Science Fair project on bombs?

[Jumping In Puddles]

My ds8 would love to do his project about bombs: atomic bombs, nuclear bombs, nuclear warheads, what makes a nuclear bomb the worst bomb and why don't we use it all the time? And about 1000 other questions about bombs.

 

This is what he came up with when I asked him to think about a science fair project. :001_huh:

 

Should I ask him to come up with something testable or is there something I'm missing to actually turn his interest in bombs into a science fair project?

 

Thanks :)

[bettyandbob]

I always think a good science fair project includes experiments.

 

As much as he wants, I can't imagine that he can do experiments with this.

 

When my ds started at public high school, I remember his honors science teacher giving short speech on "boy" projects not being permitting at science fair.

 

"boy" projects: fire, explosion, live animals.

[Jumping In Puddles]

Thanks Betty. :) I am sending him back to the drawing board!

[LidiyaDawn]

Is this for a program of some sort, where there are a bunch of rules about what topics can and can't be chosen?

 

If it is, he'll prolly need another topic. If, however, this is specifically for your homeschool - I'd help him research and have FUN learning about a topic that has apparently caught his interest. :D There's likely some "kitchen explosions" you could play around with for some hands on stuff if he wanted that...

 

A story of my own: I still remember my grade seven science teacher ridiculing me in class when I said that I wanted to do some sort of project on psychic abilities. I'd been so excited and had all sorts of ideas flying around in my head, questions I wanted to answer, tests and experiments that I wanted to do... and he stomped right over it and made me feel like crud. I never bothered with the science fair again.

 

I'm not saying you're ridiculing - that was him. I'm just saying that I think it's important to encourage the curiosities... help our kids follow up on what they want to know. Even when the knowledge that they're seeking is off the path and down into the woods a ways. ;)

[Jumping In Puddles]

Is this for a program of some sort, where there are a bunch of rules about what topics can and can't be chosen?

 

If it is, he'll prolly need another topic. If, however, this is specifically for your homeschool - I'd help him research and have FUN learning about a topic that has apparently caught his interest. :D There's likely some "kitchen explosions" you could play around with for some hands on stuff if he wanted that...

 

A story of my own: I still remember my grade seven science teacher ridiculing me in class when I said that I wanted to do some sort of project on psychic abilities. I'd been so excited and had all sorts of ideas flying around in my head, questions I wanted to answer, tests and experiments that I wanted to do... and he stomped right over it and made me feel like crud. I never bothered with the science fair again.

 

I'm not saying you're ridiculing - that was him. I'm just saying that I think it's important to encourage the curiosities... help our kids follow up on what they want to know. Even when the knowledge that they're seeking is off the path and down into the woods a ways. ;)

 

This is for a Science Fair. I think what I'll do is have him choose a new topic then study bombs and explosives for science. Thanks for sharing your story and your advice!

[Jane in NC]

A young man we know did an experiment comparing different kinds of vinegar as "rocket" fuel. It is an excuse to shoot off lots of vinegar rockets, measure results, make a mess...

[Slartibartfast]

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/how-to-make-an-explosive-film-canister-cannon

 

Or you could just put Alkaseltzer in them.

[Elizabeth in WA]

My boys are very disappointed that the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments specifically states that you should not make explosives and that the DHS (Division of Homeland Security) takes a very dim view of such things days even if boys once upon a time did such things with some frequency.

 

They take comfort in that we will be making a small amount of napalm in the spring of next year, which is apparently not sufficiently explosive in small quantities to cause trouble.

[ChristusG]

I wouldn't think that it necessarily has to have an experiment. I mean, there are history fairs that obviously do not have experiments. Our homeschool group does a combined science and history fair each year. Last year my daughter participated in the history portion. This year we'll be doing the science portion. We are not doing an experiment. She's learning about different ecosystems and presenting some things about that. We'll have one of those backboard things with pictures, facts, etc. And she has created a tundra ecosystem 3D model to display as well.

 

I'd think that as long as there is research and a display involved, then it would be fine.

