Science Fair Project - question of relevance?

[DawnL]

My daughter is gearing up to work on her 3rd science fair project. I posted previously how she didn't do as well as she anticipated in her last science fair and she was very discouraged. I promised her I'd help her "bring her A+ game" so she can produce a high quality project.

 

We've gone back and forth on what her project this year should be. She hadn't come up with anything and everything she considered stemmed from my suggestions so her heart wasn't in it. Suddenly, she came up with her own. She was hesitant to suggest it, mostly because last year's project was an overdone topic and not really relevant. Last year her project was testing which was more electric, fruits or vegetables. She did well, but only received an honorable mention. I understood why, but not until after everything.

 

Her consideration is, can a fully grown person really climb up a tower using human hair? You know, the whole Rapunzel thing. I think this is an interesting question and I told her that as she writes this up she needs to make sure that she not only includes all the scientific verbage that is relevant, but to also discuss how her research and results can be useful. She isn't sure her topic can be useful.

 

I think it can be useful, although I'm thinking perhaps more as a physics question. Such as, if one hair holds Xoz and another holds Yoz, do they together hold Xoxz+Yoz or do they hold Zoz?

 

She is correct when she tells me that no one is going to be using human hair to climb with, but I told her that it could be relevant somehow for mountain climbers. They may not be using human hair, but they certainly could use information about the strength of what they are using.

 

We also discussed the variation....does the color of the hair affect the strength? Does the age of the person with the hair affect how much weight it can hold? If the hair has been chemically altered (colored, permed, straightened, etc) does that effect how much weight it can hold?

 

Another consideration we discussed was, if we tied the hair around something to test how much weight it could lift, it could likely lift more because it is wrapped around the object more than once. So it would be a more accurate test to have the weight tied to some kind of clamp, then clamp the weight to the hair, much like a hand would clamp around the hair.

 

I'm mostly thinking out loud here, but I'd love any suggestions or opinions. I do not want to fail my daughter by not adequately preparing her for the challenge of her next science fair. She was starting to say she shouldn't do it this year, but I wouldn't let her chicken out. I don't want to build her up to fail spectacularly.

 

Our state science fair grades each participant on their own project. If every child in a grade did an A+ project, they could all earn a 1st place position. I doubt that's ever happened as the judging is truly fair, but it gives you an idea of what she could potentially achieve.

 

Now that she is in 6th grade, as a Middle Schooler there are secondary contests as part of the Science Fair, too. I have told her that they are difficult to win so she shouldn't count on those, but we discussed it as a goal to work for. She would consider that an ultimate achievement.

[DawnL]

No thoughts?

 

I've had her looking up different uses of hair, such as animal hair for paintbrushes and such.

 

I hope this isn't a topic that won't be well received at the Science Fair.

[Arcadia]

These articles might be of interest to your daughter

 

The Effect of Shampoos on the Tensile Strength of Hair (6th grade project)

 

Nanotensile study of Single Human Hair Fiber

 

The Effect of UVB Irradiation on Human Hair Tensil Strength (9th garde project)

[lewelma]

1) can a fully grown person really climb up a tower using human hair?

2) one hair holds Xoz and another holds Yoz, do they together hold Xoxz+Yoz or do they hold Zoz?

3) does the color of the hair affect the strength?

4) Does the age of the person with the hair affect how much weight it can hold?

5) If the hair has been chemically altered (colored, permed, straightened, etc) does that effect how much weight it can hold?

 

Yes, relevance is important, so I would ditch #1. I think you need to think how to frame it. It is not about how much weight it can hold but rather how strong or flexible (opposite of brittle) it is. People care about their appearance and healthy hair is one aspect of this. People spend BIG $$ on hair products which tout health / strong hair. So I think your selling point is commercialism and vanity (sorry). I think you will have a hard time selling the idea of using human hair for industrial design of ropes or other items.

 

You dd should consider different dependent variables for how to measure strength, like brittleness. Brittleness could be measured by time to break and mm of stretch. I'm sure there are others.

 

As for hypotheses, #2 is interesting, but I am guessing that you will not find Z, but rather X+Y which might be boring. So do some preliminary data collection and move on to more fertile grounds if it looks like it won't yield anything. #3-#5 are all interesting, as is whether strengthening shampoo actually strengthens. You could also compare the strength of human hair to another mammal's hair or even to spider web.

 

I think you get a lot of credit for good experimental design, so consider it carefully before collecting data.

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

[DawnL]

These articles might be of interest to your daughter

 

The Effect of Shampoos on the Tensile Strength of Hair (6th grade project)

 

Nanotensile study of Single Human Hair Fiber

 

The Effect of UVB Irradiation on Human Hair Tensil Strength (9th garde project)

 

 

Thank you!

We will definitely check those out. They look interesting :)

[DawnL]

You could also compare the strength of human hair to another mammal's hair or even to spider web.

 

I think you get a lot of credit for good experimental design, so consider it carefully before collecting data.

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

 

Do you think it would be interesting and relevent if we measured that strength, human hair vs. other mammal's hair, by how much weight it could hold?

 

I will walk my dd through all options and possibilities. Some things she will need me to lead and guide her a little, while other things she will figure it out. I just want to have some kind of idea of where she's going before she pursues it.

 

But I ask becasue the whole "Can a full grown human really climb up a tower using human hair?" was her idea that she came up with on her own. I don't want to completely kill her enthusiasm.

 

However, I may be able to persuade her to use that test as the starting point. You know, have her measure that way, get some preliminary results, and then have those tests and results point her into the real meat of her project. (if that makes sense :confused: )

 

I would like to see her doing a lot of research and even needing to contact others about her project. Whether it's contacting a barber to inquire about different hair samples or contacting a zoo for different mammal's hair samples.

 

She loves animals (which is why I have been trying to steer her toward a project involving animals ;) ) and so I think ultimately she would likely go for comparing human hair to the hair of other mammals.

 

So, if she sticks with her original idea of how much weight can hair hold, do you think this would be an adequate measure for comparing hair strenght among different mammal's hairs?

 

She was impressed with the story from the 1800's of the American settler who survived being scalped. He kept his scalp and tried several times to have it reattached to his head but was never successful. He lived for years after surviving his own scalping. This would be a good point to make as to why a person using human hair to climb a tower would need it anchored by something more than a scalp. But again, if she winds up comparing human hair to other mammal's hair it will be an irrelevant point.

 

Thank you so much for your input. It really means a lot. I don't want to fail as her teacher by having her work hard on something that isn't going to impress anyone.