Just a the title says I am needing some Ideas or help from you guys on what to do for a science fair project. And no its not for me hell i gave that up 15yrs ago its for my son hes 10 and in 4th grade. We are thinking something along the lines of something engine related or diesel related. Or if any of you might have any other ideas. I know this is boring stuff that most of us didnt like to do in school but im needing some ideas on what to do thanks in advance for any imput and thoughts on the matter

 

here is some good air filter info and how well they did for silicon (dust) levels

Air Filtration Results with Various Aftermarket Filters - A

I've tried several different filters on this truck over the years and have been doing an oil analysis every 3K miles to check silicone levels (that is dirt let in by the air filter for the newbies) to see how well they filter. Just for info's sake, here are my results.

The location specific silicone average, meaning what they see on average from all of the samples done from different people living in my area and is considered "normal", is 7 parts per million (PPM) silicon:

Stock Filter: Averaged 6 ppm

AFE Standard Media Filter: Averaged 15 ppm

AFE PG7 Media Filter: Averaged 10 ppm

Uni Foam Filter: Averaged 10 ppm

BHAF: Averaged 4 ppm

It looks like the stock filter is a decent filter. Not surprising I guess. What is surprising is how much better the BHAF did over the rest. I used a Donaldson G110119 BHAF and it just plain ROCKED!

The AFE standard media filter was terrible, to the point of "dusting" the motor in less than 3,000 miles. Avoid that one at all costs.

The AFE PG7 media filter and the Uni Foam filter did about the same as far as filtration. Although not bad, neither had stellar performance and neither would lend itself to extended oil drain intervals. With these samples taken at just 3,000 miles, expect the numbers to go up at least a couple ppm at 5,000 miles. Also, the Uni filter was half the size and didn’t flow nearly as much air as the AFE. I suspect that if Uni had a better selection of cone filters (I used the biggest one they make) and they had one that flowed adequately for me (could support my twins), I wouldn’t have put nearly the suction stress on it and it may have done quite a bit better. Just guessing there.

All of these filters, except the stock filter, was used with either an AFE or an Outerwears pre-filter.

If your going aftermarket and good air filtration is your biggest concern, or if your looking for extended oil drain intervals, a BHAF is definitely the way to go. I just found it interesting when comparing the numbers this morning and thought I would share it.
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how about the active volcano trick or the chemical reaction that takes place when you add mentos to coca cola or taking a set of cow lungs with the esophogus attached. put you hand over the skin and blow into it until the lungs expand. Coresponding paper is blood is oxygenated with each breath. what do you think of that last one done along time ago when wife had to do the same thing where she grew up in a farming community in michigan you wanted ideas blkjack there you are

 

Thanks guys those are great and he does acutally have a device for the mentos trick and have access to the cow lungs we butcher anywhere from 10-15 head a week for customers great ideas there and thanks for the info on the filters whit definatly got something there that would be good for filtration on cars very interesting stuff.

 

Make a battery using coins

 

Those aren't science projects, they're science demonstrations.

The goal is to devise and perform an experiment to test a hypothesis and demonstrate understanding of a physical principle; don't just explain why something works, prove it with tests.

Build a bunch of wooden frames and staple butcher paper to each one. Fire a 2-liter soda bottle rocket full of compressed air out of a PVC tube and through the frames; vary the air pressure in the bottle from 50-100 PSI and see how that affects how many sheets of butcher paper the soda bottle flies through. Graph the number of sheets the bottle flies through versus the pressure in the bottle; what does the graph look like?

If you can get on a dyno you could do lots of stuff with a Diesel engine. Junior year in high school I suckered a guy into letting me run my truck on a smog dyno for a couple hours while feeding propane into the air intake and recording the HC and NOx values on his 5-gas scanner. You can do similar with a hydrogen cell or water injection.

Test viscosity of Diesel fuel versus different temperatures. Get test tubes full of #2 fuel, #2 fuel treated with several off-the-shelf brands of anti-gel, kerosene and vegetable oil. Stick them in the fridge, drop a ball bearing into each test tube and time how long it takes for the ball bearing to hit the bottom of the tube. Put the test tubes into the freezer and repeat the process. Then find a sub-zero freezer and repeat the process again. You could also record pour point and clouding point differences at the different temperatures.

Build a floating arm trebuchet. Change the weight and arm height on the trebuchet. How does weight and arm height affect the distance it throws a ball?



Now the first time I read your post I thought it said that your son was 15 and in 10th grade. I see now that he's 10 and in 4th grade, so those ideas might be a little bit too advanced.

How far away from the remote control does the R/C car function? Does this distance change if the antenna is pulled out of the controller or if there's a wall in the line of sight?

How scratched up can you get a music CD before it stops playing? Use a couple different pawn-shop walkmans to see if one reads damaged CD's better than the other.

If you suck the air out of a 5-gallon water jug, will it bounce higher or lower when bounced from a height of 10 feet? What about when you put 7 PSI in it with your bicycle pump? Will it sound different? Bring pictures of the bouncing bottle along with audio recording of the sound.

Find a waste turbocharger, attach an air chamber to the exhaust flange (you'll get to weld) with a big PVC ball valve in between. Vary the pressure in the air chamber and see how that affects how long the turbo spins. Extra credit if you rig up a speed sensor.

 

I thought you would have recommended something with Boats....

 

How about making some bio diesel? You could show bottles of it in the various states and show titration?

 

thats an awesome idea bio fuel

 

That would be another one of those science demonstrations.


You need to have some sort of measurable controlled variable and some sort of measurable resultant variable. Higher X causes lower Y. Lower X causes lower Y. In general the results should be something that you can graph as X vs. Y.

The goal isn't to show how smart Little Johnny is by building a time machine. The idea is to devise and perform an experiment to support a theoretical understanding.


"Making Biodiesel" is not a science project. "Does biodiesel made from coconut oil have more BTU's then biodiesel made from peanut oil?" is a science project. "How do biodiesels from various stocks change viscosity when cold?" is a science project.

How about you build a hot air balloon and tether it to the ground with a spring-scale. Put a thermometer in the balloon while you heat it and record how much weight the balloon can lift for a given temperature difference between inner air and atmospheric air.