Random facts

Random Facts

Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead.

An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.

Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a distraction from the serious pursuit of archery.

When Coca-Cola began to be sold in China, they used characters that would sound like "Coca-Cola" when spoken. Unfortunately, what they turned out to mean was "Bite the wax tadpole".

The only insect that can turn its head 360 degrees is the praying mantis.

The short-term memory capacity for most people is between five and nine items or digits. This is one reason that phone numbers were kept to seven digits for so long.

Richard Milhouse Nixon was the first US President whose name contains all the letters from the word "criminal". William Jefferson Clinton is the 2nd.

Bill Haley and the Comets, one of rock and roll's pioneer groups actually began their career's as Bill Haley's Saddle Pals - a country music act.

Grand Rapids, Michigan is the "SpaghettiOs Capital of the World" because per-capita consumption is highest in that city, per the Franco-American Company. Reportedly, there are more than 1,750 "O's" in a 15-ounce can of SpaghettiOs.

Hobbes originally had pads on his hands and feet but Bill Waterson (the creator) found them too distracting and removed them.

At Disneyland they have hundreds of wild domesticated cats running around the park. They never come out during the day because there's too many people, but the reason they're there is to catch the mice.

Despite the fact that 77 percent of Americans go to the grocery store with a list, it's estimated that half of everything bought there is bought on impulse. Supermarkets report very strong sales of almost anything they stock at the check-out line.

From Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me -- In the U.S., "shag" is far less offensive than in other English-speaking countries. Singapore briefly forced a title change to "The Spy Who Shioked Me." ("Shioked" means "treated nicely.")

In the movie "Toy Story", the carpet designs in Sid's hallway is the same as the carpet designs in "The Shining."

Alexander Hamilton and his son, Philip, both died on the same spot, and both during duels. Philip went first, 3 years before his father would be killed in that same field by Aaron Burr.

Mageiricophobia is the intense fear of having to cook.

Clinophobia is the fear of beds.

A "sysygy" occurs when all the planets of the our Solar System line up.

Charlie Brown's father was a barber.

In 1976 Rodrigo's 'Guitar Concierto de Aranjuez' was No 1 in the UK for only three hours because of a computer error.

Mario, of Super Mario Bros. fame, appeared in the 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. His original name was Jumpman, but was changed to Mario to honor the Nintendo of America's landlord, Mario Segali.

In 1970, "MCI" stood for "Microwave Communications, Inc." No longer used as an acronym, it now stands alone.

Dennis the Menace's favorite drink is Root beer.

The hundred billionth crayon made by Crayola was Periwinkle Blue.

When the Hoovers did not want to be overheard by White House guests, they spoke to each other in Chinese.

Ice Cube's real name is O'Shea Jackson.

Mae West never said "Come up and see me sometime." She said "Come on up sometime and see me." Cary Grant never said "Judy, Judy, Judy," and Cagney never said "You dirty rat..."

Before 1859, baseball umpires were seated in padded chairs behind home plate.

Many Japanese golfers carry "hole-in-one" insurance, because it is traditional in Japan to share one's good luck by sending gifts to all your friends when you get an "ace." The price for what the Japanese term an "albatross" can often reach $10,000.

A teenager in Belmont, New Hampshire robbed the local convenience store. Getting away with a pocket full of change, the boy walked home. He did not realize, however, that he had holes in both of his pockets. A trail of quarters and dimes led police directly to his house.

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WARNING! There's a lot of facts here, and I can't say that I know for sure every one of them is accurate. I'd like to, but I know there's probably some error in here somewhere.

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Interesting facts related to science

