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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Harmful Algal Blooms in the Chesapeake Bay

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Walking Coins on a (Vertical!) 'High Wire'

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Can Water Float on Water?

For Students 6th - 8th
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

Science Buddies: Harbor Porpoise Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Do Warmer Seas Make Stronger Hurricanes?

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Do Hurricanes Cool the Ocean?

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Hurricanes and Climate

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: A Juicy Project: Extracting Apple Juice With Pectinase

For Students 6th - 8th
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

Science Buddies: Distance and Speed of Rolling Objects

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Frequency Dependent Sound Absorption

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Bacterial Resistant Materials and the Best Disinfectant

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Which Metal Is the Most Resistant to Corrosion?

For Students 3rd - 8th
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

Science Buddies: Effect of Trebuchet Arm Length or Counterweight Mass on Project

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Does Chemical Lightening Affect the Structure of Human Hair?

For Students 9th - 10th
Hair strands can be used as the basis for a hygrometer, a device which measures the humidity level in the air. The goal of this project is to determine whether chemical lightening treatments affect the natural elasticity of human hair.
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies:brain Body Connection: Can Exercise Make Our Brains Work Better?

For Students 3rd - 6th
We all know physical exercise is important to keeping our bodies fit. But how important is physical exercise to your brain? In other words, is there any connection between an active body and increased brain power? This is an easy project...
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Balancing Act: Finding Your Center of Gravity

For Students 9th - 10th
Like to have the balance of a tightrope walker? Try the more close - to - the - ground balancing test in this easy experiment to learn a few trade secrets of the high wire experts. In this project, you'll find your center of gravity and...
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Does Packaging Affect the Ripening of Fruit?

For Students 3rd - 5th
Why do different types of fruits come packaged in different ways? In this project, you will experiment with different ways of packaging fruit to see if it has an effect on the freshness of the fruit. Will a different kind of packaging...
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Under Pressure: Sand Under Lateral Compression

For Students 9th - 10th
Here's a project that involves a different kind of sandbox than the ones you usually think of. This one has a moving wall inside, acting like a piston, to compress the sand. You can make layers using two different colors of sand, and...
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Solar Powered Water Desalination

For Students 9th - 10th
Here is a cool project about making fresh water from salt water using solar power, also known as water desalination. The apparatus is made from readily available materials, and the power source is free. As an inventive thinker, you will...
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Now You're Cooking!

For Students 6th - 8th
Here is a project that uses direct solar power, gathering the sun's rays for heating and sterilizing water or cooking. It's a low-cost technology that seems to have everything going for it. Use this project to find out if it works, and...
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Make Your Own Piezoelectric Pickup for Acoustic Guitar

For Students 9th - 10th
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

Science Buddies: Blowing Bottletops: Making Music With Glass Bottles

For Students 6th - 8th
This is a musical project about the resonance of closed-end air columns. Organ pipes, flutes, and brass instruments are examples of musical instruments of this type. In this project, you'll learn how the pitch of the note produced...
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Which Team Batting Statistic Predicts Run Production Best?

For Students 9th - 10th
Here's a sports science project that shows you how to use correlation analysis to choose the best batting statistic for predicting run-scoring ability. You'll learn how to use a spreadsheet to measure correlations between two variables.
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Extracting Onion Dna

For Students 6th - 8th
In this project, you'll learn how to isolate DNA from onion cells, separating it from other cellular components in a manner that still preserves its structure and sequence. In the end, you'll have enough DNA to see with the unaided eye,...