Alex's
Science Fair ProjectAlex's
Science Fair Project
"Electricity in Water"
INTRODUCTION
I’m testing how well various substances conduct electricity. By taking an
analog multi-meter and putting it in distilled water and adding in various
substances like salt, vinegar, sugar and baking soda then recording the results.
HYPOTHESIS
Some substances are better conductors of electricity than others. I think salt will be the best conductor.
MATERIALS
Analog
multi-meter - to measure the resistance of the substances being tested.
Salt
Vinegar
Distilled
Water
Sugar
500
milliliter container
a
short piece of board
7.5
milliliter scoop
electrical
tape
baking
soda
RESEARCH/
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Usborne
Science Activities - Science With Batteries
Members.aol.com.ScienzFair\ideas.htm
VOCABULARY
Multi-meter
- Resistance
equals Voltage divided by Current. A
multi-meter measures the amount of electrical current passing from one probe to
the other. The multi-meter creates a constant voltage so that less current that
is flowing the greater the resistance. The lower the resistance the better the
substance conducts electricity.
Current
- the amount of charge that flows from one probe to another.
Voltage
- the difference in charge between the two probes which is constant in
this experiment.
Resistance
- how easily a charge moves through a substance.
Joule-
the joule was invented by James Joule is
a measurement of any type of energy like voltage.
PROCEDURE
-
The water was at room temperature, which didn’t change for all the
experiments.
-
Attach the probes of the multi-meter to the small board so that they drop down 7
cm from the board
-
Measure the resistance of the distilled water
-
Measure the resistance of the other substances. I measured them one at a time
starting with salt. I added 7.5 milliliters of salt to the 500 milliliters of
distilled water and tested the resistance using the multi-meter. I then added
7.5 more milliliters of salt and tested the resistance. I then keep adding more
salt and each time testing the resistance.
-
The next step was to measure sugar, baking soda and vinegar using the same
approach.
-
I then did some other experiments using using various combinations of water,
vinegar, lemon juice and salt.
-
The lower the measured resistance the better the conductor.
PROJECT
SUMMARY
1.
HOW DID I COME UP WITH MY PROJECT IDEA ?
I
was surfing the net when I found this project. I edited the project a bit with a
book, Science with Batteries.
2.
WHAT DID I LEARN FROM THE EXPERIMENT?
I
learned:
-
That salt dissolved in water is a good conductor.
-
What is a multi-meter is and how to use it.
-
A little bit more about how to do experiments.
3.
HOW CLOSE WAS MY HYPOTHESIS TO MY CONCLUSION?
They
were the same.
4.
WHAT WAS THE MOST INTERESTING PART OF MY EXPERIMENT?
Using
the multi-meter.
RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTS AMOUNT OF AGENT (milliliter)
SALT SUGAR BAKING SODA VINEGAR
Infinite Infinite Infinite 7.540
Infinite Less than infinite Infinite 15.030
Infinite Less than infinite Infinite 22.520
Infinite Less than infinite Infinite 30.020
Infinite Less than infinite Infinite 37.520
Infinite Less than infinite Infinite 45.0
OTHER
MEASURES
Half water ( 250 milliliters)/ half vinegar (250 milliliters) Less than infinite
Vinegar - 100
Lemon juice - 60
Baking soda - Infinite
Pure
salt - Infinite
CONCLUSION
My hypothesis was right. The salt dissolved in water was the best conductor that
was tested.
The sugar, baking soda and vinegar were revealed to be poor conductors of
electrical current using this procedure.
Half-distilled water, half vinegar combination appeared to be a poor conductor
of electricity. Pure vinegar
conducted some electricity but was not as good a conductor as pure lemon juice.
Alex C.
Grade 5
St. Bonaventure's College
St. John's , N.L.
