Projects

This is a rough idea of what I did for my Science Fair in Grade 7. That was 4 years ago, so I can't remember EXACTLY how I did it, but this is a rough idea. Testing can be varied, as these were the methods that worked for ME. Do it your way, as thats what Science Fair is all about. QUESTION: How Will Diffarent Sized Waves Affect A Ship? DESCRIPTION: I did this project in Grade 7, and I enjoyed it very much. Being a Canadian Sea Cadet, I was able to pay attention to every detail, as I have been on Navy Ships before. I believe I completed the ship in 4 days, working at an average of 3-4 hours a day. My ship was based off the HMCS Charlottetown, a Ship serving with…

Also, this must maintain a double helix shape on its own.

I came across an article in American Journal of Physics recently that describes how to build an acoustic radar by transmitting a carrier modulated with pseudo-noise code through a speaker and simultaneously receiving the reflection with a directional microphone. One then does some signal processing to get the resulting pulse profile as a function of distance. It was originally conceived as a radar or lidar simulator. http://ajp.aapt.org/...79/i12/p1240_s1

Hi every one, I am trying to put together a "design" for a ecological boat. The building material will be recycled wood, (from any breakers yard) the boat will be cross planked and the layers will be glued together with homemade liquid cement, which is a simple mix of waterglass, shellac resin and water. The design will very much look like this one: http://www.mission-b...skiffcycle.html So yes you guessed it right it will be pedal powered. The whole thing will be painted with natural linseed oil based paint. Now back to the "power system", I have always wondered why all PPS ( my abbreviation for Padel Power Sys…

Hey everyone, I'm a cosplayer, and although I've been delving into playing around with resin casting and adding LEDs to my costumes, I just recently thought of something I want to try on one of my upcoming projects. I couldn't find anything on that topic, but I figured it must be possible when I ran across this forum, so I figured I would ask you guys. Is it possible to take a faux flower, of silk or other fabric and get it to move/bloom? How would I go about doing this? Is there some kind of motorizing effect for this, and has anyone done this before? Thanks guys!

So I've been thinking for a while on ways to measure the force on a paddle (like canoe paddle). I do a lot of dragon boating (like a giant canoe with 20 people in it) and I wanted a way to be a little bit more quantitative about performance on our team. I've researched a few things and it seems that the best way to do this might be to attach a strain gauge to the shaft of the paddle and measure bending of the shaft as a proxy for actual force. I've also though of mounting some type of force sensor on the paddle itself, but I read one small journal article detailing a groups experiment with a force sensor and found that simply entering the water with the paddle marked th…

Hello everyone. I have been doing a lot of research on how to build foam machines for clubs and such. Just from browsing the web I am able to get a solid understanding on how a foam machine works and how to build one. I am now looking into creating a foam cannon such as this Does anyone have any idea how these work? It looks as if the foam cannon has the same basic setup like the foam machines, but with the look of a cannon. Or is it possible that a foam cannon is a regular foam machines with bigger fan, sump pump, etc...... Any help would be appreciated!

It's pretty basic really just dig a trench 50 feet or so long and bury a 4 inch diameter O-pipe in the bottom with 1 end leading into the house and 1 end at ground level. Of course cover the outside end in screen and build a Cupola type shelter above it. On the end inside the house you then use a high velocity fan to pump the cold air into your plenum on your furnace and just set the fan on the furnace to run. Sounds good in theory right? but will the ground around the O-pipe eventually warm? This is why I chose a trench rather than digging a hole and coiling the O-pipe so there would be more surface area and a longer run of cold earth. I was going to do this at my o…

I am planning to make a model or just write a paper in the one week holiday I would get next month. I have come upon with the idea that energy from friction should be utilised. Has this been done before? What would be the theoretical and practical possibility of this? How would the model go? What would be the limitations? If i get such a model made, I would like to install it at crowded places like a bus stop. Energy from the friction generated by shoe sole would run our machine(model).

This is going to seem quite silly and trivial, but I really want to get some good advice here. I'm considering making some of my own knee inserts for my paintball pants, along with adding some openable pockets made out of canvas or heavy gauge cotton, using velcro. The main reason I'm opting to make my own knee inserts instead of buying commercially available knee guards or inserts is simply because of area coverage; while the ready made pads/inserts probably work very well, I want something that covers a much bigger area on/around my knee/upper shin (i.e. the issue is less to do with robust protection, and more to do with area coverage). Ideally, I would like to…

Hi there, I just want to make a radioactivity detector to see if some minerals are radiaoctive or not, I want it to be as cheap as possible, it doesn't have to be too accurate, just for detecting if some ores contain significant ammounts of radioactive metals. Any ideas?, I found a very cheap one here:http://madscientisthut.com/wordpress/ but I have to be moving so I don't know if it would broke or something like that.

