Surface area is what’s on the outside. Image you make two cubes out of playdough – measuring 1 inch on each side. There will be six square inches on the outside of the cubes. Then image you flatten one of the cubes, and make it as thin as possible. Way more than six square inches will be on the outside. There is more surface area in a ‘puddle’ of playdough than in a cube.

Now imagine that the playdough is frozen water – a frozen cube and a frozen puddle. Which do you think will melt faster?

That’s what A Slice of Ice will tell you. See what a cool experiment it is?!

The first thing you’ll have to do is make ice of different shapes, but containing the same amount of water. Our experiment guide tells you an easy (and cheap!) way to get ice containers. Then you have to calculate the surface area. Depending on the type of object you have, there are different formula to calculate surface area. Our science project guide has the formula you need built into a spreadsheet. You just measure and plug in the numbers – and it will be calculated for you!

Purchase our package of guides here, and you’ll get step-by-step instructions for this project, a list of online and offline references, and photographs. Plus, you’ll get four more guides to cool science projects.

PS Parents, this science project can be done for almost no cost, if any at all. Don’t wait! Go to 24 Hour Science Projects today, and get your guide to cool science experiments!

We had our big Thanksgiving meal over the weekend, and I’m just getting to making broth from that huge turkey carcass. I covered it with water, added a couple of onions and garlic…and simmered away. I needed the broth to be ready quickly, so after it cooled a bit, I got ready to put it into the refrigerator.

So I grabbed a pot. And then saw a second pot. Hmmm. One pot was tall and thin, another was wider at the base. Which one would allow the broth to get cold the fastest?

Then I remembered the science project, A Slice Of Ice, where you experiment to see if ice melts faster at a high surface area or a lower one. I knew that the opposite was true, too, so I looked at the two pots, and realized that the one with the wide base had a greater surface area than the tall and skinny one.

Who says science can’t be applied to everyday life?! I love it.

PS So – with my science project application hat on – which one did I choose? Get your copy of A Slice of Ice here – and find out!

With today’s increased awareness of how important it is to take care of the environment, it’s great when kids can do a science experiment with results that could change the way their own family takes care of the earth. Our toilet paper experiment (or – as the supermarket calls it – “bathroom tissue”), does just that! A Straight Flush helps kids find out which toilet tissue is the most biodegradable. The results of the experiment may influence what brand of toilet paper that home purchases.

A Straight Flush compares the weight of tissue samples before and after spending time in our ’simulated’ toilet. It requires really accurate scales, which can be expensive. We’re cheap at our house, so we opted to use the scales in the post office. (You could also ask to use the scales at a pharmacy or at a grocery store.) We still laugh at the thought of how it looked for us to traipse into the post office with samples of toilet paper.

Whatever it takes for our kids!

PS Toilet Tissue science projects are just gross enough to be great Middle School Science Projects!

Go here to read more about toilet paper and septic systems.

Exploring Weather – Fill a baking pan with dirt from your backyard. Tilt one end about four inches, and lean on a stack of bricks. Place the bottom end into another baking pan. Wait for rain, and watch how the water erodes the dirt. If you want, fill a second pan with dirt that has grass growing in it, and compare the amount of soil that washes into the ‘catch’ pan.

Messy Volcano Science Project – Form a mud ‘volcano’ around an empty plastic soda bottle. First, add a package of quick acting yeast to the bottle, then add a cup of hydrogen peroxide. Stand back for the eruption.

Sun Bleach – Place several different colors of construction paper in the back window of your car. On each piece of paper, place random solid objects, such as scissors, keys, or small toys. Leave in the car all day, then remove the object. The sun will have faded the part of the paper not covered up.

Night Vision – Go outside at night to a very dark spot. Take a look around, and note what you see. Wait fifteen minutes and watch how much more your eyes can see after they have adjusted to the darkness.

Or think of your own projects. Bubbles, water, plants, rocks, wind…all are great science projects to do outside. For even more ideas, get our free science project guide at http://www.24hourscienceprojects.com. In addition to a FREE science project guide, we’ll show you how to learn a lot and have a lot of FUN with your OUTDOOR science project!

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.

1. Find out if salt affects the boiling point of water. Using distilled water, measure the temperature at which water boils with different amounts of salt added. This easy experiment can be done fast – in under an hour!

2. Test types of insulation to see which works best. Freeze bottles of water, insulate them with various building materials, and see which one stays frozen the longest. This is science project is great for students concerned about our environment.

3. Make a tornado. Simply half fill a clear 2 liter soda bottle with water, and swirl it until it makes a tornado. This is an easy elementary demonstration, that probably won’t win the science fair, but will fascinate younger students while allowing them to observe swirling currents. (We bet you’ll get a kick out of it, too!)

4. Measure the amount of oxygen that is in air. Put duct tape on a hand warmer, activate it, and quickly tape it to the bottom of a tall jar. Invert the jar and put the mouth into a pan of water. As the hand warmer heats up, it will use up the oxygen in the glass, causing the water level to rise. If you’re traveling to and from the mountains and compare the amounts of oxygen, this is a great experiment. Otherwise, it’s a cool demonstration.

5. Compare brands of toilet tissue to see which is most biodegradable. Weigh samples of different brands of tissue, place them in water and allow them to break down. After a day, ‘flush’ the samples through a funnel, then weigh what is left. Your results may change your shopping habits! Get the instructions for this earth science project here.

Earth Science Project Instructions

Detailed instructions on these earth science projects – and a free parent’s guide to science projects – are at 24 Hour Science Projects.