1. Mystery solved! 9 cases with 12 bottles in each case of 100 year old historic whiskey was found in the walls of a mansion during a renovation with the whiskey bottles still full. The cases were stored in the living room but when later checked discovered 52 bottles appraised at over $102,000 were now empty. DNA from the mouth of the bottles pointed directly to the 62 year old caretaker who has denied the accusations.
2. A Jet Blue flight was grounded and placed out of service after a woman spots a 4 inch scorpion between her legs. The scorpion reportedly crawled from between her legs to under the seat while the flight continued to it’s destination where it was then placed out of service.
3. Vaejovis Brysoni is the name given to the latest species of scorpion discovered by biologists. The scorpion was named in part after the individual who originally found the specimen in February 2013 (Robert Bryson Jr.) The scorpion was found in the Santa Catalina mountains of Arizona.
4. In January of 2013 security officials at O’Hare International airport in Chicago found 18 human heads still covered in skin. In 2010 an Arkansas airport found 60 human heads and pieces of heads. Both were in route to medical facilities but had errors in the paperwork. Weird!
5. In February 2013 a komodo dragon said to be approximately 2 meters (6 – 6.5 feet) long wondered into an office and attacked two men with it’s razor sharp teeth leaving them injured with stitches and in the hospital.
6. In 1938, Time Magazine chose Adolf Hitler for man of the year.
7. Twelve people have walked on the moon.
8. Other than the Earth, the moon is the only other known natural astrological object ever walked on.
9. Scientists voiced concern in 2012 about how radiation may be affecting humans after a recent finding of mutant butterflies in Japan with abnormal legs, eyes, wings and other mutations were discovered. The mutations were caused by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear accident which was triggered by a major tsunami in March 2011. The tsunami was a direct effect of an earthquake.
10. Humans and giraffes both have seven vertebrae bones in the neck. It’s not unusual for a mammal to have 7 vertebra bones in the neck but it’s interesting that the long neck of a full grown giraffe has the same amount.
11. The active ingredient in most toothpastes is called sodium fluoride. Sodium fluoride can be lethal, young children using regular toothpaste with this ingredient should be monitored. Even swallowing small amounts can cause stomach problems or worse.
12. Over 3 million people globally every month search for something online with the words interesting facts in it according to the most popular search engine.
13. There are no land snakes in New Zealand. It’s part of New Zealand’s bio security to keep all snakes out and if a person is aware of a snake, by law it must be reported.
14. New Zealand is free of heartworm disease and rabies.
15. Buttermilk does not contain any butter.
16. Did you know Disneyland does not sell chewing gum? Walt Disney did not want guests inconvenienced by stepping on gum purchased in the park.
17. Each year Disneyland uses over 5,000 gallons of paint to maintain the clean appearance of the park.
18. George Washington died on December 14, 1799.
19. Giraffes can go without water longer than a camel. That’s wild!
20. The person reading this is intelligent, interesting and unique. Flattery is alright as long as we don’t inhale!
21. January 30, 1933 was the day the words Hi yo silver! Away! were first heard as the lone ranger debuts on radio channel WXYZ of Detroit.
22. Many people who read the word yawn or yawning begin to feel the urge to yawn.
23. The 2nd president of the United States (John Adams) and 3rd president of the United States (Thomas Jefferson) both died within just a few hours apart of each other on the same exact day of July 4th 1826. They are the only two presidents to die on the same day of the same year. It’s true!
24. When the Titanic departed from port it was documented to have carried approximately 1000 loaves of bread, 86,000 pounds of meat, 40,000 eggs and 36,000 apples to feed the passengers and crew on the 7 day voyage. Now those are some interesting facts!
25. Dogs can have a fatal reaction to eating chocolate. Chocolate contains a bitter alkaloid called Theobromine also known as Xantheose and that’s the active ingredient that’s bad for the dog. If you’ve read all the interesting facts to this point you’re awesome!
26. For a butterfly to fly it must have a body temperature of no less than 86 degrees fahrenheit or 30 degrees celsius.
27. The largest milk producing country by volume in the whole world is India.
28. It is a fact that the first game of chess has been traced back to have originated in northern India. Like other 1,000+ year old games, it would have been played differently than todays rules. It’s thought that todays rules have been around since sometime in the 1400′s A.D.
29. In the United States, the Internal Revenue Service has an employees handbook for the collections division unit. Here’s the interesting part, in it are instructions which guide employees on how to collect taxes after a nuclear war. Kinda scary!
30. If you are severely scared of going to the dentist or having dental work, you may actually have a phobia called odontophobia.
31. Almonds are members of the rose flower family or rosaceae family. The peach is also a member of the rose family.
32. The tallest girl in the world ever recorded was 8 feet 2 inches tall and died at the young age of 17.
33. The average human with a full head of hair contains between 85,000 to 150,000 hairs.
34. Jupiter is the largest planet in the earths solar system. I should’ve known that one.
35. Squirrels forget where about 50% of the nuts they’ve hidden are. Useless, Hahaha.
36. Did you know the first bullet proof vest and windshield wiper blades were both invented by women? Cool!
37. Cold weather makes fingernails grow faster. Weird!
38. Only humans cry because of feelings. Awesome!
39. Mohammad is the most common birth name in the world. There’s only 55 more interesting facts on this page.
40. It takes about 7 minutes for the average person to fall asleep. If you’ve read all the interesting facts to this point you’re amazing!
41. You can give change for a dollar in 293 different coin variations. Good luck!
42. About 1 out of every 2 million people will die by falling out of bed. Be careful, not funny. Most who will die this way are either very young children or elderly people.
43. The construction on the Parisian Notre Dame Cathedral began in 1015 A.D and it took over 400 years to complete, It was completed in 1439 A.D. It’s a well known historic Roman catholic church in Paris.
44. If the human stomach doesn’t produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks it will totally digest it’s self. Weird!
45. 75% of the world’s population wash themselves in the shower from the top to the bottom. Head first, feet last people.
46. There are 31,557,600 seconds in a year. A leap year has 31,622,400 seconds. Amazing!
47. Approximately one fifth of all the publications from Japan are comic books.
48. Did you know a slug has not only one nose but four? What a lot of people call a nose on a slug is actually a breathing pore called a pneumostome.
49. Four out of five people over 100 years old are women. Interesting!
50. The price of the Titanic cost about $7 million to build and the price of the Titanic movie was about $200 million to make. Unbelievable!
51. It’s true! There is only one metal that’s in liquid form at room temperature and that’s Mercury.
52. When water freezes it expands by 10%.
53. The only animal with four knees is the elephant.
54. Birth control pills designed for humans will also work for a gorilla. Now that’s Strange!
55. If you have a deep genuine fear of the number 13, you may have Paraskevidekatriaphobia also called Friggatriskaidekaphobia or Triskaidekaphobia.
56. A mid-sized car launched today generates only an estimated 5% of the pollution which was generated by a car from fifty years ago. Awesome!
57. Stopping a supertanker which is fully loaded and travels at a normal speed needs about 20 minutes to stop completely.
58. A cat’s ear has a total of thirty two muscles.
59. The average person laughs 15 times per day. Hahaha!
60. The eye of an ostrich is larger than it’s brain.
61. A person eats around 60,000 pounds worth of food during his life which is the equivalent of six elephants. Incredible!
62. Ants can pull about 30 times their own weight and lift about 50 times their own weight.
63. A lion can mate more than 50 times in one day. Huh!
64. Did you know,  you cannot fold a 8.5″ x 11″ or smaller piece of paper in half more than 7 times. Try it! The MythBusters guys on the Discovery channel folded a piece of paper more than 7 times but it was a really large sheet of paper.
65. Oh no, there’s only 29 more interesting facts to go on this page.
66. More people are killed from donkeys in a year than planes.
67. Most snowflakes form with 6 tips or branches. Generally, the colder it is when the snowflake is formed the sharper and more defined the tips will be.
68. Lung cancer was how the cigarette company Marlboro’s first owner died. Hmmm
69. Snails can sleep for up to 3 years.
70. You cannot think of an English word to rhyme with the word month because there isn’t one.
71. If an infant becomes blind soon after they’re born they will still almost always see images in their dreams, but infants born with blindness will most likely never have dreams with images. People who were born blind do still have very emotionally intense dreams which include hearing, smells, feeling and taste. Now that’s an interesting fact about dreams.
72. It is against the law in the state of Kentucky to marry a man more than 3 times. Old law.
73. In the state of Kentucky it is against the law to carry an ice cream in your back pocket. Old law.
74. On December 16th 1811 the mighty Mississippi river began to flow backwards due to a powerful earthquake.
75. Fires in the forest have been documented to move much faster up hill than down hill.
76. Did you know that your brain has no pain receptors or pain fibers and the brain it’s self cannot feel? Your brain cannot even feel pain. Although headaches are still not all the way understood, one reason it’s believed you feel headaches is because the skull is surrounded by what’s called meninges or blood vessels which do have pain receptors.
77. Human brains are estimated to be 70 – 75% h2o.
78. Approximately 1 out of every 50,000 people who visit this website send us an email about interesting facts. We enjoy reading them and sometimes use them, thank you.
79. Most people shed between 50 to 100 hairs every day. The question is, where do they go?
80. With mammals, no animal has a longer pregnancy term than that of the african elephant which is documented at an average of 22 months.
81. The Frilled Shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) may have a gestation period “pregnancy” of up to 3.5 years or around 42 months.
82. Some sharks lose over 30,000 teeth in a lifetime.
83. In 2008 the journal of Fish Biology confirmed through DNA testing the 2nd case of a virgin female aquarium shark having a pup. This is known as asexual reproduction or parthenogenesis.
84. During world war 2 the Oscar award given out by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was made of wood because most common metals were very scarce.
85. Breast fed babies score slightly higher on mental development tests than ones on formula.
86. People who apply sunscreen to themselves generally apply 50-75% less than the recommended amount according to the Archives of Dermatology.
87. The color of a hens earlobes will usually determine the color of the egg shell. Farmers know hens with red or darker colored earlobes are most likely to lay brown eggs and hens with lighter colored or white earlobes will usually lay white eggs.
88. There are 722 miles of subway track in New York city.
89. Hartsdale New York has a pet cemetery with more than 12,000 pets buried.
90. Abraham Lincoln died at age 56.
91. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th in the year 1809.
92. Only one state in the United States contains only one syllable, the state of Maine.
93. Everyone knows the dog in the movie “Wizard of Oz” as Toto, the dogs actual name given to it by it’s master was Terry.
94. This concludes the 94th fact on your home page of interesting facts but don’t stop now, read a couple more pages if you can. There’s a lot of cool stuff to learn

