Suggestions for gun-related 8th grade science project neeeded

[J-Bar]

I suggest that a science project that involves shooting a .22 rifle at objects made of different materials would be fun for your kid and interesting to the other kids. Interesting hypotheses could be made around: how the target is supported, how thick it is, what it is made of, whether or not it breaks, how far it penetrates, or whether it makes an interesting/artistic splatter pattern (say if the objects are fruits/vegs) against a posterboard backing...

A variation on this...use the gun as a measuring instrument.

Use a .22 with only one kind of ammo as a standard. Get a variety of different kinds of wood and determine the relative hardness of the various woods by measuring penetration depths. Repeat several times and calculate averages for each type of wood to eliminate variations in grain effects in the same kind of wood.

Science fair projects that produce experimental data and analysis fare better than demonstrations of well-known principles.

 

[dogmush]

I actually did a firearms project in high school (some years ago). I did a study on energy transfer to targets (solid and fluid filled) with different projectiles. I backed it up with a bunch of math on how much KE was in the projectile, and how much was transferred to the target. Variables were 1. targets (pine and watermelons) and projectile speed and design (.38 SWC, .38 RN, .38 JHP, .357 JHP) I filmed everything and brought the remains of the .357 watermelon in as the display. It went well, and my physics teacher was impressed.