It’s time for the school’s annual science fair competition. Now that your child is older, what are some good 4th grade science fair project ideas? Magnets? Plants? Electricity? No need to worry, 4th grade science ideas are not that hard to come up with. Here is a sample project:
Materials Needed
-scissors
-spoon
-tape
-crazy glue
- nails (same length)
-medium size cardboard box
-balloons
-bowl
-bag of sugar
-two thin wooden boards (Make sure they have lengths/widths that are equal to or less than the length and width of the bottom of the cardboard box.)
Step by Step Procedure
1. Adult supervision might be required. Take one of the thin wooden boards and crazy glue/tape a nail right in the middle of the board. Put crazy glue/tape on the head of the nail and stick it on the board so the point side of the nail faces up.
2. Take the other thin wooden board. Glue and tape the nails in the same manner as the first board (pointy side up). Instead of one nail, take four nails and arrange them in a square shape in the center of a board. Make sure the nails are about the same height.
3. Take the cardboard box. Using scissors, cut off the top and one of the sides.
4. Place the one pined wooden board into the box. Make sure the nail is in the middle.
5. Blow up one balloon and put it lightly on top of the nail. Make sure to be careful. You do not want the balloon popping!
6. Take the lid of the cardboard box that you cut off with the scissors. Put it on top of the balloon.
7. Put the plastic bowl on top of the cardboard lid, right in the middle. The sole needle should be holding everything up.
8. Add one spoonful of sugar into the bowl. Watch what happens. Keep adding spoonfuls of sugar until the balloon pops. Record how many spoonfuls of sugar it took for the balloon to pop.
9. Now it is time for a different setup. Take out the wooden board with the one nail. In its place, put in the wooden board with four nails. Make sure the nails are in the middle.
10. Repeat the other steps. Blow up a balloon and put it on top of the nails. Put on the cardboard lid. Then put the bowl in the middle.
11. Add spoonful of sugar until the balloon pops. How many spoonfuls did it take this time?
By: Alan Wagner
Posts Tagged ‘Science Electricity’
4th Grade Science Fair Project Ideas
April 29th, 2010Electricity Science Projects – Add Some Spark to Science
April 7th, 2010
Electricity science projects can great fun for both the students and teachers involved. There are so many wonderful things being done with electricity these days. There are electric lights, electric stoves and even electric cars! What’s next? You never know, but it is a very interesting topic to choose for your science project. There are countless electricity science fair projects to choose from. If you use your imagination, you should have no problem coming up with a great project.
One interesting project is to see if lemons can produce electricity. This can be accomplished with minimal materials; all you need is a lemon, a paperclip, some copper wire and sand paper. Once you have both the wire and the paperclip in the lemon, gently squeeze the lemon with your hand. Once the lemon is ready, you can moisten your tongue and touch it to the ends of the two wires. You should be able to feel a slight tingle on the tip of your tongue and taste something metallic.
Another great project is to build your own generator, or to research how electricity is created. You could also research how they make the electric car. You could even make a little model of an electric car yourself, depending on your time frame and your skill level on this topic. Electricity is a fascinating topic and there is still so much of it that people do not understand about it. Wouldn’t you like to know how your light turns on when you flip a switch? Or how you can have two lights switches at the top and bottom of the stairs that control the same light?
By: Dee Schrock
Science Fair Project Ideas That Win Awards Project #14 – Static Electricity
March 22nd, 2010
Objective
You will be making your own electroscope and testing the ability of various materials to conduct static electricity. You will also be making a list or triboelectric series which arranges materials according to their ability to conduct electrons.
Introduction
When and electric charge is built up in an object, it is called static electricity. Sometimes, this static electricity can be discharged suddenly, as seen in a lightning bolt across the sky. At other times, this static electricity causes a static cling that is seen on socks just removed from the dryer. Static cling occurs when two objects having different charges such as positive (+) and negative (-) come together. Static electricity can be produced as well as tested using various science fair experiments.
During science fair experiments, static electricity can be measured using an electroscope. You will build your own electroscope to test various materials and find out which ones conduct more static electricity.
Materials
foam plate, Balloon, foam cup, clay, drinking straw, aluminum pie pan, aluminum foil, thread, wooden ruler, masking tape, different materials for testing such as nylon, polyester, cotton, aluminum, plastic, copper, wool, tissue paper, saran wrap, and so on.
Preparation
Making your electroscope
Pierce a Styrofoam cup by pushing a skewer near the base and make holes for a straw to pass through. Put a drinking straw through the cup by putting it in these holes and push it till it sticks out on one side. Now invert the cup and stick it strongly with clay on an upright pie pan.
Make a few knots at one end a thread and make a marble-sized ball with a piece of aluminum foil at the knotted end. Now tape the free end of the string to the straw that is sticking out of the cup in such a way that the ball hangs from the straw and touches the rim of the pie pan. Secure the straw with a tape so that it does not move.
Testing your electroscope
One of the methods used in science fair experiments to create a static electric charge is to rub a Styrofoam plate with some wool. This produces a negative charge on the Styrofoam plate surface. Now lift your electroscope by holding the Styrofoam cup and place it over the charged Styrofoam plate. What happens? The aluminum foil ball moves away from the rim of the pie pan.
Why did this happen? When you placed the electroscope on the Styrofoam plate, the negatively charged electrons travelled to the pie pan and then to the foil ball. Since same charges repel, the ball moved away from the rim of the pan.
Now touch the pan and the foil ball with the tip of your finger and see what happens. The ball will return to normal as it was before, because the electrons were transferred to your finger and the pan and the ball were discharged.
Procedure
Now it’s time to test different materials.
Charge different materials with static electricity. You may use materials such as a plastic wrap, a woolen scarf, a fleece sweater, an aluminum sheet, a balloon, and so on. Now test each charged material with your electroscope. Measure how far the ball is from the pan with a ruler. Write down the distance in a table. Make a note of which materials can carry an electric charge and which ones do not. Since recording data is an important step in science fair experiments, you must arrange your data in order with the most charged ones followed by the least charged ones. This is called a Triboelectric Series.
Now that you are equipped with some great ideas, I’d like to give you something more in order to ensure your success. Here’s your free copy of “Easy Steps to Award-Winning Science Fair Projects” which you can immediately download from the link below.
By: Aurora L.