PICTURES

A picture

A link to a interesting video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlCX2NCEgcM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiYOuI7iyp8

A link to a interesting video

Bill nye the science guy circulatory system part 1

A link to a interesting video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeLL3yCea4c&list=UUvvUsmh09-vof3g2cQCrCig&index=7

A link to a intersting video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MedUMZFS7lU

Labortory notebook

Keep a Great Science or Engineering Project Laboratory Notebook

Whether you are a research scientist, an engineer, or a first-time science fair student, you should use a lab notebook to document your science investigations, experiments, and product designs. A lab notebook is an important part of any research or engineering project. Used properly, your lab notebook contains a detailed and permanent account of every step of your project, from the initial brainstorming to the final data analysis and research report. Many science projects require a number of steps and multiple trials. By recording the steps of your procedure, your observations, and any questions that arise as you go, you create a record of the project that documents exactly what you did and when you did it. With a complete record of the project in your lab notebook, you can look back at your notes later if a question arises or if you decide to pursue a related project based on something you observed. Similarly, writing down your product design ideas, engineering challenges, and product testing data will help you keep track of all of your ideas, what you have already tried, and how well a particular design performed.
Keeping a lab notebook is easy! The most important thing to do is to "use" your lab notebook. (Click the "Using a Lab Notebook" tab for specific tips, techniques, and reminders.)

Figure 1. There are many styles of lab notebooks available for students, professionals, and research teams.

Choosing a Laboratory Notebook

There are many kinds of lab notebooks available, ranging from official lab notebooks to makeshift notebooks. The table below offers a summary of different types of notebooks and notes regarding for which users each type works best.

