7th Grade Science Project Ideas?

[skymama 35]

My son has to do one of those huge science projects that take months to do and he has to do a study with a report, charts, graphs, conclusions, big display, etc. *SIGH*..... Anyway, my great idea was to do something skydiving related. At first I came up with, "how does a ram-air canopy fly" but he says he actually has to do an experiment. We've thought of the typical round vs. ram-aim study. Does anyone else have any thoughts on other topics, or even how to make that one top notch? Please no suggestions that involve drugs, sex or beer....this is 7th grade!

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[coconutmonkey 0]

Is this a general physical science class, chemistry or biology? Does he have an aptitiude/prpference?

Hearts & Minds
2 to the Heart-
1 to the Mind-
Home of the Coconut Lounge, Spa, & Artillery Range

[pegasus 0]

well I doubt if you'll wanna use my idea, but it got me an A in 7th grade science 17 years ago. I will prelude by, I grew up on a large performance quarter horse farm in central FL....

I made a light bulb light up from decompossing horse poop...

yep, it stunk...but it worked...

I'm sure I can find the notes for it somewhere seeing how I'm a pack rat & all....

[pds 0]

nope, nuthin in the tardblog for cielomadre

but wait!

there is a pooflinging incident for pegasus...

namaste, motherfucker.

[pleifer 0]

not remebering the proper scientific name for it is

the law in science that objects with the same air resistance (i.e. a feather falls slower than a grape)
will fall at the same rate, like droping a bowling ball and a grape from ten feet, in theroy they should hit the ground at the same time.

_________________________________________
The Angel of Duh has spoke

[pds 0]

Quote

not remebering the proper scientific name for it is

the law in science that objects with the same air resistance (i.e. a feather falls slower than a grape)
will fall at the same rate, like droping a bowling ball and a grape from ten feet, in theroy they should hit the ground at the same time.

Galileo Overthrows Aristotle or How (Why) do Objects Fall?

namaste, motherfucker.

[skydyvr 0]

Perhaps a study about parachute landings. He would have to watch and gather data about many landings over some number of days. Example, how many standups, PLFs, injuries, high perforamce vs. normal, how many fouled up landings compared to the wind speed or type of landing, etc. The conclusion could pertain to suggestions for better safety.

. . =(_8^(1)

[PhreeZone 15]

Not skydiving related but heres an idea.

What brand of battery lasts the longest? Sounds like a simple idea but there are LOTS of datapoints that can be gathered and lots of variables that can be changed.

Simple experiment is to toss batteries into a flashlight (or gameboy ) and start a timer until the light does'nt light anymore or until the Gameboy does'nt power up anymore. To make it slightly more complex get a Multimeter And do voltage checks on the batteries every hour of use and you can plot their usage. To add even more complexity you can use variables like temperature (freeze the batteries) and measure the difference in lifetime. For an added data series he could try a lithium battery for more range.

Total cost will be about $50-75 for the batteries and another $20 for the multimeter but it will litterly take weeks to test 3 or 4 brands by testing them every hour of use. Great way to use a few weeks of collecting data, and with the shear amout of data thats able to be collected and docuemented (times, battery position in device, temperature, ect) there is no problem filling an entire notebook with notes.

I did something like this for my 8th grade project and it was great. Not too complex (like the one girl that wanted to see what temperature changes would do to egg production on chickens) but hard enough if you want to be complete and present truely accurate results.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[skymama 35]

Thanks for the ideas so far, you guys. It is a general science class, and I was hoping to keep it within the realms of skydiving. If it is skydiving related, it will be less painful for me to help. Actually, he's my little skydiver wanna-be, so he wants to do something realted to skydiving also.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Casch 0]

Hmm, if you haven't already, you can show him how to pack, and then record the opening charactoristics on a few different packjobs w/ a few different techniques. and determine the easiest/safests/longest snivel/shortest snivel etc

[PhreeZone 15]

You live near Deland... RWS is right there and I'm sure you could think of experiments involving the 3 ring. Breakway force for straight hanging, line twists (count the twists), with/without riser inserts, red vs yellow cables, Different weights hanging. Another good one is to show common rigging errors in the 3 ring and the impact they make on the breakaway force required.

Thats a lot of putting a 3 ring back together, but its still skydigin related and he'd get lots of cutaway practice

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Casch 0]

And he'll NEVER forget how to assemble a 3-ring!

