Science fair projects at high school can be an engaging way to explore various scientific concepts. These exciting STEM activities may help you discover your passion while strengthening your college application portfolio!
Find captivating high school science fair projects that captivate judges. From testing the strength of maglev trains to exploring whether music can increase plant growth, these intriguing experiments will make an impression at your fair!
Bridge Building
Bridges are structures designed to span obstacles like rivers, valleys, roads or gaps between two points – such as rivers, valleys or gaps between two locations. Bridges can also serve a specific purpose such as connecting two separate points – making them popular choices for science fair projects as they’re fun, creative and easy to build.
Bridge building differs from team building by emphasizing internal strategies rather than social events and recreational gatherings for developing relationships among departments and fostering collaboration. It begins with motivational talks before proceeding with one-on-one meetings among employees to coordinate organizational strategies.
Engineer a solar-powered water filtration system to increase access to clean drinking water in developing countries. This STEM project combines chemistry and environmental science, making it perfect for students interested in global challenges.
Potato Battery
Potatoes can be enjoyed many ways – from mashed, french-fried and chip to baked and souffled varieties – but did you know they can also produce electricity? This fun experiment shows that when copper and zinc electrodes are placed inside it, electricity production occurs, similar to how batteries create electricity from chemical energy.
Once students complete the experiment, they can use their potato batteries to power an LED clock or small light bulb. They may also try increasing its voltage by connecting multiple potatoes in series; to maximize conductivity it is important that as much surface area of each potato as possible be covered by copper and zinc plating.
Roller Coaster
At the high school level, science fair projects should become increasingly sophisticated and focused around scientific inquiry. Students may choose to form their own hypothesis and then test it through experiments.
Try this physics project to explore how potential energy is converted to motion in a roller coaster car. By using foam pipe insulation, masking tape and marbles as your tools for investigation, you’ll learn exactly how much initial drop is necessary for one marble to complete its loop-the-loop track.
Foodies will enjoy creating and sharing fruit-powered batteries at science fairs or studying chemistry using an at-home calorimeter to see how temperature, surface area, pressure and other factors influence reaction rates – this career choice could prove rewarding as well! Forensic science offers endless opportunities and promises a truly exciting career path!
Sticky-Note Friction Experiment
High school science fair projects demand project ideas that set themselves apart from their fierce competition. To do this, students should select an intriguing topic that aligns with their educational level.
Teenagers can test friction by interleaving classroom objects made of different materials and measuring how much force is necessary to separate them. Or they could construct and modify a simple solar oven, then alter its performance over time.
Other high school science fair experiments explore chemical reactions, the water cycle and more. While certain require more advanced equipment than simply building-a-bridge (such as cloud chambers), many can still be completed using readily available supplies.
Cloud Chamber
The Cloud Chamber, a popular science fair project, allows students to visualize electrically charged particles. It uses a cool glass container filled with isopropyl alcohol vapor in order to make these radiation particles visible; when passing by these particles they leave behind trails of condensable vapor that condense and leave visible tracks through its transparent jar jars allowing students to visualize different types of shielding effects on radiation exposure.
Other engaging high school science fair projects for teens include exploring kinetic energy of objects and preservative effects on food shelf life; developing a calorie counter to test accuracy of nutritional labels; studying fingerprint chemistry; exploring solar energy storage methods; or creating a calorie counter.
As part of setting up the cloud chamber, it is essential that dry ice be stored safely away from children so as to prevent accidental exposure to its gaseous form.