Chemistry + Environmental Science
Make bioplastic from milk or starch
Make casein and starch plastics at home and test their strength and how they break down.
- Easy
- 1–2 weeks
- Under 250
606 projects · 13 streams · every class
Science projects 50
Experiments, working models and investigations in physics, chemistry, biology, earth and space. Most can be done at home or in a school lab, and each one says what it costs and how long it takes.
50 Science projects
Physics · Fluid Mechanics
Build a hydraulic lift with syringes
Connect two syringes of different sizes and show how a small push lifts a large load.
- Easy
- 1 day
- Under 250
Chemistry · Electrochemistry
Build a lemon battery and compare fruits
Make cells from fruit, zinc and copper, measure their voltage and light an LED with several in series.
- Easy
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Chemistry · Analytical Chemistry
Make a red cabbage pH indicator and test household liquids
Extract a natural indicator from red cabbage and rank household liquids from acid to base.
- Beginner
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Environmental Science · Pollution
Measure air quality with sticky cards
Hang petroleum-jelly cards at five locations and compare the particles they collect in a week.
- Easy
- 2–7 days
- Under 250
Environmental Science · Water
Build a rainwater harvesting model and size a real tank
Make a working roof-to-tank model and calculate how much rain your own roof could collect.
- Easy
- 2–7 days
- 250–500
Chemistry · Inorganic Chemistry
Investigate what speeds up rusting
Leave iron nails in different conditions for a week and find what makes rust form fastest.
- Easy
- 2–7 days
- Under 250
Physics · Optics
Measure the speed of light with a chocolate bar
Find the wavelength of microwaves from melt spots on chocolate, then calculate the speed of light.
- Easy
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Physics · Mechanics
Calibrate a spring and build a newton meter
Stretch a spring with known weights, plot the graph and turn it into a force meter you can use.
- Beginner
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Biology · Plant Science
Study how light colour affects plant growth
Grow seedlings under red, blue, green and white light and compare height and leaf colour.
- Easy
- 2–4 weeks
- 250–500
Biology + Environmental Science
Map the biodiversity of a school ground
Survey plants and small animals with quadrats and calculate a biodiversity index for different areas.
- Easy
- 2–7 days
- Free
Environmental Science · Climate
Calculate your household's carbon footprint
Collect a month of electricity, fuel, travel and food data and convert it into kilograms of carbon dioxide.
- Easy
- 2–7 days
- Free
Biology · Botany
Compare the stomata of different leaves
Take nail-polish peels of leaves and count stomata on upper and lower surfaces.
- Easy
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Biology · Cell Biology
Observe osmosis in potato strips
Soak potato strips in salt solutions and find the concentration at which they neither gain nor lose mass.
- Easy
- 1 day
- Under 250
Chemistry · Physical Chemistry
Find how temperature changes reaction rate with antacid tablets
Time how long an effervescent tablet takes to dissolve at different water temperatures.
- Easy
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Biology + Sports and Exercise Science
Measure how exercise changes pulse rate and recovery
Record pulse before, during and after exercise for several volunteers and compare recovery times.
- Easy
- 1 day
- Free
Physics · Waves
Measure the speed of sound with two phones
Use two phones with an acoustic stopwatch app to time a clap over a known distance.
- Easy
- 1–3 hours
- Free
Environmental Science · Waste Management
Audit your school's waste for a week
Sort and weigh one week of school waste by type and propose how to cut the largest share.
- Easy
- 1–2 weeks
- Under 250
Physics · Current Electricity
Verify Ohm's law and find where it fails
Plot current against voltage for a resistor and a bulb and explain the difference.
- Easy
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Physics · Electromagnetism
Build a homopolar motor and measure what changes its speed
Make the simplest electric motor from a cell, a magnet and wire, then test how magnets change its speed.
- Easy
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Environmental Science + Physics
Compare the energy use of bulbs
Measure the brightness and heat of LED, CFL and filament bulbs and calculate the yearly cost of each.
- Easy
- 1–3 hours
- 250–500
Physics + Environmental Science
Build a solar oven and measure its efficiency
Make a box cooker from cardboard and foil and track how hot it gets compared with open air.
- Easy
- 1 day
- Under 250
Physics · Oscillations
Find g with a simple pendulum and a phone
Time pendulums of different lengths and get the acceleration due to gravity from a straight-line graph.
- Easy
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Physics · Optics
Build a spectroscope from a CD and analyse light sources
Split light with a CD and compare the spectra of the Sun, LEDs, CFLs and flames.
- Easy
- 1 day
- Under 250
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