Science Fair Ideas

[bass806]

My 9 year old son is interested in guns and shooting. His school's science fair is coming up and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for a shooting sports/firearm/ballistics, etc. related project he could try. It would of course have to conform to a school district's rigid rules,( no actual guns, ammo, etc) but I thought there must be something related that would be cool to try. My wife has warned me that some teachers/judges may be biased and anti-gun so we might be handicapped from the start. I think the right project could be educational and interesting for the kids at least. Any ideas are appreciated.

 

[badgerw]

At my son's high school last year, one student had a firearms-related science fair project.

He documented testing different brands of .22LR ammo in barrels of different length. He recorded velocity with a chronograph. Then he analyzed the data and offered hypotheses to account for the differences.

My son built a trebuchet and tested it with different types of projectiles, from plastic beads to glass marbles to buckshot. He recorded distance travelled and depth of penetration into his target.

Best of luck.

Bill

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Well, not 100% firearms...more like pre-firearm technology.

Trebuchets, ballistas, catapults and similar siege weapons can easily demonstrate projectile motion. Scale models can consist of popsicle stick models that sit in the palm of your hand launching little balsa wood beads, to larger tabletop models that launch ping pong balls or similar, and go bigger from there. Smaller scale ones are completely harmless and fun for all ages.

The basic sience can be explained with simple algebra, but at age 9, it wouldn't exactly be the right level of mathematics. However you can still use visual aids and introduce general concepts of gravity and parabolic flight to describe the basic idea without getting into the algebra itself.

A popular demo was getting people to guess what would happen when you dropped a projectile and shot one horizontally at the same time. Since horizontal velocity has no bearing on time in flight, they both hit the ground at the same time.

You can also incorporate the history of siege weapons, early rocketry, muskets, to the modern firearm as substance since a science fair on projectile motion without the math is a bit thin.

That's the best idea I can think of for a science fair project that is ballistics related, of the proper grade level, and not scary for the general public.

 

[RH822]

As a sixth grader(9 yrs ago) my son did one titled "External Ballistics". All he did was to compare the impact points of different hand loads using the same bullets at 3 different velocities. He did it with 158gr JFP and 125 gr JHP. He clamped my Marlin 1894CS in a bench vise to insure a consistent sight picture. He used six 1/2" grid targets and fired a total of 9 rounds (3 of each flavor) at each target. He then plotted his results (velocity, bullet weights and impact point) into an excel spreadsheet and made graphs from that data. He took first place in the school with it and was sent to regionals, but did not place.

RH

 

[cmb3366]

Not exactly firearms relateds, but one that'll get a good look fron the judges. A Mini plating bath, consisting of a plastic tub filled with vineger/water for electrolyte, a postive electrode, and a negative electrode hanging above the bath. Hang a copper object off one electrode into the bath (cant remember which electrode off the tope of my head), and a brass object on the other electrode. Hook up a 9 volt lantern cell, and in a minute or 2 you'll have a copper plated brass object. Electrochemistry at work and it'll wow the judges.

 

[squekie]

I was a guest Judge one year , a kid did one on Shotguns and Choke Tubes.
There was another one a couple of years later if I think of it I will post.

 

[X-Rap]

My daughter did one on trajectory using a potato cannon that fired tennis balls. We cronoed all the shots and the distance they traveled also the angle of the cannon when fired. This gave her the maximum trajectory of the projectile. She only used the shots that had similar velocities so the test was quite accurate. She lost to a girl that rubbed pieces of bread on everything in the school, railings doorknobs,drinking fountain ect. then waited for mold to grow. Like mold wouldn't grow if you left the bread alone. My son also made a Ballista but didn't win either. The teachers all know the gun nut dad and won't reward that bad behavior.

 

[armedandsafe]

I remember doing one in high school, comparing the flight of a bullet to the parabolic curve of a telescope mirror, an RF dish antenna and a golf ball. One judge at State wanted to disqualify me because "everyone knows the bullet leaves the barrel so fast that it hops up and then flies straight to the target." Yes, the other judges laughed.

Pops

 

[LkWinnipesaukee]

My friend and I made an air cannon (2.25 caliber ) last year for an egg launcher project. We had to keep the egg from breaking when it hit the ground. We put about 150PSI in a PVC tank with a butterfly valve. Opened the valve, the air came out, pushed the wad (much like how a shotgun works), then the egg, encased in foam.

Not really scientific, but a ton of fun.

Ohh, and I guess PVC tubung explodes when pressurized to around 170psi, and it sends shrapnel EVERYWHERE

 

[Chipperman]

My kids would probably get expelled for doing a science project on guns. :banghead:

 

[GunnySkox]

In 10th grade I did a science fair project on taking a selection of propellants and determining which one was the best for my potato cannon.

My dad helped me work backwards from the time-in-flight to the muzzle velocity of the calibrated potato projectiles, and it was definitely the only cool thing I ever did in high school.

~GnSx

 

[ripcurlksm]

My son built a trebuchet and tested it with different types of projectiles, from plastic beads to glass marbles to buckshot. He recorded distance travelled and depth of penetration into his target.

Bitchin!

 

[Starter52]

+1 on the trebuchet project. Great idea. The potato cannons sound good too.

All I remember from my science fair days are baking soda volcanoes and models of the solar system.

 

[bass806]

Thank you all for the ideas. Keep um coming.

 

[Manedwolf]

If you want it to be judged "most popular" by the kids, if you have a DVcam, videotape a shot hitting things like an apple, a melon, Twinkie, glass, etc... slow down the film, and put it as a loop on a flatscreen at the booth.

 

[rms/pa]

burn times of different powders. just long troughs with various powders with different burn times . will look really impressive, mild safety risk but really no more than the volcanos.

rms/pa

 

[Lucky]

You could shoot a heavy pendulum and measure it's movement, and use that to calculate the impact energy. Margin of error would be based of the size of the plate to the length of the rope, and how far the shots strayed.

 

[zoom6zoom]

Build a rail gun. It's an "electromagnetics" experiment, teacher, not a firearm!

 

[trainwreck100]

+1 on the electrolysis. Between my cousin and I we wore that one out, and got 1st place every time...He did electroplating, I did electrostripping one year and rust prevention the next year, and he split water into H and O2 the same year...we tied for best of show.

Greg

 

[tank mechanic]

the rail gun idea is a very quick and painless project, consisting of aluminum foil, a couple magnets and a nine volt battery. and it is pretty cool when you get it to work.

 

[Furncliff]

A project involving the history and physics of firearm bullet shapes and barrel configurations. From smooth bore, round shot up thru mini-ball, cartridges, rifling, and their affects on accuracy. Could be done with cannons also.

.....................graphics could be loaded into and shown on a laptop

 

[dfaugh]

Here's a good one, that's firearms related, but not entirely...and also kinda cool to demonstrate. Build a "miniature" wind tunnel (using a household fan, and a pile of straws too get laminar airflow). Test/show the different airflows of differently shaped objects (Gee, bullets would be good wouldn't they?) You could do flatnose/hollow point/boattail/round ball etc.)

 

[justatexasboy]

A really interesting project that would really get some attention would be a linear magnetic propulsion drive canon. Its incredibly easy to set up and a highly visual project.

Another would be a modified gauss canon.

Neither of these would use powder although they are both ballistic in nature.

Your nine year old will get a real kick out of the magnetic drive canon. It is fascinating to watch work.