Mysteries So Bright

My favorite part of teaching was helping science students do science projects, some of which even won state recognition.  That was not the goal, but it put “icing on the cake”, so to speak.

There were several projects that stood out as rewarding experiences for the kids, and the results were sometimes noteworthy.

One example of that was testing all the various brands of alkaline batteries, including the top rated brands and the cheaper, bulk packaged ones.

We found in that study that the data indicated that there were only about 4 different sources of the batteries identified by their graphs of energy discharge vs. time, with the main difference being that the more expensive brands seemed to have tighter quality control,  namely the cheaper brands seemed to have some early failures, while the premium brands did not.  (But the limited sample size in our test may have led to a false conclusion).  Here is a graph similar to what we found:

From the site: http://www.picotech.com/experiments/

Given  the necessary time and energy, I will try to write some guidelines about experiments that seemed to work with my students, with enough details and illustrations to help any parent or teacher (or student) to be able to carry the research further. Also, I hope this can generate a forum toward helping with science projects for school.

In the meantime, I would like to have responses on these ideas as well as your own suggestions.  Thanks.  And have a blessed day in the Lord.

At the top of this page is a link to the main page where I am sharing ideas for projects.  Or click here: Ideas for Science Projects