Experiments on this page are suitable for the 4th grade science fair
projects. they are based on some well known scientific laws
or
simple observations and do not require any kind of theoretical
research. Some of them may require additional work with references. All
4th grade science fair projects on this page can be complete within
relatively short time. There are projects that can be done within one
day and others that may require few days or couple of weeks. Non of
them requires any kind of special equipment.
At this age the science project requires some work on organizing
results of
the observations in a tables and making some kind of conclusion based
on the results.
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In this 4th grade science project you'll work with the snails.
Do you know how fast do snails move? Which factors affect their speed?
The goal: find how surface roughness affects the snail's average
speed.
Hypothesis:
Snails will move slower on the dry and rough surface and
faster on the smooth
or wet surface. Even if the surfaces has the same roughness snail will
travel
faster on wet surface.
Constants: temperature of the surface, all environmental variables.
Variables: Roughness of the test surface, wetness of the test surface.
You'll need:
A few garden snails.
Objects with different kind of surfaces:a
large plant leaf, a piece of wood, sandpaper
Water.
Timer
Procedure:
For each kind of a surface, put the snail in the center of the surface
sample. As soon as the snail starts to move, run the timer until the
snail
reaches the edge of the sample. Stop the timer. If the snail movement
wasn't
strait mark the snail's path. Measure the distance that snail traveled
and find the
snail's speed. (Speed=Distance/Time). Repeat the procedure several
times for
each surface (and for different snails). Calculate average snail speed
for each surface. Do the same trials for the wet surfaces. Is there any
difference in the snail speed?
Variant of the project: you can setup similar experiment answering
following questions:
Does a snail have sense of smell?
Will the snail travel toward the light?
What amount of salt can it taste (and
does it like it)?
Will temperature of the surface affect
snail's speed?
How the Amount of Light
Affects Germination and Growth.
The goal of the project is to find out how different lighting
conditions affect seeds germination and growth.
Hypothesis:
Light is extremely important for plants. Seeds will germinate
faster and grow better in the presence of light.
Materials:
3 transparent plastic containers with
transparent lids.
Paper towels
Water
2
cardboard boxes slightly bigger then plastic containers. Boxes should
be black inside and should close tight so that no light would leak
in.
Seeds.
Procedure:
Make 3-5
small holes in the walls of one cardboard box. Seal the holes with a
thin
white paper (this will ensure that seeds will receive no direct light).
Second box should stay completely lightproof.
Put layer of the paper towels on the
bottom of both containers and add
water until towels are reasonably wet (make sure that amount of water
is the same for all containers).
Put the same amount of seeds in each
container (50-100 is a good number). Put the lids of the containers on.
Put one container in the shaded box and
another in the lightproof box.
Put all containers in the same well lit
place (but make sure no direct sunlight hit the containers).
Do not open the boxes until experiment is
done.
Results:
Observe
the changes that happen to the seeds in the transparent container. You
can check containers in the black boxes only at night using very dim
light.
Wait until all live seeds developed root
and well defined green leaves.
Open
shaded and black boxes. Count germinated seeds for each container. Do
they look different? Is there a difference in the length of roots and
stems?
Measure the length of roots and stems of
the plants in each container.
Calculate average length of root and stem
for each container.
The Goal: to find out how different concentrations of salt and/or sugar
solutions will affect water evaporation rate.
Hypothesis: Solvable minerals and other chemical compounds have effect
on the water evaporation.
Materials:
Pure water.
Salt and sugar solutions of different
concentrations.
Measuring cup.
Few glasses of the same size and shape.
Constants: temperature, air pressure, humidity.
Variables: Concentrations of salt and sugar in the water.
Procedure:
Pour 100ml of water in the glass.
Pour
100ml of each salt and sugar solutions in the individual glasses. Mark
each
glass with number and write down which number refer to which solution.
Put glasses in a well ventilated place.
Mark liquid level on each glass witha
permanent marker (or weight the glasses).
Check
liquid levels each day. Depending on the temperature and humidity
liquids will evaporate faster or slower. Mark liquid level or weight
the glasses every day or every other day. Keep
records
of your results.
Experiment is complete when there is no more
liquid in one of the glasses.
Results:
If
you were making regular observations and records you should be able to
make a table and graphs for evaporation rate for each liquid. Can you
tell the difference between pure water evaporation rate and salt
solution evaporation rate? What about sugar?
Does a
magnetic field affect the germination process?
There
are many claims that magnetic field can positively affect processes in
living organisms. In this experiment we'll test this claims.
You'll need:
Strong magnet.
2 plastic boxes.
Water
Paper towels
200 linen seeds or other small seeds that
give sprouts fast.
