Science Buddies
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: Puppy Proportions: Growth Spurts & Weight Gain in a Dog
Puppies prove to be a fun and useful aid in this adorable experiment! By having access to, and measuring a puppy's body dimensions over a period of weeks or months, you can discover if segments of canine anatomy develop at different...
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Science Buddies: Apparent Motion & Animation
This project investigates the phenomenon of apparent motion by making your own flip-book animations. This optical illusion experiment, while fun and short, will prove to be a very eye opening experience.
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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: The Birthday Paradox
This project shows how mathematical probability sometimes contradicts our intuition. Despite the fact that there are 365 days in a year, if you survey a random group of just 23 people there is a 50:50 chance that two of them will have...
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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: Learning Your A, G, C's (And T, Too)
This is a project about the "molecular alphabet" of DNA. With just four "letters," it manages to keep track of the plan for an entire person, and keep a complete copy in nearly every cell. This project will help you start learning this...
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Science Buddies: How Fast Can You Shoot a Hockey Puck?
In this project, you'll need: a puck, a hockey stick, a tape measure, at least one helper with a stopwatch and an empty rink. Have your friend start the watch just as you make contact with the puck, and stop it when the puck hits the...
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Science Buddies: Now You See It, Now You Don't: A Chromatic Adaptation Project
This project shows that our perceptions can change, even with the stimulus remains the same. A clear color difference in an image disappears after just 20 seconds of looking at another (special) image.
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Science Buddies: Lichenometry: An Accessible Method for Dating Recent History
Geology and archeology are examples of historical sciences. Their practitioners rely on multiple methods for establishing dates and temporal sequences as they seek to construct a history from the available evidence. This project will...
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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: Interpreting Area Data From Maps vs. Graphs
Graphical methods of data presentation are a key feature of scientific communication. This project asks the question, "What's the best way to compare the land area of states: a map or a bar graph?" You'll be measuring performance on two...
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Science Buddies: Dry Spells, Wet Spells: How Common Are They?
Here's a project that looks at what the weather was like for over a hundred years. The goal of the project is to compare long-term precipitation patterns in different regions of the country. You will work with historical climate data,...
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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: Harmful Algal Blooms in the Chesapeake Bay
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...
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Science Buddies: Walking Coins on a (Vertical!) 'High Wire'
Here is a project that is almost like a magic trick: with a strong magnet and a simple apparatus you can build yourself, you can make a coin "walk" up and down a wire coat hanger. This project is an interesting way to learn about the...
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Science Buddies: Can Water Float on Water?
Of course it can, you say: ice is water and ice floats. And you're right. But we're talking about water in the liquid phase Can liquid water float on water? The goal of this project is to investigate what happens to layers of water with...
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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: Do Warmer Seas Make Stronger Hurricanes?
We've all heard that hurricanes draw their immense power from warm ocean waters. Of course, many factors contribute to the formation and growth of a hurricane, but can we expect to find that the warmer the water, the stronger the...
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Science Buddies: Do Hurricanes Cool the Ocean?
If you've ever so much as watched a news clip about a hurricane, you probably know that hurricanes draw their power from warm ocean waters. If that is true, does it mean that hurricanes actually cool the ocean down when they pass...
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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: Hurricanes and Climate
The past few years have histories of extremely powerful and dangerous storms. These storms have also increased in frequency. To investigate potential effects of climate on hurricane number and strength, this project will focus on the...