Biology · Plant Science
Find which conditions seeds need to germinate
Germinate seeds with and without water, warmth, air and light, and find which conditions are essential.
- Beginner
- 1–2 weeks
- Under 250
606 projects · 13 streams · every class
Science projects 57
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.
57 Science projects
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
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
Biology · Microbiology
Grow bacteria from everyday surfaces
Swab phones, door handles and washed hands onto agar and compare the colonies that grow.
- Intermediate
- 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 · Modern Physics
Measure Planck's constant with LEDs
Find the turn-on voltage of LEDs of different colours and get Planck's constant from the slope.
- Advanced
- 2–7 days
- 250–500
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
Chemistry + Nutrition and Food
Measure the vitamin C in fruit juices
Titrate juices with iodine and starch to compare how much vitamin C each contains.
- Intermediate
- 1 day
- Under 250
Physics · Optics
Build a pinhole camera and find its magnification
Make a box camera with no lens and show that image size depends on object and screen distance.
- Beginner
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Physics · Optics
Measure the refractive index of water with a laser pointer
Trace a laser beam entering water at several angles and get the refractive index from Snell's law.
- Intermediate
- 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
Chemistry · Physical Chemistry
Grow crystals and test what changes their size
Grow alum or sugar crystals and find how cooling speed changes crystal size.
- Easy
- 1–2 weeks
- Under 250
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
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
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 · 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
Astronomy and Space + Pure Mathematics
Measure the Earth's circumference like Eratosthenes
Measure a stick's shadow at local noon in two cities and calculate the size of the Earth.
- Intermediate
- 1 day
- Free
Chemistry · Analytical Chemistry
Separate ink colours with paper chromatography
Separate the dyes in marker pens on filter paper and calculate an Rf value for each colour.
- Beginner
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
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