[Bolas 5]

Skydiving related or skydiver related? If the latter you can do what brands of spray paint explode largest in a bonfire?

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[lewmonst 0]

Why not have him do drop tests, it's fun. Then he can compare times and make a hypothesis about how mass and air resistence affect terminal velocity of different objects... From 2 or 3 stories high, and try to measure the height, drop things like a book, an egg, a feather, a paper wadded into a ball, a paper not folded at all, a soccer ball, a bowling ball (watch out!), a paper cup, a Gi Joe with a parachute, a GI Joe without a parachute, a stuffed animal, etc....
And time of course how long it takes to from letting go to hitting the ground. Compare times. Discuss that even though the force of gravity is the same on every object, objects only fall at the same rate in a vacuum. In our world with air, resistence on those objects slows them down. The best comparison would be the GI Joe with and without the parachute, then he can talk about skydiving and how his coolass mom skydives and how the parachute slows her down so she can land safely...

and of course, the more creative you get with objects, the better!
don't forget to include photos, excel spreadsheet of times and graphs and stuff like that.
Video would be even better! Especially with some funny objects. And how high can you get to drop stuff...

Ooooh, i wish i could have done that in 7th grade!

peace
lew

http://www.exitshot.com

[Jumpervint 0]

Grapes spark when they blow up in a microwave. You can do this one, and compare to other fruit. there's the experiment, and you can make graphs and charts galore.

Look here:

http://www.pmichaud.com/grape/


Vint

. . . . .
"Make it hard again." Doc Ed

“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free” Nikos Kazantzakis

[andy2 0]

why don't you dig up your family gerbil in the backyard and look at the dessicated corpse?

---------------------------------------------
let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...

[skymama 35]

Wow...thanks for the ideas, Lew. One sure can tell that you're a teacher!

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[pds 0]

Quote

Wow...thanks for the ideas, Lew. One sure can tell that you're a teacher!

the lewser is a teacher? wow, i dint know that.

7th Grade Science Project Ideas

namaste, motherfucker.

[wmw999 2,148]

Last year one of my neighbor's son did "which bandaid stays on the best?" by attaching a half-dozen bandaids to each active leg. VERY easy.

Another is "how much water do the crystals in disposable diapers hold?"

And another (the neighbor's other son came over the other night for ideas) is "how long does it take steel wool to rust in different liquids (distilled water, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, salt water, etc).

None are skydiving-related, but all are pretty easy, and the first two stand to get some points for originality.

I judge 7th-8th grade district and regional science fair on a pretty regular basis
Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[peek 20]

Quote

My son has to do one of those huge science projects ...... do something skydiving related

We have something on our web site just for students like him needing project help:
Park College Parachute Research Group
pcprg.com, the "Student" area.

[skymama 35]

Wow, those links are great. Thanks so much!

When I saw your post, I told my Dad (also my boss) how great and helpful skydivers are. He replied, "that's because you all want to draw people into that sick and twisted world of yours, just like a cult!"

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Ron 7]

Newtons Law (I think its the 3rd)....

For every action there is an opposite reaction.

You can show how a skydiver moves by deflecting air with his body.

You can have him show pictures or video of you in freefall doing turns and tracking...Also you can have pictures of him doing the same in the tunnel.

For the class you can get a box fan and place it on two saw horses lying horizontal, blowing up (Like a SkyVenture for REALLY small people). Then go get some of those cool hand fans they give out at sporting events....You know the big round ones with the giant popsicle stick glued on the back.

Have him show the class how the hand fan can difflect the air from the box fan and how the wind pushes the hand fan around....The class mates can even have a turn at it.

Ron

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[Jayruss 0]

What about some human psychical response to skydiving. One of the coolest things I’ve ever done was to wear a heart rate monitor on a skydive. I got to see my standing heart rate, the plane ride up, climb out, freefall track off and to my surprise a major peek in heart rate right after opening when I go into what I call attack canopy flying (you know that first few seconds after opening when you grab your risers and check the sky for close canopies) then I got to see the rate settle down as I landed.

Your son could put the heart rate thingy on different jumpers, as I was surprised at how fast my heart rate was considering I felt "normal" the whole time. He could use everything from first jump students to people with 1000's of jumps. Maybe he'd get lucky and have someone wear it during a cut away.

It would have something to do with the conditions of the human body during freefall. If not everyone should try a heart monitor at least once, it was a cool experience.

__________________________________________________
"Beware how you take away hope from another human being."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes