HELP ME WITH MY SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT (needed before the end of march)

[withaspoon94]

i have a science fair coming up (8th grade) and i want to build something (under or around 50$ and under 4 weekends to construct) i need this by May i was thinking about

A. modding a generator to charge a simple device
B. creating something that will have your standard US house plug so i can plug something in

thank you for your help i think this is going to be an award winning project

[dj-silent]

When I was in 7th grade, (5 years ago) pc watercooling was not where it is today. I custom fabbed a waterblock and used a car heater core as a radioator. The whole project got me 2nd place in the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair and 2 special awards from the Association of Energy Engineers and the Armed Forced Communications and Electronics Association. Whatever you end up doing the more data the better, also, the better the purpose for your project the more they will like your project.

[ascendeddaniel]

Here are a few ideas off the top of my head.

Make a solar powered charging station. You can get DIY solar panel kits and wire up some electronics so you do direct DC-DC charging of small (8-20W) devices like trickle charging cell phones and such. I was thinking of making a completely portable surveillance package using a Linksys NSLU2 with wifi adapter, a webcam, a solar panel and battery to power it, and some scripts to upload the pictures to a server. Solar panels are expensive though, and the electronics to make it usable will probably cost a few bucks too.

Make a device that analyzes various aspects of power use. You could measure the cleanliness, frequency, voltage, amperage, and power used through a wall socket. Make it collect data and assign a score to the quality of the signal. The data might be useful in coming up with a baseline standard for a certain outlet. It would also let you figure out how much power devices are using, especially when they are in standby mode, and what the charge curves look like for various kinds of batteries (Ni-MH, Ni-Cd, Li, Li-ion, Lead Acid, etc)

Hope this helps and do something cool in any case.

[md2389]

You could do a study on the efficiency of power usage in a PC's power supply. Just be sure and gather as much data as you can. If you really want to jazz it up some, you can wire different lines (ie: +12V, +5V) to a bus bar (which you can get at your local radio shack) which you can then hook to a volt meter showing the output voltage. Make sure that you gather your data using different loads. (ie: disconnect components) Then compare your findings to what the voltages SHOULD have been, and whip up a simple chart displaying your results.

[neutrino15]

i have a science fair coming up (8th grade) and i want to build something (under or around 50$ and under 4 weekends to construct)

Well, green tech is all the rage these days. I would suggest trying to weigh the pros and cons of every different type of renewable energy.. Maybe that's too simple. I won 1st place in my school's insultingly pathetic science fair for a project on Geothermal Heat Pumps.. Mostly because the school's teacher's didn't even know what geothermal energy was..

Another suggestion could be modifying one of these projects:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/
I don't know what scientific value they have, but they would be cool nonetheless..


Just remember, its 30% content, 70% presentation. You have to make the judges wonder if someone else helped you. It has to look "too good."

Good Luck..

[computoman]

I remember years ago i was in school and i could not decide what to do for a science project. I thought about the things that mattered most to me. It was like the night before it was due and I was panicking. I remembered how much I had worked with soil conservation in the preceding months, so i did a project show how to help there be less soil erosion. Having had mostly c's all that year, that project won me an A. I am not saying that is what you should do as a project. Do what is in your heart while researching the project and the project will take care of it self. They say the answer is always in the mirror. What amazes you?

[bani-banan]

Head over to www.metacafe.com and search for kipkay.

I bet he'll inspire you.