My 9 year old son wants to do a science fair project. Any ideas?

he came home today the proud winner of his schools Chemistry division.

They were impressed with his ability to speak to the electrochemical reactions within the electrolyte, and to parallel it to the design of the Baghdad Battery. He also went on to discuss other designs that could be used with similar effect (Drain-O, for example).

In about 3 weeks we will do the city wide contest. I will let anyone interested have an update then by posting the results here.

OK, ATSers...since so many of you gave me input, i wanted to provide you an update.

He won the city science fair in the chemistry division, so will now advance to regionals (on March 8, in Odessa, TX).

The judges listed, in particular, his relation of the lemon battery to the Baghdad Battery as a major plus. The history lesson tied to the science lesson really struck a chord with the judges.

Now i need to build a lightboard so that the "testing the results" piece will be a little more dramatic.

Thank you all for your help, and i will update you once again after the regional event.

reply to post by Grozny07


damn you stole my idea- i made one when i was akid
didn't win any awards but was cool as hell lol
on an even lighter note how about something along the lines that happened in the simpsons episode where lisa proves a hamster is smarter than bart?

reply to post by yeahright


I think the problem with many science fairs is that kids end up doing projects that have little scientific value and do well in science fairs, just because their projects "look cool." Kids should focus more on learning.

My suggestion to the poster is to have your kid build a simple working model of some piece of technology that they are interested in. If he is able to take apart and reassemble his model, not only will he gain great insight into it, but he might have fun with it.

If your kid likes cars, for example, you get build a crude engine. You can attach a bladder full of air to a cylinder. (Perhaps attach a balloon full of air to a toilet paper tube.) The air can push a piston in the cyllinder. The piston can be pulled back into place with a rubber band or spring. This crude engine works like an internal combustion engine in that the piston i an internal compustion engine is driven by expanding gasses, just like the piston in the model is driven by gas from the balloon.

If your kid likes telephones or computers, you can have him build a crudely working telegraph as someone suggested which would involve wire, a light bulb, a battery, and a swich. You would put the switch, lightbulb, and battery in series and connect them with wire. The switch can be far away from the light bulb. Your child can send morse code messages by opening and closing the swith, causing the light bulb to tun on and off.

He got fourth in the regional fair. The first place finisher was the girl that finished second behind him in the city fair. Go figure, huh?

We had a really good time, and we are already gathering materials to build the antenna we will need for next years run.

If all goes well, i will likely have some good data to share on some material that likely will seem pertinent on ATS by that time.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Pretty awesome and I know you must be rightfully proud. You just never know where planting a seed like that might lead.

Good job!