Science Fair experiment ideas?

[Bartman]

My 3rd-grade daughter has done science fair projects the last few years, voluntarily, but her elementary school requires 3rd graders+ to participate. In the past, she has helped me make wine, but lost interest since she really didn't care for the finished product that much (not that she would have gotten more than a taste anyway). Her ideas for projects have been entirely her own, and haven't always been as focused and purposeful as they could be.



This last spring (the science fair projects are due at the end of February), she was disappointed with what she ended up with, as she hadn't really thought through what the result would be and how it would look if her hypothesis was in err (it was). So, I told her I would help her plan and prepare her next project for this coming year, and that she should get started sooner than later, in case the result was unexpected and required revisions and do-overs.



The gist is, she currently has no good ideas she is excited about, and I have been kicking around some vague ideas about a wine-making-related experiment, but can't put it together into a workable experiment. My general idea involves collecting data on the amount of CO2 generated by the conversion of grape juice to wine, or on the reduction in mass as grape juice sugars are converted to alcohol (the specific gravity dropping as fermentation proceeds tells us the density is decreasing, so if volume remains constant, mass is reduced). Neither of these is particularly exciting, nor easily measurable with household equipment. I've also thought of experiments involving different yeasts on the same wine kit, but those don't even excite me, let alone my daughter.



So I ask the experts: what ideas do you have for a science experiment that (a) relates to wine-making, (b) can be performed with household stuff that any self-respecting winemaker would have, (c) would intrest a 3rd grader to some degree, and (d) would be presentable and interesting visually (thru photos/video, etc.)? Any thoughts?

 

[Runningwolf]

First off Bart, Who the hell is her daddy. She's too damn cute to be your's. LOL Just kidding, she is a darling.
What about something along the lines of the power of C02 and the volcano it creates before degassing.
I guess building a potato gun would be out of the question.

 

[vcasey]

I like the potato gun idea!

You may want to do something related to making soda instead of wine. You can still get the CO2 but must schools are not the keen on alcohol.

An idea that has nothing to do with CO2 are ways to clean up oil spills. Fill a pie tin with water, pour motor oil in it and use different materials to find the best way to clean up the oil.

 

[Rocky]

Bart, How about a demonstration on how the SG of, say, Welch's Grape Juice changes with the addition of sugar or the dilution by water? You could start with a reading on the pure juice and calculate the amount of sugar in the juice. Then divide the sample in two showing that the SG remains the same. One sample could be increased by 0.010 by the addition of a calculated amount of sugar and the other could be decreased by 0.010 bydilution with a calculated amount of water.

 

[Waldo]

Get one of the kits from George and let her make a batch of root beer

 

[grapeman]

Bart maybe you can just help her fuel her own imagination and not have her do what you want to do. Our education is supposed to fuel that inate self imagination we are all born with. Some of us have more of it than others and that is alright. She may surprise you with what she comes up with on her own. Too many times these competitions become competitions between the parents and the kids get bypassed and they become losers instead of winners. If she comes up with something on her own, then she is a real winner and that should be rewarded.


On my own I have seen the first child being lableed as needing special education because he didn't fit the mold being placed on him to read. We fought it, moved school system and he went on to graduate Clarkson University with a degree in Computer Programming. The second son got bored in school and quit at 16, got his GED within a month on his own, studies foreign languages for fun and fills notebooks with doodling in advanced mathmeatics and physics problems. He has begun to focus that and has enrolled himself in college.


The last son was never seen as extremely bright, but has always given it his all. He graduated Saturday from High School with Regents Honors and is headed to Art School at Potsdam. He is a huge kid, but in spite of that has always had plenty of friends. He may be big, but some of his work is really talented. He can do charcoal sketches like a master, make all kinds of skulptures and could do graphics for any computer game out there (in fact he does).


My point is, give them a little space but encourage them to think on their own and they will surprise you with what they can do on their own.

 

[Bartman]

Appleman,
I agree completely - her mother and I didn't force her to do the science fair in years past at all, but she was so disappointed in her last year's project that I told her I would help her so she wouldn't feel so depressed (she had asked me to help her 'assemble' her project the night before it was due and I refused because she had delayed so long after she hadn't gotten the result she had hoped for). She has her own ideas, but not ones that are really good 'science project ideas' (for example, after my initial post, she suggested making a wine kit without adding the yeast - not a bad idea for an experiment, but not a good science fair project because the result may not be pretty).
Her mother isn't so keen on the wine-making-related idea, being as it is 3rd grade and all, but there are project ideas for making CO2 from baking soda and vinegar in a closed container and testing the pressure it creates, so I thought wine-making gurus might be able to come up with an idea that could be adapted, but I would still require her to do the project herself- I am infuriated by the projects that were obviously done 90% by the parent with little interest by the child.

 

[Runningwolf]

Appleman,

, so I thought wine-making gurus might be able to come up with an idea that could be adapted, but I would still require her to do the project herself- I am infuriated by the projects that were obviously done 90% by the parent with little interest by the child.

I agree Bart, it is infuiating when its the parents coming up with the idea and doing most of it. Only thing worse would be reaching out to the entire WWW for a project. LMAO