Types of Lab Notebooks	Description	Recommended For
Bound composition notebook	A bound spine (not spiral binding) makes it difficult for pages to be easily torn out and lost. Hard covers make the book even more durable, but a soft or cardboard cover will work too. Composition books are easy to find at local stores and are inexpensive.	Students: K-5 Students: Middle school
Official laboratory notebook	Official lab notebooks often include useful and convenient features like a designated area for creating a table of contents and numbered pages for easy cross-referencing. Official laboratory notebooks may also include quick reference materials like the periodic table, metric conversions, or an amino acid codon table. With high-quality, hard-to-tear paper, these notebooks are generally rugged and designed to stand up to lots of handling.	Students: K-5 Students: Middle school Students: High school and beyond Citizen scientists
Duplicate style lab notebook	Duplicate style lab notebooks are a subset of the official lab notebooks style with the added feature of carbonless duplicate sets. This format is ideal for keeping the originals and giving copies to research partners or a teacher.	Research teams: K-12 and beyond Citizen scientists Lab partners Teachers and students
Electronic lab notebook	Lab notebooks can also be kept using software or an online tool. Electronic lab notebooks are simple to organize and make it easy to share data with other scientists (or a teacher). Electronic lab notebooks are becoming more common in the professional world and for citizen science collaborations but are not yet common for science and engineering fairs. Students should check with their teachers before using this lab notebook method.	Research teams: K-12 and beyond Citizen scientists Teachers and students

While nice, an official lab notebook is not always necessary. A bound notebook or standard composition book will often work. Look for a notebook with lined or graph-paper style pages and a stiff cover. Do not choose an ordinary spiral-bound notebook. The pages are too easy to rip out and lose, especially if the notebook has perforated pages!

Getting Started with Your Science Laboratory Notebook

Once you have selected a lab notebook, the following tips and techniques will help you get started keeping an organized, well-maintained lab notebook for your science or engineering project:

1. Label your lab notebook. Put your name, your teacher's name (if it applies), and some form of contact information, like an email address or phone number, in a prominent location, like the inside cover. If you accidentally leave the lab notebook behind or lose it, someone will be able to reach you if the notebook is found. If your notebook will be used for a single science or engineering project, also label the notebook with the project title and the year.
2. Use ink. Make your lab notebook entries in pen, not in pencil. Using a smudge-proof pen may reduce the risk of smears. If you make a mistake in your lab notebook, simply cross out the error and write in the necessary correction.
3. Number the pages. Numbering the pages of your lab notebook helps keep your notebook organized. You can use these numbers to set up an index or table of contents (see below) or to cross-reference earlier observations within your lab notebook. If the pages of your lab notebook are not already numbered, you may want to number them before you begin using the lab notebook.
4. Create a table of contents. To quickly go back and find information in your lab notebook, it helps to create a table of contents. The traditional way (used by professional scientists and engineers) is to create a Table of Contents as you go. Label the first page "Table of Contents," and then as you work on the project, enter important pages in the Table of Contents. For example, when you begin your Experimental Procedure, you might note "Trial 1, Page 10" in the Table of Contents so you can quickly find your notes at a later date. If you find this method too confusing, and your teacher allows, you can create tabs for the different sections of your science project. This optional approach may help you keep your notes and records organized. Your sections will vary based on your science or engineering project, and you may find that your class assignment or the steps of the scientific or engineering method can help you determine the sections you will use. The table below shows a sample set of sections that might appear in a student science project lab notebook. In this sample, the student has used tabs to mark the various divisions of the lab notebook and recorded the color of each tab in the Table of Contents for easy reference.

Table of Contents	Tab color	Page #
Timeline	Red	1
Background Research	Blue	20
Materials	Green	26
Experimental Setup	Yellow	35
Data and Results	Purple	40
Data Analysis and Conclusions	Orange	50

5. Date your entries. Always date your lab notebook entries. Even if your entry is very short, adding a date helps you track when you took certain steps or made certain observations. Your lab notebook will be a sequential record of your project, so the dates are important.
6. No blank pages. Your lab notebook entries should be entered consecutively, starting at the front of the notebook. When making entries, do not skip pages. (If you are using sections, as outlined above, do not skip pages within a section when making a new entry.) Scientists and researchers often cross out unused sections of a page so that nothing can be added later that might alter or confuse the data originally recorded.
7. Be brief. While some entries in your lab notebook may require in-depth notes, many of your entries will be short and concise. Full sentences are not required! Every scientist develops her own style of recordkeeping. What is important is that you record enough information so that you fully understand the notes you've made and so that the notes contains all important or necessary details. Looking back at an entry, even months later, it should be clear to you exactly what you did or documented on that day. It should also be clear to your teacher or another scientist or engineer!

Figure 2. The lab notebook page above records weekly observations made during a composting investigation over a period of several weeks. The entries are short, but each is dated, the observations are clear, and important data has been recorded in each entry.

8. Keep it legible. Your lab notebook entries should be easy to read, but do not worry if the entries are not perfectly neat or if you make a mistake.
9. No loose papers. Be sure to secure loose papers in your lab notebook with glue, tape, or staples. Unsecured items (including sticky notes) may fall out or be damaged. If there are digital materials you want to include in your lab notebook, you may find it helpful to print them at a reduced size and then glue or tape them into the notebook.

Figure 3. It is important to secure all items in your lab notebook so that nothing is lost. In the lab notebook shown above, small, loose papers have been taped in place.

10. Do not remove pages. If something is wrong on a page, or if you discover an accidental blank page, simply put a large "x" through the area or page, signaling that it should be ignored. Do not tear pages out.
11. Keep it with you. You want to record every single detail of your science or engineering project in your lab notebook, so you need to make sure you have it with you at all times, especially when you are in the lab, working on your procedure, doing research, or collecting data. Do not take the chance that you will remember all of the details to record at a later date. You also do not want to make a habit or recording data on scraps of paper and entering them in the lab notebook after the fact. Loose papers are easily lost. Keep the lab notebook with you and make your entries on the spot.
12. Do it every day. Get in the habit of starting a new entry as soon as you go to the lab or begin working on your science project for the day, even if you are only taking a quick measurement or doing a visual check. Write down the date and then record what you do. As you get in a routine of documenting your research and experiment every day, using your lab notebook will become an important part of how you navigate a science or engineering project!

