Science project ideas

My son wants to enter the 4th grade science fair and wants to do something with electronics. As with most science fairs, the primary point is to "solve a problem" or prove a theory. I have millions if ideas for him, but can't seem to settle on any particular one. He's limited to certain power sources. He can only use batteries totaling up to six volts. Nothing in the exhibit can be plugged in, even test equipment. I was going to let him use my oscilloscope to demonstrate how a transistor amplifies, until I read about the power restrictions. Does anybody have any ideas for a simple project that doesn't require a whole lot of explanation to a ten year old? He'll need to understand the basic theory himself, which I'm able to coach him on, and be able to answer teacher's questions about it. I also would like it to be somewhat impressive. For example, I don't want a project like "How does a resister work".

......... I just thought of an idea while typing this that may be intriguing. I'll still like to hear any opinions or ideas from others on different suggested projects. The thought I came up with would be a demonstration on skin resistance. Using maybe a transistor amplifier and/or oscillator, a person could press two fingers from the same hand on two metal contacts and demonstrate that through surface contact and/ or varying moisture on the skin can change the frequency of the oscillator. The oscillator can be heard in a speaker. I guess I'm talking about a biofeedback monitor of sorts.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Jeff

Reply to
jsalzman
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You can build a cute little DC motor from a wire loop. The users connect it up, and the motor spins. Very easy, and all it costs is enamel wire, a magnet, and the battery.

It has been done enough so there are easy instructions all over the place. Look here:

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Regards, Bob Monsen

Reply to
Bob Monsen

If there's anything to genetics, you should have him use a spellchecker before applying a magic marker to any signage. ;-)

...and you could mention that the "Passion Meters" in arcades and the "E-Meter" used by a certain pseudo-religion are cheap parlor tricks.

Reply to
JeffM

I like the idea of providing that restricting power sources by voltage is rather pointless since it doesn't really restrict anything important such as power or energy storage. To demonstrate this I'd have him build a boost power supply... the higher the voltage, the better. :-) A Jacob's ladder could be fun, and something like a 6V trolling motor battery would have plenty of power to keep it going for some hours.

I'm being a little facetious here, but realistically with something like an ignition coil or neon lamp transformer and a simple vibrator-based inverter you probably could build a small Jacob's ladder simply enough that a

10-year-old would have a shot at understanding it pretty thoroughly.
Reply to
Joel Koltner
Reply to
Brendan Gillatt

Fun with the 555?

MD

Reply to
mrdarrett

These are some pretty good ideas. These are certainly some ideas that I haven't thought of.

Thanks, Jeff

Reply to
jsalzman

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