[pqr]

My ds8 would love to do his project about bombs: atomic bombs, nuclear bombs, nuclear warheads, what makes a nuclear bomb the worst bomb and why don't we use it all the time? And about 1000 other questions about bombs.

 

This is what he came up with when I asked him to think about a science fair project. :001_huh:

 

Should I ask him to come up with something testable or is there something I'm missing to actually turn his interest in bombs into a science fair project?

 

Thanks :)

 

Rather than bombs, why not one on projectiles.

 

F=MA and KE = 1/2 MV2 etc and he can demonstrate the variance between the impact of a solid projectile at varying speeds and varying masses. This can tie into history in the development of propellants.

 

There is plenty of information on this online and he can set up several experiments using ball bearings rolling down a slope and hitting an object (target). Using calculated velocity and mass plus the distance the "target" moves he can have a lot of fun.

 

If he wants to go further he can find the mass of projectiles used in combat such as the German super canon outside Sevastapol or projectiles from US battleships and speak of the incredible KE in these projectiles at impact.

 

Depending what state you are in you might be able to go to the local gun club and set up an experiment showing the difference in impact from say a standard .22 and a .223 or even a .44

 

Good stuff for boys, lots of history and science combined.

[Jane in NC]

My boys are very disappointed that the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments specifically states that you should not make explosives and that the DHS (Division of Homeland Security) takes a very dim view of such things days even if boys once upon a time did such things with some frequency.

 

They take comfort in that we will be making a small amount of napalm in the spring of next year, which is apparently not sufficiently explosive in small quantities to cause trouble.

 

Did you ever read the article in Harper's Magazine (years ago) about the boy in Michigan who constructed a nuclear reactor in his backyard as an Eagle Scout project? The article was expanded into a book called The Radioactive Boyscout which I have not read so I cannot tell you if it would be an appropriate read out loud.

 

Sounds like something that might interest your guys.

[Elizabeth in WA]

Did you ever read the article in Harper's Magazine (years ago) about the boy in Michigan who constructed a nuclear reactor in his backyard as an Eagle Scout project? The article was expanded into a book called The Radioactive Boyscout which I have not read so I cannot tell you if it would be an appropriate read out loud.

 

Sounds like something that might interest your guys.

 

I will have to look for that. Although, it might give them ideas... :glare:

[Jane in NC]

I will have to look for that. Although, it might give them ideas... :glare:

 

As the mother of a boy who survived his childhood and his first year of college (so far), let me recommend Uncle Tungsten as a great read aloud! Neuroscientist Oliver Sachs recalls his childhood, back in the days when drug stores sold chemicals to inquiring boys. He has great stories of his experiments (and explosions) in his backyard "lab".

 

I will also recommend the movie Rocket Boys.

 

Jane

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

My brother in middle school built a flame thrower with a large squirt gun as his science project. The experiment part was which flammable liquid worked best, and which material worked best as an ignition source. I am pretty sure he wasn't allowed to demonstrate at school, but he was allowed to present his findings.

 

Then again, with schools worried about violence by unhappy kids, it may be best not to give the other kids any ideas.

[Garga]

Your post reminds me of this kid who tried to build a nuclear reactor in his home (:tongue_smilie:) until the police found out and shut him down. He was 17.

 

From the article:

 

Although his homemade reactor never achieved critical mass, it ended up emitting dangerous levels of radioactivity, likely well over 1,000 times normal background radiation. Alarmed, Hahn began to dismantle his experiments, but a chance encounter with police led to the discovery of his activities, which triggered a Federal Radiological Emergency Response involving the FBI and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. On June 26, 1995 the United States Environmental Protection Agency, having designated Hahn's mother's property as a Superfund hazardous materials cleanup site, dismantled the shed and its contents and buried them as low-level radioactive waste in Utah. Hahn refused medical evaluation for radiation exposure.