Keeping Track of Your Science or Engineering Project

Now that you have a lab notebook and an understanding of organizational strategies that can help you make the most of your lab notebook, it is time to start recording your science or engineering project. What should you include? Everything!
Your lab notebook should be used from the beginning of your project and should reflect all phases of your project (and all steps of the scientific or engineering method. Someone looking at your lab notebook should be able to follow your steps through the science or engineering project, from beginning to end. In your lab notebook, you want to document and include the following kinds of information:

• Project planning. As you plan your science project, use your lab notebook to capture the questions you hope to investigate, your hypothesis, and your variables.
• Research. Record your background research, noting sources you use (including URLs or bibliographic data). Summarize articles and publications you review (or plan to review) during your background research, any interviews you conduct, and notes related to feedback, suggestions, or troubleshooting you receive from a teacher or mentor. This information will make compiling your bibliography much easier!
• Materials. Document the materials you use (including specific brands, quantities, and costs).
• Experimental procedure. Record all details related to your experimental design, setup, and procedure. As you begin your experiment, document your steps, trials, and observations. Be sure and clearly note any modifications you make and any problems you encounter, including any mistakes. Even if it seems trivial or inconsequential, you should write it down.

Figure 4. The lab notebook entry shown above records an unexpected problem the student encountered with a plant biology project. The student's notes record steps the student took to troubleshoot the experimental setup.

• Data collection. Your data is critical to your science project and to the conclusions you will draw at the end of the project. As you gather data, be careful to accurately enter all numbers, measurements, temperatures, calculations, or other data. It is best to enter all data directly in your lab notebook. If you have data logged electronically, keep a list of log dates and file names and tape or glue printed copies into your lab notebook when possible.

Figure 5. The photo above shows photosynthetic data from oak seedlings that have been recorded in a lab notebook (left). Related data files were also stored electronically on a computer. A list of file names were entered in the lab notebook (right).

• Visual records. Diagrams and charts can be very important in helping you record your science or engineering project. When appropriate, draw a figure in your lab notebook to visually record an aspect of your project. Be sure to date and label, or annotate, the drawing.

Figure 6. The photos above show a lab notebook sketch that documents sample points inside shade tents (left) and a schematic record of different ages of tree branches that were sampled during an experiment (right).

A Successful Laboratory Notebook

Make entering notes about your project in your lab notebook a routine part of your science project. When it is time to put your final presentation together, you will be glad for the time you spent documenting your project in your lab notebook! An organized and well-maintained lab notebook may impress teachers and science fair judges, and if you are asked questions about specific steps of your project, you will have the information at hand!

Science Fair Project Question

Key Info

• We have several resources to help you decide what your science fair project will be about:
  • The Topic Selection Wizard asks you a series of questions about everyday interests and activities then recommends an area of science and science fair project ideas that are best for you.
  • Science Fair Project Ideas lets you browse through hundreds of science fair project ideas.
  • If Your Teacher Assigned a Specific Area for your science fair project (like "biology" or "earth science"), then you should go to Science Fair Project Ideas.
• Once you find a general topic that interests you, write down the question that you want to answer. A scientific question usually starts with: How, What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where. For example, if you are interested in robots, your question might be "How much current does a robot's arm use to lift a weight?"
• Can you design a fair test to answer your question? A "fair test" requires that you change only one factor (variable) and keep all other conditions the same. If you cannot design a fair test, then you should change your question.
• Your science fair project question should involve factors or traits that you can easily measure using a number. Or, factors or traits that are easily identified, like colors.
• Read through the list below of Science Fair Projects to Avoid to make sure you set yourself up for success! If your topic is close to something on the list, it is best to pick something else.
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• Finding an Idea for Your Science Fair Project

  One of the most important considerations in picking a topic for your science fair project is to find a subject that you consider interesting. You'll be spending a lot of time on it, so you don't want your science fair project to be about something that is boring.
  We know that finding a topic is the hardest part of a science fair project, and sometimes you just need a little help focusing on what sorts of topics would be of interest to you. To help you find a science fair project idea that can hold your interest, Science Buddies has developed the Topic Selection Wizard. By answering a series of questions about everyday interests and activities, you will help us identify an area of science that is best for you. So click on the link below and let's get started!
  
  • The Topic Selection Wizard asks you a series of questions about everyday interests and activities then recommends an area of science and science fair project ideas that are best for you.
    
  • Science Fair Project Ideas lets you browse through hundreds of science fair project ideas.
    
  • If Your Teacher Assigned a Specific Area for your science fair project (like "biology" or "earth science"), then you should go to Science Fair Project Ideas.

  Your Science Fair Project Question

  The question that you select for your science fair project is the cornerstone of your work. The research and experiment you will be conducting all revolve around finding an answer to the question you are posing. It is important to select a question that is going to be interesting to work on for at least a month or two and a question that is specific enough to allow you to find the answer with a simple experiment. A scientific question usually starts with: How, What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where. Here are some characteristics of a good science fair project question:
  
  • The question should be interesting enough to read about, then work on for the next couple months.
  • There should be at least 3 sources of written information on the subject. You want to be able to build on the experience of others!
  Now, for something like a science fair project, it is important to think ahead. This will save you lots of unhappiness later. Imagine the experiment you might perform to answer your question. How does that possible experiment stack up against these issues?
  
