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
16 projects
Architecture and Interior Design + Civil Engineering
Design a small house for a real plot
Design a compact house for a specific family and site, with plans, a section and a model.
- Intermediate
- 2–4 weeks
- 500–1,000
Civil Engineering · Structural Analysis
Compare the strength of beam cross-sections
Fold the same sheet of card into flat, tube, box and I shapes and measure how much each bends.
- Intermediate
- 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
Civil Engineering + Physics
Build and load-test a spaghetti bridge
Design a truss bridge from dry spaghetti and glue, then load it until it fails and compute its efficiency.
- Easy
- 2–7 days
- 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
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
Crops, Soil and Horticulture + Biology
Compare organic and chemical fertiliser on plant growth
Grow the same plant with compost, chemical fertiliser and nothing, and compare height, leaves and yield.
- Easy
- 2–4 weeks
- 250–500
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
Architecture and Interior Design · Interior Design
Design your dream room to scale
Measure a real room, draw it to scale and build a model of a redesigned layout.
- Easy
- 1–2 weeks
- 250–500
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
Architecture and Interior Design + History
Build a model of a famous building
Research a landmark and build a scale model with a note on its structure and history.
- Easy
- 1–2 weeks
- 250–500
Biology · Botany
Investigate transpiration with a simple potometer
Build a potometer from tubing and measure how wind, light and humidity change water uptake.
- Intermediate
- 1 day
- Under 250
Behavioural and Cognitive Science + Biology
Measure reaction time and what affects it
Use the ruler-drop test to compare reaction times between hands, ages and times of day.
- Beginner
- 1 day
- Free
Environmental Science · Climate
Model the melting of ice caps and sea level
Show that melting land ice raises water level but melting floating ice does not.
- Beginner
- 1–3 hours
- Under 250
Materials, Energy and Other Branches · Materials Testing
Test materials for strength with a home-made rig
Stretch wires and strips of different materials to breaking and compare their strength.
- Intermediate
- 1–2 weeks
- 250–500
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