Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: Quantum_Vaccuum on 30/11/2007 02:14:13
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can someone help me think of a nice somewhat complicated for an 9th grade level science fair?
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It would be helpful if you let us know: A. How old 9th grade is B. Does it have to be chemistry, and C. Do you have something specific in mind?
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ninth grade is about fourteen years old
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well i was gonna test the efficiency of light bubls by using two equal bateries, two different light bulbs, a solar pannel and an empty battery and light bulb.
i will have a dark box with a solar pannel on top the light bulb atachted to the first battery, and then turn it on for 30 min, charge a secondary battery, which is empty, and time how long the battery lasts by atatching it to another light bulb, repeat procsess for other bulbs.
but i decided this would be to simple and is probably already everywhere on the internet.
and no, it doesn't have to be chemistry, but chemistry is my favorite subject so i'd like to see if i can think of anything chemsitry first.
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mmm... perhaps some related with photosyntheses, you could prove the rate to generation of Oxygen when you light plants with several wavelengths, red, blue, green , you know, but, I don't know if you're interested in biology
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QC,
i don't think it matters too much if your project is something you have found on the net, you can always tinker a little to put your own touch to it.
I think the better ones are where the experiment also lets people know about you, choose something that is of intrest to you. You could always look at the kitchen science section on the main website:
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/kitchenscience/
for inspiration and idea's.
then again, what about glow in the dark slime...or a lie detector, i used to make them years ago great fun and just as accurate as those used by the FBI...
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Hey you guys, how could i test the efficiency (ratio Power:Energy wasted) of differnt kinds of batteries, I.E. beetween a NiMH a NiCd, and a Li-ion battery?
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or perhaps creating a battery based on Hydrogen?
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QV,
DO you know anything about organic Chemistry? At your age, an enzyme experiment might be the ticket. There are a lot of funky enzymes on the health food market at fairly reasonable costs. If you could find one that list the specific enzyme being used and then can find out the chemical structure of this acid - enzymes are amino acids that are formed into chains - you could demonstrate how they break down starches to sugars or proteins to any number of things. One simple thing that yeast enzymes do is to convert sugars to alcohol but that could be and "F" if you tried it.
An amino acid contains both an amine and carboxyl group. These are oxidizers and as such can cause the breakdown of other compounds. Do a little research on the web. You might get hit by a brain wave.
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how do i demonstarte this though?
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i found this in wiki about paper company, is this sorta what you meant?
Amylases, Xylanases, Cellulases and ligninases are the used enzyms
Degrade starch to lower viscosity, aiding sizing and coating paper. Xylanases reduce bleach required for decolorising; cellulases smooth fibers, enhance water drainage, and promote ink removal; lipases reduce pitch and lignin-degrading enzymes remove lignin to soften paper.
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This is one thing, also, you could get some and place a piece of meat in a solution to see what happens and open it up - but the paper would be much more interesting. You could illustrate the steps in paper making, and from what you posted, it is about recycling paper (ink removal). You could see if other enzymes would work OR you could write to a paper company or visit one, depending on where you live, and get some enzymes for free.
Now, how do you make paper? Could you make paper without using one enzyme at a time, showing how each makes a difference in the processing?
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so pretty much I get paper, and demonstarte how they normaly recycle it and test other enzyms to see if they work to? (better? worse?)