  • The experiment should measure changes to the important factors (variables) using a number that represents a quantity such as a count, percentage, length, width, weight, voltage, velocity, energy, time, etc. Or, just as good might be an experiment that measures a factor (variable) that is simply present or not present. For example, lights ON in one trial, then lights OFF in another trial, or USE fertilizer in one trial, then DON'T USE fertilizer in another trial. If you can't measure the results of your experiment, you're not doing science!
  • You must be able to control other factors that might influence your experiment, so that you can do a fair test. A "fair test" occurs when you change only one factor (variable) and keep all other conditions the same.
  • Is your experiment safe to perform?
  • Do you have all the materials and equipment you need for your science fair project, or will you be able to obtain them quickly and at a very low cost?
  • Do you have enough time to do your experiment before the science fair? For example, most plants take weeks to grow. If you want to do a project on plants, you need to start very early! For most experiments you will want to allow enough time to do a practice run in order to work out any problems in your procedures.
  • Does your science fair project meet all the rules and requirements for your science fair?
  • Have you avoided the bad science fair projects listed in the table below?
  If you don't have good answers for the above issues, then you probably should look for a better science fair project question to answer. Some science fair projects that involve human subjects, vertebrate animals (animals with a backbone) or animal tissue, pathogenic agents, DNA, or controlled or hazardous substances, need SRC (Scientific Review Committee) approval from your science fair BEFORE you start experimentation. Now is the time to start thinking about getting approval if necessary for your science project (see SRC).
  
  

  Examples

  These are examples of good science fair project questions:
  
  • How does water purity affect surface tension?
  • When is the best time to plant soy beans?
  • Which material is the best insulator?
  • How does arch curvature affect load carrying strength?
  • How do different foundations stand up to earthquakes?
  • What sugars do yeast use? 
• 
  
•  

Steps of the Scientific Method

Key Info

• The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments.
• The steps of the scientific method are to:
  • Ask a Question
  • Do Background Research
  • Construct a Hypothesis
  • Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
  • Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
  • Communicate Your Results
• It is important for your experiment to be a fair test. A "fair test" occurs when you change only one factor (variable) and keep all other conditions the same.
• While scientists study how nature works, engineers create new things, such as products, websites, environments, and experiences.
• If your project involves creating or inventing something new, your project might better fit the steps of the Engineering Design Process.
• If you are not sure if your project is a scientific or engineering project, you should read Comparing the Engineering Design Process and the Scientific Method.

Overview of the Scientific Method

The scientific method is a process for experimentation that is used to explore observations and answer questions. Scientists use the scientific method to search for cause and effect relationships in nature. In other words, they design an experiment so that changes to one item cause something else to vary in a predictable way.
Just as it does for a professional scientist, the scientific method will help you to focus your science fair project question, construct a hypothesis, design, execute, and evaluate your experiment.

Steps of the Scientific Method	Detailed Help for Each Step
Ask a Question: The scientific method starts when you ask a question about something that you observe: How, What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where? And, in order for the scientific method to answer the question it must be about something that you can measure, preferably with a number.	Your Question
Do Background Research: Rather than starting from scratch in putting together a plan for answering your question, you want to be a savvy scientist using library and Internet research to help you find the best way to do things and insure that you don't repeat mistakes from the past.	Background Research Plan Finding Information Bibliography Research Paper
Construct a Hypothesis: A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work: "If _____[I do this] _____, then _____[this]_____ will happen." You must state your hypothesis in a way that you can easily measure, and of course, your hypothesis should be constructed in a way to help you answer your original question.	Variables Variables for Beginners Hypothesis
Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment: Your experiment tests whether your hypothesis is true or false. It is important for your experiment to be a fair test. You conduct a fair test by making sure that you change only one factor at a time while keeping all other conditions the same. You should also repeat your experiments several times to make sure that the first results weren't just an accident.	Experimental Procedure Materials List Conducting an Experiment
Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion: Once your experiment is complete, you collect your measurements and analyze them to see if your hypothesis is true or false. Scientists often find that their hypothesis was false, and in such cases they will construct a new hypothesis starting the entire process of the scientific method over again. Even if they find that their hypothesis was true, they may want to test it again in a new way.	Data Analysis & Graphs Conclusions
Communicate Your Results: To complete your science fair project you will communicate your results to others in a final report and/or a display board. Professional scientists do almost exactly the same thing by publishing their final report in a scientific journal or by presenting their results on a poster at a scientific meeting.	Final Report Abstract Display Board Science Fair Judging

Even though we show the scientific method as a series of steps, keep in mind that new information or thinking might cause a scientist to back up and repeat steps at any point during the process. A process like the scientific method that involves such backing up and repeating is called an iterative process.
Throughout the process of doing your science fair project, you should keep a journal containing all of your important ideas and information. This journal is called a laboratory notebook.

summer break science survival notes by rayyer

Carefully-selected projects and science activities can be fun and engrossing, and we have plenty of ideas for cool science explorations that take minimal preparation, use easy-to-find materials, and are engaging for a range of ages.

• Shaking Up Some Energy: create your own "shake it up" alternative energy, a la a "shake to light" flashlight, by making a simple generator and investigating the relationship between magnetism and the induction of electrical current. Wrapping 1,000-2,000 turns of wire around a plastic film canister will keep your tinkerer busy in this hands-on electronics project. But in the end, she will have a working example of battery-free power!

Top Picks for Spring Break Science
We are adding to this list all week long, so stay tuned! The full list is shown below:

• Skipping Science: An Experiment in Jump Rope Lengths: When it comes to jump ropes, one size may not fit all! If you want to score high jump numbers, what is the perfect jump rope length for you? Get hands-on and find out!


