Physical Science Project

Physical Science Projects & Project Ideas. Our team of professional scientists, science teachers and educational consultants has put together an excellent collection of free physical science projects for kids.

1. Physical Science Projects 7th Grade
2. Physical Science Project Ideas For High School
3. Physical Science Projects For Teens

Chemistry can be defined as the study of matter and how that matter undergoes change. That is a pretty boring definition that leaves out all the fun and excitement that comes with studying chemistry. Chemistry is all around you; it explains baking and why an apple turns brown when cut open. Chemistry is the secret behind some magic tricks and colorful fireworks. So when you teach your students or children about chemistry move away from using textbooks, because this subject is best learned by observation and hands on experimentation.

Experiments About Chemical Reactions. Observing the Formation of a Gas. How a Chemical Reaction Can Produce Heat. The Formation of a Solid. The Occurrence of a Color Change.

The Elephant Toothpaste Experiment. Hot Ice. Mentos and Coke Experiment. Separate a Mixture One note before I move on to the activities. Make sure when you do scientific activities of any kind to go ask questions, go through the scientific method and have them form a hypothesis and discuss if they were correct at the end. It's good practice for more advanced science and it gets the mind working. The first experiment is a very simple one that shows children how to tell if a chemical reaction has occurred by observing the formation of a gas.

Materials Needed:. A bottle.

vinegar. baking soda. a balloon. a funnel How It's Done:.

Have the kids place a small amount (a couple tablespoons) of baking soda in the balloon using the funnel. Then have them pour vinegar into the bottle so it is about half full. Very carefully stretch the balloon around the top of the bottle, making sure you keep the balloon down so that the baking soda doesn't fall into the bottle just yet. Once the kids have formed their guesses have them tip the balloon up to allow the baking soda to drop into the bottle.

Make sure they hold the top of the balloon so that it doesn't come off. Once they have observed the reaction, ask questions.

What type of reaction occurred? How do they know? What is inside the balloon? Next we have an experiment that shows how a chemical reaction can produce heat. Materials Needed:. 1 tsp of yeast.

1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide. a stirring stick.

a thermometer. a bowl How It's Done:. Pour the peroxide into the bowl and place the thermometer in the liquid. Let it sit for a few minutes until the temperature has stabilized. Have the kids record this starting temperature.

Now have them make their guess as to what will happen and if it will be a chemical or physical change. Pour in the yeast and stir. The mixture should start to fizz and bubble which is a clue to the fact that a chemical reaction is happening, but have the kids keep their eye on the thermometer. They can also touch the outside of the bowl to physically feel the temperature change. Have them record the temperature the end.

Were they right? What type of change occurred? What made the temperature rise? Next up is the formation of a solid. You can also use baking as an example for this- bread is formed and cannot be separated back into flour and water, but this one is more fun. Materials Needed:. 3/4 cup of warm water.

Physical Science Projects 7th Grade

1 cup of glue. a large bowl. a cup. an additional 1/2 cup of warm water. 2 tsp borax. a spoon How It's Done:.

Adults: Place the 1/2 cup of warm water into a cup and stir in the 2 tsp of borax. Have the kids pour the water and glue into the bowl and stir them together. Ask them for any observations. Then have them stir while slowly pouring in the borax solution (this is a good 2 person job). Have them keep stirring until the solid forms completely.

Ask for their observations. Did a chemical change occur? How do they know? This is fun experiment with a fun outcome so don't forget to let them play with the new substance for awhile! The last thing to look for when trying to tell the difference between and chemical and physical reaction is the occurrence of a color change. Material Needed:. 3 test tubes with lids (or any container) filled half full with water.

food coloring. 3 containers: 1 containing bleach, 1 containing vinegar, 1 containing hydrogen peroxide. 3 droppers How It's Done:. Have the kids drop a couple drops of food coloring into each of the tubes containing water. Tell them you are going to add a different liquid to each of the 3 tubes of colored water and they have to decide if a chemical change happens or not.

Have them take one dropper full of the vinegar and add it to one of the colored tubes. Cap and shake, or stir, the tube. Allow them to make any observations before repeating this process with the remaining 2 liquids and tubes.

The bleach will produce a change in color indicating that a chemical change has occurred. And finally, here is an activity that can either be done as a demonstration or done by the kids on a smaller scale. It's called elephant toothpaste and it's even better than the exploding baking soda and vinegar. It also shows an example of a reaction that is both exothermic (gives off heat) and produces a gas. Materials Needed:. an empty plastic soda bottle (about 16 oz).

