Mandatory Science experiment! (1 Viewer)

[Swagiel_]

I have to do a science experiment in order to pass year 10, any ideas on what experiment that would get me a fair mark?

 

[strawberrye]

This is an incredibly vague question, can you give us more details about this assessment, i.e. how long do you have to do the assignment, any requirements, any marking criteria etc?

 

[Swagiel_]

um well it requires us to do a at home experiment with whatever materials. We also have to fill out a sheet with a conclusion and hypothesis basically all that scientific stuff, It is due in september.

Haven't you done this? I thought everyone who has been or is going to be in year 10 has to complete it.

 

[Shazia25]

hahahahah I remember this...
I got alright marks in this.... I think it was a B.... I wasn't happy... but then again it was yr 10..lol
I actually looked up home experiments online... and I did candy chromatography, where I took MnM's and Skittles and then carried out the chromatography process and compared them... it didn't work as well as I thought it would, but it was heaps fun... but then that gives you a fair bit to talk about in the discussion... so it evens out.
A friend of mine did an experiment where she tested whether caffeine affected the reaction rate in people... and she got them to drink heaps of coffee and then did the ruler test...
so, I don't know if that helps, but... there you go...

 

[Shazia25]

basically any experiment you do is fine... but you need to have a solid discussion... make sure you talk in detail about validity, reliability and accuracy, as well as the variables involved.... its literally all in the discussion, make it as thorough as possible

 

[Swagiel_]

hahahahah I remember this...
I got alright marks in this.... I think it was a B.... I wasn't happy... but then again it was yr 10..lol
I actually looked up home experiments online... and I did candy chromatography, where I took MnM's and Skittles and then carried out the chromatography process and compared them... it didn't work as well as I thought it would, but it was heaps fun... but then that gives you a fair bit to talk about in the discussion... so it evens out.
A friend of mine did an experiment where she tested whether caffeine affected the reaction rate in people... and she got them to drink heaps of coffee and then did the ruler test...
so, I don't know if that helps, but... there you go...

Can you elaborate more on your skittles/mnm's idea, it sounds pretty sweet :')

 

[Shazia25]

sure!
so I bought a pack of both candies... and then sort of took 2 of each of the basic colours out (you know, red, blue, yellow etc)... try to choose the candies of relatively the same size to be accurate.
then dip them in water just for a few seconds, like really quickly...
then rub the candy on filter paper or coffee filter paper... ask the science faculty for some if you don't have this.... yeah, so rub the candy so that the wet colour can be transferred onto the paper. then place the paper suspended (vertically) in a glass of water with a pinch of salt, but so that the water doesn't quite touch the bit of colour.
wait a few minutes and then... hopefully....the colour should have travelled up the paper.... give it like 20-30 minutes though....
(the black candies work especially well, as you are able to see the various sub-colours that make it up...)
then compare the colour rising of the MnMs and Skittles candies and see which one travelled more and give possible reasons why etc...
maybe even talk about what colours made up other colours...the black one for example, had bits of red, blue and yellow colour...

this is just off the top of my head...
I actually got the idea off this website:
http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/homeexpts/candy.htm
its actually really helpful!!

hope this helps!!!
Good luck!!

 

[Swagiel_]

Thanks so much for your suggestion!

 

[Shazia25]

no problem

 

[BLIT2014]

I did does the shape of an aeroplane wing span effect the distance which travelled.

It was fun, and I got to talk about 4 forces; resistance, gravity etc

 

[Queenroot]

I did how plants grow in different light

 

[enoilgam]

I went with the pendulum experiment (i.e. is the period influenced by string length) - it's cheap, easy, clean and most of all you will have a lot to discuss.

 

[seremify007]

I went with the pendulum experiment (i.e. is the period influenced by string length) - it's cheap, easy, clean and most of all you will have a lot to discuss.

agreed. simple is best.