Edited March 26, 2011 by Garga

[Elizabeth in WA]

As the mother of a boy who survived his childhood and his first year of college (so far), let me recommend Uncle Tungsten as a great read aloud! Neuroscientist Oliver Sachs recalls his childhood, back in the days when drug stores sold chemicals to inquiring boys. He has great stories of his experiments (and explosions) in his backyard "lab".

 

I will also recommend the movie Rocket Boys.

 

Jane

 

 

Ohh... I loved Oliver Sacks style in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for Hat. I will definitely have to get Uncle Tungsten! I'll look into the movie as well. :001_smile:

[Jumping In Puddles]

Thank you all for the interesting discussion (The Radioactive Boy Scout :lol:) and alternate ideas... he just might do projectiles!

 

One other thing that has been on his mind A LOT lately is scale (for example: If a nuclear bomb exploded on the horizon --over there-- how big will the wave be here, and can our boat jump over it? (:001_huh:), If a dust mite is in the pool, and I make wake in the pool with my hand, will it be a tsunami to the dust mite?) ETA: oh goodness, please tell me other 8yo boys ask these sort of questions! :eek:

Edited March 26, 2011 by Jumping In Puddles

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

Thank you all for the interesting discussion (The Radioactive Boy Scout :lol:) and alternate ideas... he just might do projectiles!

 

One other thing that has been on his mind A LOT lately is scale (for example: If a nuclear bomb exploded on the horizon --over there-- how big will the wave be here, and can our boat jump over it? (:001_huh:), If a dust mite is in the pool, and I make wake in the pool with my hand, will it be a tsunami to the dust mite?) ETA: oh goodness, please tell me other 8yo boys ask these sort of questions! :eek:

 

These are awesome questions! If you don't have/haven't heard of it, he sounds like the kind of boy who'd like The NEW Way Things work by David Macaulay :001_smile:

[pqr]

One other thing that has been on his mind A LOT lately is scale (for example: If a nuclear bomb exploded on the horizon --over there-- how big will the wave be here, and can our boat jump over it? (:001_huh:), If a dust mite is in the pool, and I make wake in the pool with my hand, will it be a tsunami to the dust mite?) ETA: oh goodness, please tell me other 8yo boys ask these sort of questions! :eek:

 

 

Yes almost all boys ask those questions, and those are the EASY ones.

[DawnL]

Well, what are the rules for the Science Fair? My dd10 will be participating in both the state and regional Science Fairs next weekend, and the rules are very specific about what is and is not allowed.

 

For our Science Fair, it must include a testable question. And it must not be hazardous. Although, you can get special permission for some things and some things are considered dangerous enough that you can only work in an actual lab, overseen by an actual scientist who accepts responsibility.

 

http://www.wssef.org/

 

Check out the website. I'm pretty sure they run Science Fairs in every state.

 

My dd10 tested which sweetener yeast would like best. She tested plain sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, aspartame, and saccharin. She used water bottles, put an inch of water, a packet of yeast and a teaspoon of sweetenter, that topped it with a pre-stretched balloon. The carbon dioxide from the feeding yeast makes the balloon expand (I'm pretty sure most of us have seen that experiment before). She ran the experiment 5 times, and included a control with just yeast and water, and then averaged the results.

 

We were amazed when saccharin won!

[Jumping In Puddles]

These are awesome questions! If you don't have/haven't heard of it, he sounds like the kind of boy who'd like The NEW Way Things work by David Macaulay :001_smile:

 

Thanks, I'll reserve this from the library for him. :)

 

Yes almost all boys ask those questions, and those are the EASY ones.

Easy, but weird :tongue_smilie: My daughter asks the questions I was prepared for (where does rain come from? Who was the first person on earth? How long will it take to swim to Spain?)

 

My son, just this morning asked me if a bazooka would be powerful enough for an armored car and why are we bothering dropping regular bombs on Libya when we could just drop a nuclear war head and win. This was before 8am this morning!:001_huh: oh, and if you have a 12 foot pile of sand and you bury a bomb the size of a baseball in the middle would it make a smaller explosion because it's buried? Enquiring minds want to know!! :lol:

 

Well, what are the rules for the Science Fair? My dd10 will be participating in both the state and regional Science Fairs next weekend, and the rules are very specific about what is and is not allowed.

