Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How Do Roots Grow When the Direction of Gravity Changes?
You might not know it, but plants are able to sense their environment and actually respond appropriately. One of the key parameters that every plant must respond to is the direction of gravity: stems go up (opposite to the pull of...
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Science Buddies: Veggie Snap! Modifying Bending Stresses in a Flexible Rod
Examples of the effect of bending stresses on flexible rods could include a large tree bending over to the ground, or a fishing pole bending till it snaps. Scientists actually study this phenomenon and discover ways to prevent breakage,...
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Science Buddies: The Nose Knows Smell but How About Taste?
As if sniffles and clogged sinuses are bad enough, everything seems to taste bland and flavorless when we are sick. Gather up a few volunteers, hit the kitchen, and try this experiment to find out if there is really truth to the idea...
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Science Buddies: Who Done It? Dna Fingerprinting and Forensics
DNA fingerprinting (also known as DNA profile analysis and DNA typing), is a method of distinguishing between individuals by analyzing patterns in their DNA. This project focuses on the first method of DNA fingerprinting to be developed,...
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Science Buddies: Forensic Science: Building Your Own Tool for Identifying Dna
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...
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Science Buddies: How Food Supplements Affect Weight Gain of Juvenile Mice
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...
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Science Buddies: Stressed Out? Take a Break With This Project!
Is an I-beam as strong as a solid beam of the same size? What if you include weight in the comparison: which beam has the greater strength-to-weight ratio? Would an I-beam be stronger than a solid rectangular beam of the same weight?...
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Science Buddies: Strength in Numbers?
Ever try to tear a telephone book in half? Even though you can easily rip one or a few pages to shreds, the entire phone book has strength in numbers and holds together. This project is an introduction to measuring and comparing the...
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Science Buddies: Digital Pinhole Camera
If you sit under a leafy tree on a sunny day, you may notice spots of sunlight on the ground from light passing through spaces between the leaves. Try putting a piece of cardboard on the ground and examining the spots of light on the...
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Science Buddies: Harbor Porpoise Movement
In this project you can use archived satellite tracking data to learn about activity patterns of harbor porpoises. How far do they travel? Can you find patterns in the routes individual animals take? Can you correlate their route with...
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Science Buddies: Heart Health: How Does Heart Rate Change With Exercise?
Your heart starts beating before you are born and keeps right on going through your whole life. Over an average lifetime, the human heart beats more than 2.5 billion times. Keeping your heart healthy means eating right, not smoking, and...
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Science Buddies: A Juicy Project: Extracting Apple Juice With Pectinase
This is a basic project on the effect of enzymes on apple slices. The goal of the project is to monitor enzyme activity by measuring the amount of apple juice released by pectinase.
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Science Buddies: Testing Sunscreen Effectiveness
The goal of this project is to measure the effectiveness of different sunscreen products for blocking ultraviolet-A (UVB) and ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays from sunlight. This project shows you how to use a UV detector to measure rays of light.
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Science Buddies: Bacterial Resistant Materials and the Best Disinfectant
If you'd rate yourself high on the bacteriophobia scale, just keep on scrolling down to the next project. Bacteria are all around us, and normally our body's defenses keep us blissfully unaware of them. If you don't mind finding out...
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Science Buddies: Focusing Your Flash for 'Freezing' Motion
Here's an interesting flash photography project. With an inexpensive Fresnel lens, you can concentrate the light from your flash. You'll be able to shoot with a smaller aperture and a shorter flash duration. This will give you a greater...
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Science Buddies: Using a Digital Camera to Measure Skyglow
This is a great project for someone that is interested in both stargazing and photography. Bright city lights and even the light of the full moon obscure the dimmest stars, which can make identifying constellations more difficult. This...
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Science Buddies: Which Animals Have Genome Projects?
All animals have a genome, but do they all have genome projects? Find out which animals are currently having their genomes sequenced and how much we know already by performing some simple bioinformatics data digging.
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Science Buddies:skateboard Extremes:which Wheels Are Best for Speed & Turns?
You can cruise and carve while you investigate which skateboard wheels produce the fastest (and slowest) rides on your terrain in these experiments. You pick the wheels and design the tests you think will produce the most extreme results...
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Science Buddies: Power Kicks: The Physics of Martial Arts
If the discipline, precision, and power of martial arts is your bag, try this project out for size. You won't be sparring with any opponent other than a swinging kick bag, but you'll learn a few powerful lessons about the physics of...
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Science Buddies: Sand Structure: Measuring Density and Porosity of Sand
For many kids, a day at the beach would not be complete without building a sandcastle. Have you ever wondered how it is that you can pack sand into a mold for a sandcastle? Do some kinds of sand pack better than others? This project will...
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Science Buddies: Don't You Fret! Standing Waves on a Guitar
In this project, you will investigate the physics of standing waves on guitar strings. You will learn about the different modes (i.e., patterns) of vibration that can be produced on a string, and you will figure out how to produce the...
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Science Buddies: Make Your Own Electric Guitar Pickup
If you like playing electric guitar, this could be a cool project for you. In this project you'll wind one or more of your own electric guitar pickups and test them out in an inexpensive electric guitar to understand just how electric...
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Science Buddies: Make Your Own Piezoelectric Pickup for Acoustic Guitar
In this project you'll learn how to make a piezoelectric pickup for acoustic guitar using inexpensive components. You can then connect your acoustic guitar to an amplifier, and record your own music. If you are interested in electronics...
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Science Buddies: Guitar Fundamentals: Wavelength, Frequency, & Speed
This is a rockin' project for guitarists with an interest in the physics behind music. If you have ever wondered why the pitch of the note changes when you fret the string, this project will help you understand by applying basic...