I need ideas for a science fair experiment. Needs to be something I can do in 7 weeks or less. Any ideas?--and nothing involving rust or detergent, etc (that typical did-it-in-sixth-grade stuff).

Thanks for your help!

I have a very good idea but its frontier experimentation, probably way too dificult for you, and besides I'm planning on doing it for science fair so I want something original.

So my second idea would be to test the effects of different growth hormone on lab mice. Dont be too cruel.

Good luck

Something with computers could be fun. Artificial life, perhaps?

Here's one:
Characterize specific pollutants in local water bodies. in other words, try to find pollutants from our modern lifestyle and then show how they relate to specific facts: demographics, location, geography, etc.

For example, find Prozac or Ritalin or perhaps some of the newer, less soluble antibiotics, and determine where in might be coming from by relating its pont of entry- income level (from housing prices or census), gender, etc.

The project would require access to chromatographic equipment, but should be relatively cheap to do a few dozen single-stage samples......

Another project might be to sample packaged meat samples and produce staged cultures of the bacteria to determine how long various meat products can be safely refrigerated before dangerous bacteria reach unhealthy threshholds. These levels are documented, generally, and the culture plates are very cheap and very available. To make it fun, take culture from less atractive places in your home- bathrooms, trashcans, etc, to compare controlled populations. I did this once for ground beef vs. a swab from my orange-tinted shower. The beef samples were far worse. I still eat beef for some reason.....ugh.

Excellent suggestion sugarmatic.

We did a pollution and such test with water last year in something called riverwatch, where we rafted down the bow river and did tests every bit of the way. We did it around this exact date. You need to get a hold of a few chemicals but it is really easy. You would measure things like different types of insects in diffeent places, eg.by the sewage treatment plant, by the waste treatment, before it enters the city etc. Just look up riverwatch or something on the net and gather the chemicals, its pretty easy. If you need some help or info then pm me.

You could examine the crystalline lattice of a certain carbon nanotube configuration, and catagorize and run tests on the stability at different temperatures, pressures, consentrations, etc. All this would require is some electron microscope time and the ability to make the nanotubes, which you could attain at some major lab. If you pulled this off, I'm sure you could get AT LEAST national finals, and ever international finals if you did a good job. This kind of research is the fad right now, and the whole materials science discipline has pretty much devoted itself to problems like this, and not many people have done this. (I think one person has, and she made it to international finals).