What is a good science experiment for a 15 yr old to do at home?

Question

My daughter has to do an experiment at home and write a report etc....can be on anything, but she has no idea where to start that's not too complicated! She'd maybe like to do something maybe to do with music/sound (she's a cello and piano player) so it fits in with her interests.

Any ideas welcome!! Thanks!

Answer 1

I don't know about music, but how about testing those 'green bags' to see if they really work?  I have my doubts.  You know, those bags that are supposed to keep vegetables and fruit fresh.  It wouldn't be hard to test, and I'm pretty sure the results will be along the lines of 'they don't work nearly as well as the commerical claims'.

Answer 2

the effects of music on plants... for instant will a plant exposed to hours of rock music thrive more than a plant exposed to classical, or vice versa. it's been done many times, it won't be an original idea but it would be easy, fun, and involves her love of music. maybe she can play the cello to one :)

Answer 3

Here's an easy idea. Go purchase some votive candles in various colors or scents. You can light them and see which color/scent burn the fastest.  I had a student do this once. He thought that the white candle would burn fastest because it didn't have the 'extra' coloring added to it.

Be sure to use a white or unscented candle as your control.  Also don't forget to REPEAT the test at least twice to ensure that your first set of data wasn't just a fluke. This one is also really easy to make graphs because you can get lots of data.

Although if you do the plants/music- Mythbusters did that and you would have some research to go along with your findings. It just depends on how long you have to complete the project.