1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide ( the 3% version you can get at the store). 1 pkg of yeast.

1/4 cup of warm water. dish soap.

a cup. optional: food coloring How It's Done:. Adults: Pour the peroxide into the bottles. Have the kids place a few drops of food coloring into the bottles with the peroxide.

Physical Science Project Ideas For High School

Add a squirt of dish soap and swirl the bottle to mix. In the cup, mix the water and yeast and stir for a few seconds to combine. Then have them pour the yeast into the bottle with the peroxide and watch what happens!. Once the reaction has completed, they can feel the foam and observe the heat that was created. What did they observe? What are the clues that a chemical change occurred?

Note: If you want to make this a demonstration, you can use a higher percentage hydrogen peroxide. You can find 6% at beauty supply stores.

And sometimes even higher online. The resulting reaction will be much bigger and more impressive, but should be done completely by an adult.

Kids love experiments that cause eruptions! Plus kids love fizzing science experiments. These types of experiments also increase practical life and fine motor skills.

The mentos and coke experience is especially cheap, but it is still fun for kids and adults alike! Materials Needed:.

2 liter bottle of Diet Coke (it’s said that the sugar substitute in Diet Coke kick starts the reaction and gives a bigger geyser). 1 package of Mentos (the original mint flavor, the fruit flavored Mentos are covered in a wax which means there aren’t as many nucleation sites on them). QA place where you can get messy (like a picnic table outside or a driveway) How It's Done:. Place the bottle of Diet Coke squarely on a flat surface. Open the bottle.

Drop the Mentos candies into the bottle. Stand back and watch the geyser spray! This is a great experiment to help motivate your students to get used to writing observations. Who doesn't love eruptions?

Different types of matter can be combined to form mixtures. Thanks to properties such as size, shape, and density, mixtures can be separated back into their different kinds of matter. This experiment will demonstrate this simple concept to your students or children.

Materials Needed:. Salt. Spoon. Coffee filters. Water. Cups. Sand.

Straw How It's Done:. Stir a spoonful of sand into a half a cup of warm water. What happens to the sand?

Record your observations. In another cup, stir a spoonful of salt into a half a cup of warm water. What happens to the salt? Record your observations. Stick the straw into the salt water mixture.

Take a small sip.What does it taste like?What does this prove about the salt?. Look at the sand mixture and the salt mixture. How are the mixtures different?Record your observations. Do you think the mixtures can be separated?. Place a coffee filter over one of the empty cups. Carefully and slowly pour the sand mixture into the filter. Record your observations.

What happens to the water and the sand?. Try the same filtering method with the sand water. What happened? Taste the “filtered” salt water again with a straw. What do you notice about the taste?. Pour a small amount of salt water into another cup.

Set it on a windowsill and observe it every day for a few days. Record your observations. After the water is gone, what is left behind? A chemical change is when 2 substances are mixed together to form something new. This differs from a physical change, which is a substance changing physical forms but still retains its original properties.

Sometimes when a mixture is made it can be hard for kids to tell if a chemical change has occurred. Such as when mixing sugar and water, the sugar appears to be no longer present so children assume a chemical change has happened when in reality the mixture can be separated back into its original substances. There are 4 main clues that a chemical change has occurred.

There is a formation of gas which can be seen by a fizzing or bubbling. The reaction will cause heat, light or odor to be emitted. A color change is produced.

A solid is formed during the change These are good questions to have kids ask themselves while doing the experiments to help them to determine if a chemical change has occurred or if it is simply a physical change. For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: Show Details Necessary HubPages Device ID This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. Login This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. Google Recaptcha This is used to prevent bots and spam. Akismet This is used to detect comment spam.

HubPages Google Analytics This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. HubPages Traffic Pixel This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. Amazon Web Services This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. Cloudflare This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos.

Google Hosted Libraries Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. Features Google Custom Search This is feature allows you to search the site. Google Maps Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them.

Google Charts This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. Google AdSense Host API This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. Google YouTube Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. Vimeo Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them.

Physical Science Projects For Teens

Paypal This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. Facebook Login You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. Maven This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. Marketing Google AdSense This is an ad network. Google DoubleClick Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network.

Index Exchange This is an ad network. Sovrn This is an ad network. Facebook Ads This is an ad network. Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace This is an ad network. AppNexus This is an ad network.

Openx This is an ad network. Rubicon Project This is an ad network. TripleLift This is an ad network. Say Media We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. Remarketing Pixels We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. Conversion Tracking Pixels We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.

Statistics Author Google Analytics This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. Comscore ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. Amazon Tracking Pixel Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products.