• Motion Mania: Applying Physics to Hula-Hooping: Hula-hooping is fun but not necessarily as easy as it might look! The size and weight of your hula hoop may have a lot to do with your success as a hula hooper. In this hands-on, backyard science project, kids can build their own hula hoops from tubing and investigate to find out how the size and weight matter. Don't forget the duct tape for personalizing your hoop!



• Make Monkeys Fly in the Blink of an Eye: With a screaming monkey (or another toy that can be launched from a rubber band) on hand, kids can explore the relationship between the stretch of the rubber band and the distance the monkey flies. What's going on? It's all about energy! Take some pictures. We want to see your monkeys fly!



• Rocketology: Baking Soda + Vinegar = Lift Off: You may have to dig to find a few old film canisters, but when you mix in a few kitchen ingredients, a plastic film canister can lead to explosive fun with chemical reactions. Kick up the classic volcano experiment as you launch mini rockets and figure out the best ratio of ingredients to get the highest flight. Remember: safety goggles, adult supervision, and a clear outdoor place where the mess won't matter!



• Turn Milk into Plastic!: Milk! Good for the body and, with the right chemical reaction, good for a hands-on creative activity. Experiment with the recipe for making milk-based plastic, and then use the plastic you make to create beads or small sculptures. This is a fun chemistry activity for kitchen scientists. What will you make with your milk plastic?



• Bottled-up Buoyancy: What makes a submarine sink or rise? In this hands-on hydrodynamics exploration, students build a model submarine from empty plastic bottles and then experiment with buoyancy by changing the amount of water "in" the submarine and seeing what happens. With a rubber-band propelled launch mechanism and a working propeller, this #science activity is lots of fun!

Egghead Science: The Strong and the Weak of It

When it comes to structural engineering, there is a lot to be learned from the shape of the mighty egg. At the same time, sitting on an egg doesn't always work out so well. From eggs to domes to bridges, there is family science at hand perfect for spring break exploration for young builders and engineers! Be prepared to be slimed by some breakages and dazzled by some shows of surprising strength!

Egg and Engineering: Over-easy Science
Eggs break easily when force is applied from a certain direction, but held or positioned differently, an egg can withstand a surprising amount of pressure! Put eggs—and structural engineering and design—to the test with your kids in fun hands-on engineering activities that will challenge them to think creatively, to innovative, and to experiment!

There are chickens at my son's elementary school, and it is great to see kids running to the coop in the afternoons to interact with the chickens, to help with coop duties, and, to check for eggs. With only a few chickens and a few eggs relative to the number of interested chicken watchers, there are some basic school coop rules about gathering the eggs. But when you are the only student around in the afternoon, and you find an egg, you may find that you just got lucky. My student stopped by the coop one afternoon last week and was excited to find an egg that had not yet been collected. It was, indeed, fresh from the chicken, and he insisted I feel how warm it was to the touch—warm and smooth and perfectly ovoid in shape.
Unfortunately, in addition to being warm and smooth, eggs are also fragile. Elementary school students know this. Most of them have had plenty of experience cracking eggs in school and home kitchen science and baking projects. But despite what they "know"—that eggs crack—sometimes maybe there is an irrepressible need to goof around with an egg. Maybe that need is especially strong when you've just gathered it, warm and smooth. But when you joke around and pretend to sit on the egg as the chicken must have, chances are good you will end up with a pile of gelatinous goo, even if you are not really trying to sit with all of your weight, even if, really, you are just being silly.
That is what happened to us, and egghead excitement quickly turned to nine-year-old despair. A broken egg isn't nearly as much fun, and the chickens didn't care that his egg had cracked. The chicken was done for the day. There wasn't another egg ready and waiting to be found. These are sometimes hard lessons that go along with chicken care, egg gathering, and any kind of hands-on science.

Unexpected Connections
The incident with the egg was a reminder to us that eggs are fragile. We crack them to break them open when we want to cook or eat them. While looking at science project ideas in preparation for this week's focus on Easter and family and class egg boiling and dyeing activities, I ran across the "Fallen Arches: The Surprising Strength of Eggshells" materials science Project Idea.
As the title suggests, the project is all about the strength of the egg shape or, more specifically, of half an egg—an arch. This is a fun hands-on engineering experiment for even the youngest of student scientists. With three half eggs, sitting point-side up and arranged in an evenly-distributed triangle, how much weight will they hold before caving? You and your young scientists might be surprised!
If you keep a few eggs aside when you boil others for dyeing, you can engage your students with a great hands-on science activity that easily feeds into other questions and experiments about structures and building designs. As you and your students talk about arches as a structural element, you may find that there are examples in your neighborhood that can add even more relevance to your exploration and your student's understanding of arches in the real world. A small stone bridge walkway that crosses a favorite duck pond of ours is built using arch shapes. An arch bridge is a classic bridge design, in fact. (To extend your discussion, look up keystones!)

From Eggs to Engineering
The following hands-on engineering projects can easily be turned into fun family science activities, great for spring break, summer vacation, or a rainy day. Many of these projects involve some combination of physics, structural engineering, materials science, and math, which gives them great range and versatility. A lot depends on what questions you and your kids want to ask and explore. Why, after all, are the half eggshells arranged in a triangle in the "Fallen Arches" project?
That you can spend an afternoon assembling straws or rolls of newspaper and wind up with an awesome three-dimensional object worthy of display gives these projects added pizzazz for families that love DIY projects and the art that evolves from hands-on exploration. On the flip side, there are structural engineering projects where the goal is to build them so that you can break them. For some kids and families, that is exactly the ticket for thrilling science!

