Middle school science projects often include rulers and protractors.
Select middle school science fair projects consist of minimal materials and easy to follow steps, yet nonetheless carry important implications and demonstrate significance well beyond their small scale. Such projects include testing electrical charges in fruits and vegetables, comparing combustibility among household fabrics, studying soil erosion and determining the best way to maximize solar cell efficiency.
Electrical Charges
Students demonstrate how fruits and vegetables generate electric charges through the use of an amp meter, additionally demonstrating the strongest and weakest charges in each. Current flow is initially identified in each of the fruits and vegetables. Resistance is measured in each by placing the sensors at varying distances apart from one another in the fruit or vegetable and using the ohms scale on the meter. Results are recorded in writing, graphed and charted, indicating the orders of strength of current flow and resistance. The project is easy, requires minimal materials and presents many opportunities for valid data analysis.
Combustible Fabrics
Students learn about combustibility and safety of common household fabrics, comparing various fabrics, documenting test results and evaluating the findings. Materials needed include samples of fabrics, such as silk, cotton, polyester, rayon and types of cotton mixtures. Fabrics are cut into small, equal-size squares, each square being individually burned. How long it takes each square to burn is timed and documented. Average burn-times for each fabric are established, enabling students to draw conclusions about the combustibility and safety implications for each fabric.
Soil Erosion
The effect of slope angle on the amount of soil eroded by water is determined by using materials including a box, bucket, timer and soil. Students construct a box that holds varying amounts of soil, subject the soil to measured amounts of water and determine that gravity and running water are principle agents of erosion. The angle of the box is progressively increased, showing that an increase in erosion results when the angle of a slope is increased.
Solar Cell Efficiency
Students establish that solar cells facing the sun directly at a 90-degree angle are most efficient for generating energy. A source of white light, solar cell, music rack, protractor and a multimeter that measures milliwatts are required materials. The solar cell is placed on the music rack and adjusted to various angles, each measured and documented. The multimeter tests the energy efficiency of the solar cell at each angle, demonstrating that the solar cell is most efficient when directly facing its light source.
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