. As any baker can tell you, you can't bake bread without yeast. This project makes clever use of bread dough to measure yeast reproduction three different...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Where Do Lizards Go for Lunch?

For Students 9th - 10th
You've probably heard about differences between the left brain and the right brain in people. One hypothesis has it that brain lateralization evolved as a survival mechanism in animals with eyes on the sides of their heads. One eye could...
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Do Oranges Lose or Gain Vitamin C After Being Picked?

For Students 9th - 10th
Are oranges highest in vitamin C when they are fresh from the tree (or, in a pinch, the grocery shelf)? In this project you'll learn how to measure the amount of vitamin C in a solution using an iodine titration method.
+
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Leaves and Light

For Students 2nd - 5th
Leaves use sunlight to make food for the plant. Sunlight contains all of the colors of the rainbow, but are all of those colors used by the leaf? Can you find out if some colors of light are more important than others?