 

 

 

I love project! Thanks for sharing, I think we'll do that for science one day. :)

 

The science fair that we are participating in can be in the following categories:

Experiment (using scientific method)

 Demonstration

 Research

 Collection

 Apparatus

 

I told him last night that we probably won't be able to do a project on bombs. I gave him some suggestions and of course, he loved the projectile idea and I read him a few other ideas that I found online and he's going to let me know later what he wants to do.

 

Thank you all for the discussion!

Edited March 27, 2011 by Jumping In Puddles

[Punchie]

My son, just this morning asked me if a bazooka would be powerful enough for an armored car and why are we bothering dropping regular bombs on Libya when we could just drop a nuclear war head and win. This was before 8am this morning!:001_huh: oh, and if you have a 12 foot pile of sand and you bury a bomb the size of a baseball in the middle would it make a smaller explosion because it's buried? Enquiring minds want to know!! :lol:

 

DH typed out the below response to your son's questions:

 

Would a bazooka be powerful enough to destroyed an armored car?

Yes, the bazooka was a WWII era weapon that was designed to attack tanks. It using a small rocket with a specially designed warhead called a shape charge. This charge is used to focus explosive energy on a small point. Essentially the bazooka will put a small hole, maybe an inch or two in diameter, into the side of what ever it hits. The explosive energy than goes into the target which is very bad for the people inside. So in all the bazooka would not completely destroy an armored car, but if it hit the car in the engine compartment the car would be useless. If the passenger compartment were to be hit, then the people inside would not have a very good day.

 

Why drop regular bombs on Lybia instead of nuclear? Well, besides the huge political ramifications, the goal in Lybia is just to knock out small targets. Radar sites and certain other military targets. Regular bombs cause much less damage so we can destroy only what we want to destroy. If a nuke were used a whole city could be destroyed. It's mostly about using the right size tool for the job.

 

If a bomb were buried in sand would the explosion be less? No, the explosive energy release would be the same, but most of that energy would be transferred to the sand instead of making a blast wave in the air. If you were standing next a buried explosive you would have less of a chance of being injured from the blast, but more of a chance of getting hit with sand.

[ocelotmom]

As the mother of a boy who survived his childhood and his first year of college (so far), let me recommend Uncle Tungsten as a great read aloud! Neuroscientist Oliver Sachs recalls his childhood, back in the days when drug stores sold chemicals to inquiring boys. He has great stories of his experiments (and explosions) in his backyard "lab".

What age would you recommend it for, and is there any questionable content? I actually have it checked out from the library right now for myself, but haven't got to it yet.

[Jane in NC]

What age would you recommend it for, and is there any questionable content? I actually have it checked out from the library right now for myself, but haven't got to it yet.

 

We used Uncle Tungsten as a read aloud book when my son was in 7th grade but you could perhaps read this to a curious mind at a younger age. I don't remember any questionable content. (If there is, perhaps someone could remind me.)

[Jumping In Puddles]

DH typed out the below response to your son's questions:

 

Would a bazooka be powerful enough to destroyed an armored car?

Yes, the bazooka was a WWII era weapon that was designed to attack tanks.

 

My son had a big smile on his face when I told him I have some answers from an expert... he was actually quiet for a time while he was mulling it over. No doubt wondering about different scenarios where a bazooka would be the right tool! :tongue_smilie:

 

:hurray: Thank you and a big thanks to your dh. He made my son's day!

Edited March 27, 2011 by Jumping In Puddles

[Punchie]

My son had a big smile on his face when I told him I have some answers from an expert... he was actually quiet for a time while he was mulling it over. No doubt wondering about different scenarios where a bazooka would be the right tool! :tongue_smilie:

 

:hurray: Thank you and a big thanks to your dh. He made my son's day!

 

Ask away if he has any more questions. DH said he would be happy to answer them.