The problem with space travel is weight. Did you know that the majority of the weight in any NASA shuttle launch is in rocket fuel? It happens to also be the primary money sink for the space program. It would cost you tens of thousands of dollars in rocket fuel to put a 2 liter bottle of cola in space. What I am going to propose is a new idea that has old roots. The concept of a Vacuum Balloon is, in fact, extremely old (as far back as 1670C.E.). It could never be implemented because no material can be both light enough to float AND withstand the suction force of a vacuum without losing its displacement (size). Current Helium/Hydrogen balloons can go up to 30km, for …

Good day all, I was looking into this topic and found this site, I have obviously regiatered and look forward to new ideas. Here is one to mull over- Interupt the cold water suppy to the geyser (at ground level) and run a pipe into a 200l (44Gallon) drum, run another pipe(outlet) from the drum back to the origional feed to the geyser. Firstly the water (in this country) is colder coming out the ground than the air above the ground. Thus the water now housed in the drum will warm up to ambient temperature and saving you having to pay to heat it by those few degrees. Secondly- as you cut the grass, pile the cuttings around the drum. The "rotting" cuttings w…

I am trying to build a coilgun for a school project. Its purpose will be to accelerate a ~1cm steel ball as it travels down a ~2.5cm semicircular styrofoam track running through the coilgun. The coilgun itself will consist of several turns of magnet wire around a PVC pipe fitting over the track. I have created a preliminary design, though I have several concerns about it: The switch on the battery-capacitor circuit controls the battery's connection the the capacitor, and the LED indicates when charging is complete. The gray slip just in front of the ball is aluminum foil, the gun should fire when the steel ball rolls over the foil on the bottom and brushes an identical…

For a Science Expo project I will be converting a small engine to run off hydrogen. I have in mind a cheap four stroke water pump. My father said he is willing to let us use this one but we may just buy a new, smaller engine (about ZAR 350). I have done some research and have come across a number of concerns I would need help with. Firstly there is the issue of fuel delivery. I assume the carburetor in the motor uses a float valve and will therefore not work with a gaseous fuel. Is this a major concern? What do LPG engines use? I have heard about spark plug fuel injectors but I don't know if anybody makes the commercially. I want to do minimal damage to the engine so …

I saw this site that says that you can build a laser listening device (Sounds Fancy huh?) by bouncing a laser beam off of a window to a CdS photocell. I was wondering if this is indeed a feasible task? Here's the link: http://www.ehow.com/how_5969176_make-laser-listening-device.html

Hi, As you might know if you've flown a (large) kite before, it can generate a lot of lift. I'd like to exploit this. A kite exerts the least force when it is directly above you, and more and more the closer it is to the ground, and the faster it is traveling. I'd like to hook up a generator to the kite (via a winch that the line is wound around). It would generate energy (the line would be unwound) when the kite is close to the ground and pulling hard on the line, and reel the line back in when the kite is above you, not pulling so hard. Question: in the power generating stage, the rpm will be low, and the torque high. What kind of generator has a reasonable eff…

Ok, I really want to build a solar panel to heat my room, but i have no clue how they work. I know that they collect energy from the sun but other than that I'm totaly out of it.

Hi, I am doing a science fair project where I use a microphone and a light sensor to measure how far away lightning struck or a firework went off by the delay from sensing the light to sensing the sound. I have built a device that should work for sensing the light and sound (though I will probably make improvements to it later on), but I now my biggest problem is I need a way to test it. I can wait until there is a storm to try it out on some thunder, but I think I need some other ways to test it, too. I could maybe test it with fireworks, but I would need the big kind that get launched into the sky and i don't think there are going to be any firework shows this …

I was wanting to try out electroplating some stuff pretty much just for fun. A guy was explaining how he did it online and he submerged the two metals in salt water. I also saw somewhere that you need a specific salt to the metal. Does it just work better that way? I just looked it up again and it said to use vinegar instead of water. Which is better?

Hi, I am interested in laser projectors and I find a way of high speed scanning + high speed analog modulation of laser diodes, particularly DPSS green lasers. I would be glad to share my experience with the members of this forum. Thanks. http://www.youtube.c...=sltvm2007&aq=f http://laserpointerf...r-tv-32628.html

Hey all, In the next few weeks I'm going to be sending a weather balloon into the upper atmosphere with 2x digital cameras and GPS tracking device, hoping to get some very good photos of South UK. I have all my components and extras setup and ready to go but I need to work out some formulas for the estimated paths of the balloon with load weight etc... What I need to know is the formula to work out estimated height achieved and flight time when using specific balloon sizes and load weights attached to the balloon? Here are the statistics for the balloon I will be using if this helps with working these figures out? Any help would be much appr…

Hey all, I've been toying with the idea of an electromagnetic screwdriver, allowing for the convenience of a magnetic tip and the sensitivity of a standard tip. Yeah, forgive me, I'm bored. Anyway, toying with the idea I've been wondering about power. I'm sure I can make an electromagnet with batteries, and given the low mass of the screws, probably (haven't gotten around to testing it yet) even with just one AA or similar. Worst-case, I've been reading that D-cells are quite useful in these things. What I've been wondering is if it would be possible to use a capacitor bank. I know they're usually used for high power for short periods, but I also know that they ca…

Not one hundred percent sure this is in the right forum, as whilst this is a project and I am technically an amateur scientist, this is the Individual Investigation for 15% of my final Chemistry A-level grade. I am doing a project on the rate of decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide, using different methods of measuring the rate and changing various aspects of the experiment such as temperature, ph and various concentrations. The theory I am looking at including is: -enzyme theory -catalysis theory -rate theory does anyone have any advice of other aspects to look at, or particular methods related to this which could be useful? Any information on theoretical…

I want to make an engine. I don't care what kind, as long as I can build it with simple tools and very little money. I am looking for any kind of engine, but what I am looking for is a good storage medium that I can transfer and then release energy from. Does anybody have any ideas or past luck? p.s. the whole point is for it to be powerful, such as powering a scooter