Ideas for a 7th Grade Science Fair Engineering Project
You can take many angles for a science fair project topic. One suitable angle for a 7th grade science fair is engineering. As engineering contains many areas of study, from aerodynamics to computer systems, you will have a wide selection for topic ideas. In addition, engineering projects are often hands-on, which makes them appropriate for a 7th-grade project.
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Aerodynamics
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Engineers need to use aerodynamic concepts to design structures. Science fair projects that focus on this area of engineering need to demonstrate how the student accounts for wind in the design of a structure. For example, engineers build lighthouses on the coast that must be able to withstand strong winds. You can construct buildings of multiple shapes and hypothesize which will endure wind the best. Use a hair dryer to simulate wind and test each structure.
Materials Engineering
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Engineers must consider many different types of materials when building structures. If you want to take this angle for a science fair project, you could compare the different traits of building materials and which to use for specific applications. For example, when considering what material to use in a design, an engineer may need something that is both strong and lightweight. Design a project where a piece of wood must hold a heavy object, such as a jug of water, but with the condition that the wood must not be too heavy. You can go about finding where to put holes and how many in the piece of wood so that the material is made lighter but retains its structural strength.
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Thermodynamics
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Temperature plays a large part in the field of engineering. A project in thermodynamics should demonstrate that you understand how temperature affects a specific substance. For example, the evaporation of a liquid cools the air around it. You can design a science fair project to analyze how different liquids produce different cooling effects on the area around them. For this project, you can let different types of liquids evaporate and measure the change in air temperature in the surrounding area by placing thermometers near them. Then determine which liquids produce the strongest cooling effects.
Software Engineering
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Software engineers use computer code to help people perform complex tasks. For example, the Internet is a result of software engineering; and though its usefulness is clear, it is not always easy to find the information you want. One project idea is to analyze search engines. Take a list of search engines and state a subject in which you are interested. Enter some words associated with that subject into each search engine and count how many relevant results you get on the first few pages of each search engine for each search. Determine which search engine produces the most relevant results for that subject.
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References
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