5th Grade Winners!
1st place
Jordan Elmore
Mr. Echols
What variables determine the strength
of an electromagnet (numbers of wire
wraps, wire gauge, diameter of nail)?
• Researched and built 3 electromagnets of
varying strengths.
• Electromagnet strength determined by
wire gauge and time charged by battery.
• Testing conducted by gauge size and
charge time.
• Three trials were performed at 5, 3, and 1
minute per gauge size.
• Each electromagnet was charged and tested to
see how many nails each could attract.
• The electromagnets that were charged the
longest attracted the most nails.
Controlled Variables



Batteries
Nails
Electromagnet
Independent Variable

Time
Dependent Variable

Number of nails attracted
I think that the bigger the gauge the
more electricity will run though the
wire.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Insulated copper wire: 14 (black), 12 (white) and 10 (hot pink)
gauge
3 Lag Screws: ¼” X 5 ½”
4-pack of D cell batteries (for alternating trials)
Wire cutters
1 packet of 1” dry wall nails
1 roll electrical tape
Hand towel (to pick up hot batteries)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Wrap the insulated wire around each nail.
Use the wire stripper to remove the insulation from each
end of the wire.
Attached a battery to both ends of the wire.
Put one end of the electromagnet into the container of nails,
then pull it out to see how many nails are picked up.
•
After the experiment, I noticed that the batteries were a lot weaker than when I started.
This might explain the drop in the number of nails attracted during each repeated trial.
Of the three wires used, the 12 gauge (white) proved to be the strongest and attracted the
most nails.
Average of Nails Collected by
Electromagnet
Nails Collected
•
30
20
10
10
12
14
0
1
3
5
Charge Time of Electromagnet (in minutes)
Average of Nails **
Time (in minutes)
1
3
5
Grand Total
Gague of Nails
10
2
5
5
4
12 14Grand Total
18 7
9
24 9
12
28 17
17
23 11
13
The variables that determined the strength
of an electromagnet are the time, the
batteries that charge the electromagnet
and the gauge of the wire used. My
hypothesis was partially proved. The test
results showed that the 12 gauge, and not
the 14 gauge, proved to be the strongest
electromagnet.
• Degenhart, Erin, and Drew Hanson. "Electromagnets:
An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan." University
of Montana School of Education, 29 Mar. 2000. Web.
<http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Physics
/PHS0070.html>
• Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office
of Science Education. "Questions and Answers."
Weblog post. Questions and Answers. Thomas
Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office of
Science Education. Web.
<http://education.jlab.org/qa/electromagnet_02.html>.
• Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office
of Science Education. Weblog post. Electricity and
Magnetism. Jefferson Lab. Web.
<http://education.jlab.org/qa/electromagnet.html>.
2nd Place
Peri Johnson
Ms. Huff
Science Fair Project
• PROJECT:
Does the different
type of water effect
plant growth?
• BY:Peri Johnson
• CLASS: Ms. Huff
• SCHOOL: Glenn
Dale Elementary
STATEMENT OF THIS PROBLEM
• Will there be a
difference in which
type of water
affects how a plant
grows with sugar,
salt, lemon or plain
water?
PROJECT OVERVIEW
• This project will show
how different types of
water can affect how
plants grow. I did
three trials for each
group of plants. The
water types that I
used were plain,
lemon, salt and sugar.
RESEARCH
• I found that the type of water you use to
water a plant can affect how the plant
grows.
• I found that lemon water helped plants to
grow more than the other plants. I think
this is because the lemon water gave the
plant more nutrients.
• I found that seeds watered with salt water
did not germinate.
VARIABLES
• Controlled variables: I have kept these things
the same for each plant:
–
–
–
–
–
The type of containers
The amount of seeds
The amount of soil
The type of seeds The amount of light
The amount of water
• Independent variable: The one variable that I
changed in my experiment is the type of water
the plants are watered with.
• Dependent variable: I think my dependent
variable is the sugar water because I predict that
the plant with sugar water will grow faster.
HYPOTHESIS
• I predict that sugar
water will make the
plants grow faster
because plants use
energy from sugar
to grow, so with
more sugar it may
grow faster.
MATERIALS
– 1 pack of radish seeds
– 12 sixteen ounce planting
containers
– Salt- 4 table spoons
– Sugar-4 table spoons
– Lemon- 4 table spoons
– 8 litters of water
– 1 liter size measuring cup
– 1 5 pound bag of potting soil
– 4 clean one litter bottles
– 4 20 ml dosing cups
– 1 funnel
– 1 12 inch ruler
– 1 pencil
PROCEDURES
– Part 1: Setting up the plants
• Set up work area by laying
newspaper on a table or other
flat surface.
• Pour 1 cup of soil in each of
the 12 containers. Be sure to
level the soil off when
measuring each cup. Use a
ruler.
• Take a pencil and make a
hole about a ½ inch deep in
the soil for the seeds.
• Place two seeds in each hole
in the soil.
• Label each container to show
what type of water each plant
gets.
PROCEDURES
– Part Two: Setting up the waters




