We’re always on the lookout for cool science experiments! Today’s post is really cool to do, and is written by a real rocket scientist – and mom – named Aurora Lipper.

Cool Science Experiment Using Soda and Mentos

About the Author – Aurora Lipper has been teaching science to kids for over 10 years. She is also a mechanical engineer, university instructor, pilot, astronomer, a real live rocket scientist (You should see the lab in her basement!) and a mom. She has inspired thousands of kids with the fun and magic of science.

PS If you’re looking for cool science experiments for the science fair, try 24 Hour Science Projects!

This is all explained very nicely in a boingboing blog post called Yeast? Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Yeast. And – a warning – there’s not so nice picture of fermenting yeast! To learn even more about it read this page on Exploratorium.

Yeast is just fascinating on a lot of levels. And a yeast science project is almost too easy to do. You can usually get anything you need at the supermarket and results are almost instantaneous. The fermentation of yeast is a chemical change, and there are tons of different demonstrations and experiments that you can use for your science fair.

Our The Yeast Beast project, for example, is advertised as a demonstration, but it can also be done as a science experiment, and instructions for doing it that way are in the guide.

One popular project involving chemicals is an experiment determining which fruit or fruit juice has the most vitamin C. A simple indicator is made with cornstarch and iodine. Students (and parents) enjoy watching the chemical reaction that occurs along with titration, which is a fancy way of saying “putting in drops”. This project can be modified in several different ways, allowing your student’s creativity to shine. We get letters from many students telling us that this easy science project was submitted to the fair, and was chosen as a winner.

Another great science project involving a chemical change is watching what happens as yeast ‘eats’ sugar. In this project, warm water and yeast are placed in a bottle with a bit of sugar. A balloon is placed over the mouth of the bottle. As the yeast consumes the sugar, carbon dioxide is released, causing the balloon to blow up. This project is so much fun to watch that our kids did it over and over until we ran out of yeast.

Both of these projects can be done as demonstrations; they offer dramatic reactions that students will be able to observe immediately. Both science projects can also be experiments. They naturally lend themselves to a question, the formation of an hypothesis, and testing. The results can easily be graphed to form a conclusion.

Get step by step instructions for both of these projects at http://www.24hourscienceprojects.com“>24 Hour Science Projects. Along with a FREE Parent’s Guide to Science Fair Projects, we have all sorts of ideas for your scientist, starting at the most elementary, and working up to the more advanced chemical change science projects.

Here’s my response: Remember, an Independent variable is what “I” change. So in this experiment, the independent variable would be the types of fruit. The dependent variable is what changes because of the independent variable (the type of fruit). And since the number of drops depends on the type of fruit, that would be the dependent variable.

Another example, from our guide:

Variables – When doing a science experiment, there are things that you, as the scientist, control to make sure your test results are dependable:
• Independent Variable – The independent variable is the thing that you change in the experiment. All the other things in your experiment should stay the same. For example, in our experiment the independent variable is the type of fertilizer. We’ll use the same kind of pot, soil, and plant. We’ll have the plants get the same amount of light and stay in the same room at the same temperature. We’ll add the same amount of water. The only thing that will change is the kind of fertilizer.
• Dependent Variable – The dependent variable is the thing that changes because of the independent variable. For us, that would be the height of the plant. The height of the plant changed because we changed the type of fertilizer.
• Control – The Control is the group in which nothing changes at all. In the fertilizer experiment, that would be the group of plants that only was given water with no fertilizer.

For more information – including step by step instructions – on this project, check out 24 Hour Science Projects.

Using iodine as an indicator is an easy but fascinating way to show the presence of vitamin C.

If you’re interested in doing this project, visit “24 Hour Science Projects“.

Bread Mold Science Fair Projects Ideas by Doug Nicholson

If you’re looking for an interesting science fair project, then you may want to read more about bread mold science fair projects that you can do. They are easy and inexpensive to do but also allow you to follow all the steps of the scientific method.

It helps to first understand a little about mold. Mold is another word for fungi whose bodies gather and congeal together to form cottony vegetative bodies. Not all mold is cottony, however. Types of slimy mold are more like amoeba than their cottony cousins and leave a moister, slicker mass on the molded surface. However when it comes to bread, you will most always see the drier, threadlike mold.

Mold commonly grows on bread faster in warm, dark, moist conditions. However, mold can grow in light, and some molds can even grow on frozen foods. Molds grow in varying conditions, at varying speeds, in every color you can think of.

Not just a disgusting addition to old food, mold can be beneficial in many ways. One of the most common ways mold is used positively is to make antibiotics such as penicillin. In 1928, Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin when he found mold growing on a discarded petri dish. The mold itself was not the miracle. Fleming discovered that the mold that had grown had killed the Staphylococcus aureus that he’d been growing in that particular petri dish. The rest is history!

Now that you know a little more about bread mold, you can use the ideas below to help you find potential bread mold science fair projects.

Does sodium have an effect on the growth of bread mold?

How and why does mold form on bread?

Is bread mold harmful to the human body if consumed? Why?

What are the optimal conditions for growing bread mold? Why?

Does light have an effect on the growth of bread mold? If so, what kind?

Do certain types of breads mold faster than others?

How to grow bread mold…

Take a cotton swab and collect some dust. Wipe the dust over the bread slices you want to experiment with. Place them in a bag with a few drops of water and seal the bag so the slices don’t dry out.

Now you know a little more about bread mold and the types of experiments you can do. You may have an idea of what you’d like to try as a project. Simply by asking questions about things that interest you, you can come up with great bread mold science fair projects that can be fun to do!

Doug Nicholson is a nuclear engineering technician, science hobbyist, and amateur inventor. Visit his site http://www.science-projects-resources.com for lots more science fair projects ideas and articles.

Article Source: Free Articles ArticleSnatch Article Directory

Iodine and vitamin C like each other, and when they are put in the same container, they will combine. When you are adding the iodine to the juice and the starch mixture, as long as there is still vitamin C that has not been combined with the iodine, the color will stay the color of the juice, but after you reach the equivalence point- when you have added as much iodine as there is vitamin C – then the iodine starts combining with the cornstarch. When iodine combines with cornstarch it turns blue.

And if you’re doing our award winning experiment Vitamin “C”itrus, here’s a hint: the more iodine it takes, the more vitamin C there is.

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