Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Eeeeew! Maggot Mass Temperature
If you're looking for an experiment that will gross out just about everyone, you probably can't do much better than this. This project investigates an important question in the field of forensic entomology. Just make sure to get...
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Science Buddies: How Much Weight Can Your Boat Float?
Have you ever wondered how a ship made of steel can float? In this project you'll investigate how much weight boat hulls of various shapes and sizes can support without sinking.
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Science Buddies: Decisions, Decisions: Judging a Book by Its Cover?
This project challenges you to think like a politician (and a scientist.), and try to ascertain what factors are most important as individuals make their decision on how to vote. For example, is it what is being said, or who is saying it?
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Science Buddies: The End Zone: Measuring Antimicrobial Effectiveness
Antimicrobial agents are chemicals that are used against bacteria. There are many such agents available. Because there are many different situations where bacterial control is important, no antimicrobial agent is effective in all...
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Science Buddies: Minimizing Bacteria in the Thawing and Cooking of Meat
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.
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Science Buddies: Effects of Food Preservatives on the Growth of Microorganisms
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...
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Science Buddies: Distance and Constant Acceleration
This project is an experiment in classical physics. You'll be following in Galileo's footsteps, and investigating Newton's laws of motion, using a metronome as your timing device. This resource will help you get a firm understanding of...
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Science Buddies: Distance and Speed of Rolling Objects
This project is an experiment in classical physics. You'll be following in Galileo's footsteps, and investigating Newton's laws of motion, but you'll be taking advantage of modern video recording technology to make your measurements. The...
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Science Buddies: Measuring Sugar Content of a Liquid With a Laser Pointer
Here's a project that shows you how to use a laser pointer and some knowledge of physics to figure out the concentration of sugar dissolved in a liquid.
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Science Buddies: Frequency Dependent Sound Absorption
Want to start a garage band, but Mom or Dad won't let you because it will make too much noise? This is a good project for someone who is interested in acoustics and likes to build things. The objective of this project is to determine if...
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Science Buddies: How to Make the Boldest, Brightest Tie Dye!
The clothes you wear are made of fibers that come from many different sources. Some fabrics are made from natural fibers, and some from manufactured or totally synthetic fibers. In this project you'll explore how different fiber types...
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Science Buddies: Which Metal Is the Most Resistant to Corrosion?
Here's a practical engineering challenge: you need to build an enclosure for your dogs, using material that they can't chew through. It's going to be a lot of work to build, so you want to do it right. What material should you choose for...
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Science Buddies: Effect of Friction on Objects in Motion
The funny thing about friction is that you couldn't get anywhere without it, yet it still acts to slow you down as you're getting there. Here is an easy project to measure the effects of friction.
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Science Buddies: Effect of Trebuchet Arm Length or Counterweight Mass on Project
A trebuchet is a catapult that uses a counterweight to supply the energy for throwing. They were used in the Middle Ages for attacking castle walls. In this project, you build your own model trebuchet and investigate how design changes...
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Science Buddies: Fractography: The Way Things Break
When something goes wrong, do you like to try to figure out why? Engineers do this all the time. They even have a fancy name for it: failure analysis. Understanding how different materials break is an important part of failure analysis....
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Science Buddies: How Does Ratio of Sand to Cement Affect Strength of Concrete?
Concrete is one of those things that most of us don't think about much, yet we use it every day. We walk on concrete sidewalks, drive on concrete roads, and live and work in buildings with foundations made of concrete. It is a durable...
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Science Buddies: Underground Water Flow and Darcy's Law
This project shows you how to build a simple model system to simulate underground water flow. Underground water flow is important for understanding replenishment of underground aquifers, migration of underground contaminant plumes, and...
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Science Buddies: Similar Triangles: Using Parallax to Measure Distance
Want to stretch your imagination? One good way is to try to imagine how far it is to a distant star. How much farther away is it than the moon is from the earth? In this project, you'll learn one way of measuring the distance without...
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Science Buddies: Measuring Vibrational Frequency With Light
Strike a key on the piano, and you hear the string vibrating. Just about any object vibrates when it's knocked, but how much and how fast? This project helps you find out. You'll build a simple light-sensing circuit for measuring the...
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Science Buddies: The Chemistry of Hair Highlights
Have you ever tried to make parts of your hair lighter than the rest of your hair? Perhaps the way you tried to do it did not lighten it or maybe it turned out a shade of orange. With this science project you can understand why.
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Science Buddies: How Fast Do Seismic Waves Travel?
Here's a geology project that uses historical seismograph data that you can collect from the comfort of your own computer. You'll use a web interface to a network of seismometers run by the Northern California Earthquake Data Center, at...
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Science Buddies: Making Patterns With Rubik's Cube
This project challenges you to figure out how to make geometric patterns with Rubik's Cube. Leaving your cube in one of these positions makes it much more tempting to pick it up and 'fix' it. See if you can determine how different...
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Science Buddies: Devising an Algorithm for Solving Rubik's Cube
If you're the kind of person who has taken apart your Rubik's cube in order to grease the inside parts so it will move more smoothly, this could be a great project for you. This will show you three sets of move sequences that accomplish...
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Science Buddies: Observatory Satellite Measures Motion of Coronal Mass Ejection
The sun sometimes releases huge bursts of electrified gases into space. These bursts are called coronal mass ejections (or CMEs). When CMEs are directed towards Earth they can generate auroras, the spectacular atmospheric displays also...