Measure two tablespoons of each
substance (lemon, salt, sugar)
Pour each substance into a different
bottle. Use a funnel if needed.
Add 1 liter (or 1,000 mls) of water to
each bottle. Be sure to measure the
water.
Make a fourth bottle with 1 liter of water
only. This will be your control
 Place the lids on each bottle and
shake to mix in the substances.

Measure 20 mls of each type of water.
Use a dosing cup. Water the plants with
their designated water.
 Repeat the watering process every
other day for 21 days and record
observations.
PROCEDURES
– Part 3: Collecting your
data
• On the last day of your
experiment gently remove
the plants including the
roots so you can measure
them.
• Use a ruler to measure
each plant and record
your data.
• Find the average height of
each type of plant.
• Record your results and
find your conclusion
DATA
Height of each plant after 21 days
Trial
Type of
Water
Plain
Lemon
Salt
Sugar
1A 1B
2A
2B
3A 3B
18 15.5 19 17.5 17 18.5
19 16 18.5 18.5 18 20.5
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
6
5
4
6 15
Average
17.5
18.4
0
7.5
OBSERVATIONS
– Salt plants
• There was no growth in any of the 3 salt containers.
• On top of the soil in each of the salt containers there are salt-like crystal
• I did not observe any root system in the salt plant containers
– Sugar plants
• The sugar plants grew for seven days.
• Two of the sugar plants wilted after 9 day
• The third sugar plant is alive, but stopped growing.
– Lemon
•
•
•
•
•
All three lemon plants are still growing after 21 days.
All of the lemon plants appear to have larger leaves than the other plants.
All of the lemon plants appear to be taller than the other plants.
All three lemon plants have dark red color on there stems.
All three lemon plants have stems that are standing.
– Water
•
•
•
•
All three water plants are alive after 21 days.
All three water plants have very light red stems.
All three stems of the lemon plants are leaning.
All three water plants appear to be shorter than the lemon plants.
CONCLUSION
– The type of water used to water a plant does
affect how it grows. The type of water used
can help a plant to grow, make the plant stop
growing or make the plant not grow at all.
– My hypothesis was incorrect because the
plant I watered with sugar water wilted and
was shorter than the plant I watered with
lemon water. That plant was the tallest. I
predicted the plant watered with sugar water
would grow the most.
WORKS CITED
• Ferry-Morse
Cherry Belle
Radish seed
packet. I read
about days to
germination and
other information
about growing
radishes.
3rd place
Wellington Uzamere
Ms. Huff
Light vs. Heavy Objects
Wellington Uzamere
Ms . Huff
Glenn Dale Elementary School
Statement of the Problem
• Do heavier objects fall faster than lighter
objects?
Project Overveiw
• I wanted to see which would fall faster,
something lighter or heavier.
• I took two objects that were exactly the
same size, but one was heavier than the
other.
• I dropped these objects from the balcony
and put it on video tape.
Research
• Gravity is an invisible force that pulls objects
toward one another. This pull depends on the
amount of matter an object has.
• If you drop a brick and a feather, the brick hits
the ground first. That’s why Aristotle wrote that
heavy objects fall faster than lighter objects.
People believed him for two thousand years.
• Then Galileo proved that Aristotle was wrong.
Galileo did an experiment by dropping a bullet
and a heavy cannon ball from a tower. Both
Variables
• Independent variable: I will change the weight
of the falling objects. The falling objects are both
small earring boxes. One will be light because it
will be empty. The other will be heavy because it
will be full of twenty quarters.
• Dependent variable: I want to see if making
one box heavier will make it fall faster.
• Controlled variables: I will keep these things
the same: the height of the fall, the floor that the
boxes will land on, the position of the video
camera, the position from which the objects fall,
the shape and size of the containers.
Hypothesis
• I think heavier and lighter objects fall at the
same speed because gravity pulls them all
at the same speed.
Materials
• Two earring boxes. Both of them will be 6
cm long, 3.5 cm tall and 5 cm wide.
• A balcony above my living room
• A video camera
