Science fair projects help students develop a scientific mind and give them a hands-on experience working on ideas and gadgets. To create a science fair project, follow these guidelines:
* Pick a topic that fits your interests best.
* Use a logical and scientific approach to design your project – What are you trying to prove? What are the known and the unknown parameters in the experiment? How will you vary and measure the unknowns?
* Ensure you know the safety guidelines when handling the chemicals/electric wires and batteries for your project.
* Set up your science fair project and try out your experiment. Run you experiment multiple times to ensure it is stable and repeatable.
* Make a poster to describe your experiment and its results. Practice an oral presentation as well.
Having presented some projects and volunteered in local community schools to organize science fairs, I have seen many interesting and easy science fair projects. I have listed 4 projects below to demonstrate some principles of magnetism – all these won prizes for their exhibits and presentation. You can buy the materials for these projects from Radio Shack or a hardware store. They should cost between $10-$20.
Caution: Handle the Neodymium magnets carefully. They can pinch your fingers. Besides, if you let them snap together, they may shatter.
Easy science fair projects – Electromagnets
Goal: Demonstrate that electricity generates a magnetic field.
What you need:
1. Thin long wires (with different gauges)
2. A hollow plastic/card-board cylinder
3. 1.5 volt batteries
4. A DC switch
5. A magnetic compass
6. Electrical tape
Prepare your project:
Wrap the wire around the cylinder tightly at least 100 times. Connect one end of the wire to a switch. Tape the other end to one end of a battery. Run a wire between the other end of the battery and the switch. Place the magnetic compass inside the cylinder. Close the circuit by tapping the switch. The flowing current generates a magnetic field and causes your compass needle to deflect. Vary the polarity of the battery, add more number of batteries, change the number of coils and see how much and in what direction it deflects. Chart your results and conclusions.
Easy science fair projects – Heat Engine
Goal: Demonstrate Curie effect (Heat destroys magnetism)
What you need:
1. A bob that is a small neodymium disc magnet or a ferromagnetic material like nickel
2. A strong magnet (neodymium or ceramic)
2. Thin wire
3. A candle
4. A stand to hang a pendulum
Prepare your project:
Tie your bob to the string and suspend it from the stand. You may use two strings to suspend it to ensure smooth movement of your pendulum. Place the strong magnet near the pendulum such that under its influence the bob rises and stays above the ground. Place the candle such that its flame can heat the bob in this raised position. Once your setup is ready, light the candle and watch your bob swing back and forth – the heat from the flame destroys the magnetism when it reaches the temperature called its Curie point. So the bob drops under gravity. Once it cools, it rises again under the influence of the strong magnet. You can observe the temperature for different materials of the bob to establish their Curie point. Chart your results and conclusions.
Easy science fair projects – Electric Generator
Goal: Demonstrate conversion mechanical energy into electrical energy
What you need:
1. 2 Ceramic magnets
2. Enamel coated wire
3. Light bulb
4. Long Iron/nickel Nail
5. Cardboard shaped into a hollow cylinder
Prepare your project:
Pierce the nail into the wall of the cylinder so it goes all the way through – it goes in on side and comes out of the opposite surface of the cylinder. On this nail, mount your magnets on either sides so that they hang on to the nail. If you spin the nail the magnets should spin smoothly. Wind 200 coils of the wire around the cylinder and connect the ends of the wire to the light bulb. Now mechanically spin the nail so that the magnets rotate. Watch the bulb glow. Vary the rate of spinning, the number of coils, the direction of spin and observe how the intensity of the light changes. Chart your results and conclusions.
Easy science fair projects – A one-sided refrigerator magnet
Goal: Demonstrate Halbach array effects
What you need:
1. 5 Neodymium cube magnets
2. A slim wooden ruler on to which the magnets will be glued
3. A super glue like instabond
4. A clamp to hold the magnets during assembly
Prepare your project:
Let arrowhead ‘>’ denote the direction of the North pole. Mark > on the North-pole of the cubes. Then glue the cubes on to the ruler one by one so that adjacent magnets have the polarization given by the sequence < V > A < (where ‘A’ is the reverse of ‘V’). You have created the Halbach array. Use the clamp when placing them on the ruler as they try to rotate and realign with other magnets. Once glued, you will notice that only one side of this array stick to your fridge. The other does not – the magnetic flux on this side is canceled out due to the special arrangement of the magnets.
Try other configurations of the magnets and study how the strength of the magnetic field changes. Chart your results and conclusions.
Have fun and learn about magnetism with these easy science fair projects!