Asteroids and Us

My O my, wow… the 7,000-ton meteor over the Chelyabinsk region slammed into our atmosphere at 15,000 km per hour (33,000 miles an hour). Witnesses could see the flash of light 500 kilometers away. It was probably 15-meters (50 feet) across. When these things hit the atmosphere they just blow up. It’s not combustion, at least at first; it’s a rock slamming into something air so hard, that it disintegrates. Its energy becomes a pressure wave, a shock. This is to say, the molecules in the air get slammed into moving faster than their natural speed (at a given temperature). They form a shock wave turning the rock’s energy of motion into a wave of pressure and the energy of heat…in an instant. The pressure wave blasted windows and doors. The flying glass and falling building material injured over a thousand people— in an instant. The heat combined with atmospheric oxygen incinerated most of the rock— in a few moments. Rock hounds and scientists will no doubt scour the area for meteorites and for clues. The more we learn about these things the better, because it sure could happen again.
On top of the drama, what a remarkable phenomenon it was in Russia on the eve of the flyby of Asteroid 2012 DA14, which was discovered by astronomers funded in part by The Planetary Society http://planetary.org. This asteroid is somewhat larger at 45-meters, and it missed us completely, but wow is there a lesson to be learned for all of us humans.
When I was in 2^nd grade, our teacher, Mrs. McGonagle told us that the reason the ancient dinosaurs went extinct was that their brains were small. This enable mice and rabbits to take all of the dinosaurs’ food, so the dinosaurs died out. To her credit, Mrs. McGonagle knew this theory was fraught with difficulties (lame). She showed us pictures in a book, shrugged her shoulders and pressed on. It seemed clear to everyone in the room that somebody like a titanosaurus would have little difficulty with mice or rabbits, except that they wouldn’t make much of a hors d’oeuvre, let alone a snack or light meal. Such a dinosaur would crush such a mammal like a penny on the railroad track (paper thin— I’ve tried it).
So, in my lifetime a much more plausible theory came to be, when geologists looking for oil around the Gulf of Mexico with magnetometers discovered an enormous sub-ocean ring of shocked rock— a crater long about 1983. Scientists soon inferred that the ring is an impact crater. It’s off the coast near Chixalub, Mexico. Looking further and farther, geologists like Walter Alvarez realized that there is a layer of the unusual element iridium buried at the same geologic depth all over the world. Iridium is atomic number 77. It’s heavy; its atomic mass is 192. So when the Earth was formed from molten rock, the iridium sank to the middle. To get iridium in a nice layer near the top of the Earth’s crust took an impactor— a hurtling asteroid with primordial iridium got its guts blasted worldwide. The ejecta were spread in a circle wider than the Earth’s diameter. Phew…
Asteroid 2012 DA14 is not nearly as big— not even close. But there’s a lesson for all of us. It’s about the same size as the impactor that smacked into the atmosphere above Tunguska, Siberia in June 1908. In other words, if an asteroid the size of 2012 DA14 (about 45 meters across) were to hit the atmosphere over Paris, that would be the end of Paris as we know it.
A feature of these impacts that I still find remarkable is that at the speeds these things are moving relative to the Earth, the atmosphere acts virtually like a solid. It’s akin to the stories I heard often as a kid. If you jump off a high bridge into water, you won’t fare very well, because at that speed, water acts like concrete.  Yikes. The same was apparently true for the Tunguska object and our air. The same will be true for the next one— unless we do something about it.
The key to doing something is to find them. The Planetary Society funded some very skilled diligent astronomers in La Sagra, Spain, who used the money we supplied them to acquire a very sophisticated high-speed camera for their telescopes. They found this object. It’s through the support of our 30,000+ members around the world that these researchers came across a hurtling bit of primordial rock that could cause us tremendous harm. It’s frightening, but it’s also wonderfully exciting. We are the first generations of humans who can do something about an asteroid or comet impact. We have learned enough about the cosmos and our place in space that we can understand the danger and make a plan.
Among our projects at The Planetary Society is a scheme to use a network or squadron of laser-bearing spacecraft to ablate or cook the surface of an asteroid so that we change its velocity just a little, a few millimeters per second. That way, it would cross the Earth’s orbit when we’re not there. Other ideas include a massive spacecraft with enough gravity to gently tug an asteroid off its course. Or, we could just smash into an object with a smasher rocket (a kinetic transfer vehicle). It’s the stuff of science fiction, but it’s real.
The Chelyablinsk along with Asteroid 2012 AD14, should serve as a warning. The small one wrought small havoc. The big one is going to miss— this time. But, there are about 100,000 more out there crossing the Earth’s orbit, and we don’t know where they are. Some day in the not too distant future we humans are going to have to do something about one of these things. At end of the original movie “The Thing,” the journalist warns us: “Keep watching the skies…” It’s good advice, because our Solar System is a cosmic shooting gallery. Sooner or later, we’ll be a sitting duck.

     

 

Experiment Pictures

bunsen burner	flame types	clinical thermometer	colored test tubes	electrical spark	jet exhausts	tesla coil
explosions	eye tracking device	flame test	gas washing bottle	interference laser	lab coat	test tubes	xray simulation
gravity droplets	gravity flame	mortar & pestle	oil drop apparatus	petri dish	ph indicator paper	sodium explosion	scientist
drop counter	research in space	pipette	making ice cream	mad scientist	dry ice	straus flask	ice cubes