• Twenty quarters to put in one box. This
will make one box 113.4 grams heavier
than the other.
Procedure
• Fill one box with 20 quarters to make it
113.4 grams heavier than the other box.
• We will set up the video camera on the
floor below the balcony to record the
experiment.
• Stand on our balcony and drop the boxes
over the edge at the same time.
• Replay video to see which box landed first.
• Record the information in my journal.
• Repeat dropping the boxes 10 times.
Data/Observations
Trial #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Heavy
object
Light
object
Both
objects
x
X
x
x
X
X
X
X
X
Data/Observations
Data/Observations
• Written Explanation of the results:
• In my experiment, I had ten trials. For
each trial, I dropped both objects from a
balcony at the same time. We used a
video camera to capture which object fell
first. When I reviewed the video, I saw that
both objects landed at the same time for
eight of the trials. The heavy object landed
first 2 times and the light object landed first
zero times. So, 80% of the time, both
Conclusion
• My hypothesis was that heavy and light
objects would fall at the same speed. My
hypothesis is correct because when I dropped
the heavy and light objects at the same time,
they fell at the same speed.
• My question was “do heavier objects fall
faster than lighter objects?” My answer was
that heavy and lighter objects fall at the same
time. The data said that 80% of the times I
dropped the objects, they both landed at the
same time. For 20% of the times that I
dropped the objects, the heavy objects fell
faster. The lighter object never fell faster. So,
since both objects landed at the same time
Conclusion
• One problem during the experiment was making sure that
both objects started to fall at exactly the same time. This
was difficult because it was easy for one of the objects to
slip out of my hand too early. For two out of the ten trials,
I accidentally dropped the heavier object before the
lighter object. I think this explains why the heavy object
landed first 20% of the time. My family and I were
working together to make sure both objects were
dropped at the same time. We tried pushing both objects
off the balcony with our fingers. Then we tried pushing
both objects off the balcony with a ruler. Finally, we
decided we would get the best results by holding both
objects in one hand and dropping them at the same time.
However, we can see from the data that this was not
perfect.
Conclusion
• I think that gravity is an interesting topic. This time I investigated if
heavy objects fall faster than lighter objects. As I worked on this
experiment, I began to wonder if one of my objects lands harder than
the other. How does the weight of an object affect the strength of the
force of the fall? I was also wondering how the shape of something
could affect how fast it falls. For example, two pieces of paper that
weigh the same could be dropped. If one is crumpled up into a ball
and the other stays in its original shape, would they fall at the same
time?
• There are many ways that the topic of gravity applies to the real
world. People who build buildings must understand gravity because
they work high off the ground and need to stay safe. People who
play sports also must understand gravity because they need to know
that the harder they throw something, the longer it can fight gravity
and stay in the air. People who fly airplanes must also understand
gravity because air pushes against the wings, opposing gravity to
make a plane stay in the air. All of these people need to know a lot
about gravity. One piece of information they all would need is that
gravity pulls two objects of the same shape at the same time, even if
one is heavier than the other.
Works Cited
• Bibliography
• Ardley, Neil. The Science Book of Gravity. New York: Gulliver Books,
1992.
• Bender, Lionel. 101 Questions and Answers: The World of Science.
New York: Reed International Books, 1995.
• “The Motion of Falling Objects”. Lectures in Physics. 2009. Online.
21 December 2009. Available:
http://www.vias.org/physics/bk1_05_01.html
• “Why Do Some Objects Fall Faster Than Others?” Science Projects
for Beginners. 2009. Online. 21 December 2009. Available:
http://www.infoplease.com/cig/science-fair-projects/some-objects-fallfaster-others.html