One Day Science Fair Projects

Experiments that take more than a day to complete are not suitable for exhibiting in science fairs that are organized for a single day. Those experiments that can be completed within a day are always better options for students participating in exhibitions.

Unlike experiments that take three to four days for completion, one day science fair projects are short and easy to perform. You can finish them within a day with exact results and a conclusion. Even if you are required to submit the complete report, you will have sufficient time in hand to come up with a concise thesis.

Determining the boiling point of water under different conditions is a wonderful one day science fair project idea. We all know that pure water boils at 100°C. But have you ever tried to notice the difference in boiling point of water when solutes are added to it? So why not experimenting this for your science fair project?

Take three beakers and fill it with water. The first beaker will contain pure water while in the second beaker add a pinch of salt to water. The water contained in the third beaker will be mixed with one teaspoon of sugar. Label each bottle to avoid confusion. You can insert a thermometer separately in each vessel for measuring the temperature.

Now record the temperature and note it down in your practical record. You will observe that the boiling temperature of water containing dissolved salt and sugar is higher than that of pure water. Explain the experiment well with logical reasons and create an excellent project work.

Students find dry ice experiments extremely enjoyable because they are easy to conduct and they can be finished within a day. So what is dry ice? Carbon dioxide in its frozen state, having temperature of -109.3 degree Fahrenheit is dry ice. The common experiments that are performed with dry ice are inflation of a balloon, making smoke fountains and popping cans.

Creating a smoky fountain or artificial clouds is an excellent project work that could be performed with ease. You will need a tub containing warm water. Make sure that you are wearing gloves for handling the ice and then dip the cubes into water. You will notice that the ice sublimes gradually emitting lot of dense vapors. These vapors get suspended in the air and they look exactly like white clouds. A balloon could also be inflated with dry ice. How?

Stretch the mouth of a flaccid balloon and insert a few small cubes of dry ice into it. You can suspend the balloon in a vessel containing lukewarm water or rub it with your palm. The heat generated will cause the pellet to emit vapors that will inflate the balloon. You can write your project work with proper explanation and observation.

Project work related to identifying microorganisms could be performed in one day when you are supplied with bacterial samples that have been already cultured. You must have studied properties of different species of bacteria that are easily detected under a microscope.

To perform this experiment, you will require glass slides for viewing the bacterium under a microscope. Clean the slide with ethanol and air dry it. Make sure that there are no fingerprints on it.

Now scrape a little amount of bacterium from the provided samples with the help of a wire loop. Spread the sample on the slide and then stain it with the supplied stains. The stains that are commonly used for identification of gram positive and gram negative bacteria are safranin and iodine.

Then fix the bacterial smear over heat. The experiment should be carried out according to the steps provided in the protocol. View the slide under a microscope and identify the bacteria according to its staining properties. Then demonstrate the observation with appropriate diagrams and explain the observations logically.

We all know the importance of vitamin C in our body. Citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C and you can use this concept for comparing the amounts contained in different types of citrus fruits. Juice out an orange, a lemon and grapes and berries. The steps for conducting this experiment will be provided in your protocol. Nevertheless, you can follow these steps.

Make a paste with one tablespoon of cornstarch in water. Dilute this solution by adding 250 ml of water and set it to boiling for 3-5 minutes. Pipette out 75 ml of the solution in a beaker and then add 10 drops of starch solution to it. The indicator used is 2% iodine which is added to this solution to get a rich purple color.

Now transfer the starch-iodine solution into 4 test tubes, each containing 15 ml. Pour 10 drops of fruit juices into each test tube and observe the color change. The fruit that contains highest percentage of vitamin C will fade the color of the indicator solution most intensely.

The same concept can be utilized for finding out the nutritional content of different types of foods.

Since time is less, you must look for topics that can be completed quickly and that do not require much labor. Arrange everything in order with a proper explanation and give a presentation that will be applauded by all.