Needle and thread
Hypothesis:
If strong magnetic field is good for living organisms, seeds probably
should germinate faster in its presence. They may also grow faster. The
effect of the field should be easy to measure by measurement of the
root and sprout length.
Constants: temperature, humidity, amount of water, plant species.
Variable: presence of magnet, strength of magnetic field.
Procedure:
First
we need to measure effective distance from our magnet. We do that
hanging needle on the thread just above the table and very slowly
moving magnet toward the needle until the needle will slightly incline
toward the magnet. Let's decide that at this point the
magnet
field is strong enough to affect the seeds. Stronger magnet
obviously will work better and have bigger effective distance. Measure
this distance and write it down.
Put the layer of the paper
towels on the bottom of both containers and add water until towels are
reasonably wet (make sure that amount of water is the same for both
containers).
Put 100 seeds in first (control)
container (make sure that they are evenly spaced).
Put
the magnet in second container. Put 100 seeds evenly spaced around the
magnet (mark the effective radius of the magnet and count how many
seeds
lay within this radius).
Put containers in the same conditions but
reasonably separated (1 meter distance between containers should be
enough).
Wait
a few days, until the seeds will germinate and start growing. Examine
the
plants. Observe what's going on with the seeds, write down your
observations. Mark time on your records. Calculate number of
successfully germinated plants in each container.
When
sprouts achieve length of 1.5-3 cm measure length of the root and stems
for each sprout in control container.
Measure length of the roots and sprouts in magnet container. Compare
the results.
Results:
Is there a
difference in the number of germinated plants in control and
experimental container? Was there difference in germination time?
Calculate
average length of root and average length of stem for control and
experimental container? (To calculate average length add length for
each plant and divide result by number of measured plants)
Can you see any difference in the plants that were growing in the
control
container and in the magnetic container?
Important tips:
Make sure that temperature and lighting conditions are exactly the same
for both containers.
Variations:
You can try this experiment with other model animals and plants you can
also use "magnetized water" instead of magnetic field.
Water
and conductivity.
The goal: Compare water conductivity to conductivity of different
concentration salt solutions.
Hypothesis: water can conduct electricity better if it have salt
dissolved in it.
You'll need:
2 Copper wires.
Ohm-meter.
Someone who show you how to use ohmmeter.
Procedure:
Prepare
salt solutions of different concentrations (for example 1 gram/liter, 5
grams/liter, 10g/l, etc until you make saturated solution)
Put one end of each copper wire into the
glass of water (make sure the wires are not touching each other in the
water).
Make sure the ohmmeter works properly (touch
both probes together).
Connect other ends to the ohmmeter probes.
Swap clean water with salt solution of
low concentration. Is there any difference?
Increase salt concentration and measure
resistance. What can you see?
Record your results and make a graph.
Variations:
You can modify or extend this 4th grade science fair project. Measure
resistance of other solutions (soda, vinegar, soap) and different
materials (including living organisms).
Anti-Freeze.
Pure
water turns into ice at temperature 0C (32F). What happens if you
dissolve different chemical compounds in the water? Will salt or sugar
prevent water
from freezing or slow down the process? You'll find it out in
this 4th
grade project. It's simple and can be done in 24 hours.
Hypothesis: Salt, sugar or soda will slow down or prevent water
freezing.
Constants: Volume of test chambers, temperature in the freezer, time
slots.
Variables: Concentrations of salt, sugar.
You'll need:
Refrigerator with enough space in the
freezer camera.
Plastic cups of the same volume.
Measure cup.
Timer.
Salt, sugar.
Water.
Thermometer (optional).
Marker
Procedure:
First
of all answer the question: how much time time does it take to freeze
50 mill of
water? It depends on the temperature in your freezer. Let's find it out.
Pour
50 mils of water in the plastic cup and put it in the fridge. Check
every 15 minutes until the ice is completely solid. Write down the
result time. Let's say it took 45 minutes. If you have a thermometer
which can measure temperatures below water freezing point, measure
temperature in your fridge.
Prepare 3 different salt solutions:
Take 3 cups and pour 100 mils of water into each cup. Dissolve 10g of
salt in first cup, 20g in second and 30g in third.
Prepare 3 different sugar solutions in 3
more cups. Use the same concentrations as with salt.
Take
7 plastic cups and mark them: one cup will be control, mark it as
"water", mark rest as "salt10", "salt20", etc... Measure 50 milliliters
of each solution and pour it into proper cups. Pour 50 mils of water in
the control cup. Put samples in the fridge.
Now you can wait
almost the same time it took to freeze our first trial of water. In our
case our first test cup froze in 45 minutes, so we can wait 40 minutes,
then check what's happening. After that check freezer each 10-15
minutes.
Do the records - how much time passed,
what's happening with the samples.
Arrange your results in the table. Do they support original hypothesis?
