Investigatory Project

What is an Investigatory Project?

1. It is a planned undertaking in a particular field of science. 2. It is an undertaking which applies certain specific principles or scientific ideas. 3. It is a reseach activity which aims to develope one's ability and determine possible solutions to a particular problem.

Examples of Investigatory Project

Wooden Generator
Making an electric generator is a good way of learning the principles of generators. It also is an exciting science project. As a display project, you just need to make it and demonstrate its structure. As an experimental project, you need to come up with questions about the factors that may affect the rate of production of electricity. Hypothesis: Depending on the question that you select, you may predict an answer. That is called your hypothesis. Dependent and Independent Variables The factor that you are testing is your independent variable. For example the speed of turning and diameter of wire are samples of independent variables. The rate of production of electricity is the dependent variable.

Materials:

Following are the material that you need in order to construct a wooden electric generator. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Wood dowel 3/8" diameter Wood Dowel 1" diameter. Rod magnet 3" long Insulated copper wire 1.2 Volt Screw Base light Bulb Base for the light bulb Small sand paper Wood Glue 1/2 Square foot Balsa wood (1/8" diameter)

Preparation: If you are buying a kit, all the wooden parts are included and they are already cut to the size. So you just need to connect them. If you don't have a kit, prepare the wooden parts as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. Cut two square pieces from the balsa wood (3.5" x 3.5"). Make a 3/8" hole in the center of each square. Cut four 1" x 3 7/16. Cut a 3/4" piece from the 1" wood dowel. Make a 3/8" hole in the center of it. Insert a 6" long 3/8" wood dowel in the hole, apply some glue. center it and wait for it to dry. 5. Make another hole with the diameter of your rod magnet in the center of the larger wood dowel piece for the magnet to go through.

Wood dowels after completing the step 4

Wood dowels after completing the step 5

Procedure: (If you buy a kit, make sure to read the procedure suggested in your kit) 1. Insert the magnet in the hole of the wood dowel. Center it and use some glue to secure it. 2. Use one large square balsa wood and four smaller rectangular balsa woods to make a box. 3. Insert your wood dowel into the hole in the center of the box. At this time the magnet is inside the box. 4. Place the other large square to complete the box. Apply some glue to the edges and wait for the glue to dry. By now, you have a box and inside the box you have a magnet that can spin when you spin the wood dowel. 5. Wrap the copper wire around the box and use masking tape to secure it. Note that more copper wire around the box results more electricity. 6. Remove the insulation from the ends of the wire and connect it to the screws of the bulb holder or base. 7. Insert the light bulb 8. Spin the wood dowel fast to get the light.

Fruit Battery
Introduction: This project is one of the most famous electricity projects that can be performed successfully by most students in the age of 10 to 16. It helps students to learn about producing electrical energy using chemical energy. Since the same method is used to get energy from many fruits and chemicals, this project has many names. Following are some of the other names or titles for this project: 1. Fruit power or fruit battery 2. Convert Chemical energy to electrical energy 3. Potato battery or Lemon battery Procedure: Making electricity from chemicals is based on the same scientific principles on which all modern batteries work. You insert copper and zinc electrodes in an acidic liquid and produce some electricity from the chemical reaction between your electrodes and electrolyte. The electricity produced in this way can be displayed with a multi-meter that can show millivolts. It may also be able to produce enough electricity to get light. If you want to run or light up a device you must consider the voltage and current requirements of that device. Picture in the right shows 3 potato batteries connected in series so together they will produce enough voltage to light up a super bright LED type light source. Making electricity experiment can be used for many different science projects. Following are some additional research that you can perform in relation to making electricity from fruits and chemicals. 4. Replace electrodes of your kit with other metals such as coins, nails to see which other metals can be used as electrodes. 5. Test to see if such electrodes can light up a bulb. 6. If you have access to a multi meter, check to see how many volts electricity is being produced by fruits.

1. Experiment to see which fruits can produce electricity. 2. Experiment to see which fruit juices can produce electricity 3. Experiment to see which other liquids such as detergents and drinks can produce electricity.

Material and equipment: Material and equipment that you need for this project are: 1. Copper Electrode 2. Zinc Electrode

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Multi-meter capable of measuring low voltages Flashlight light bulb 1.2 Volts Screw Base or socket for light bulb Wires Alligator clips Board for mounting the base and the bulb (optional)

9. Used Cooking Oil as Subtitute to Diesel This study, Trans-Esterified Used-Cooking Oil as Substitute to Diesel, aims to produce a diesel with physical properties comparable to commercially produced diesels. The researchers surveyed the top three oil products that public utility jeepney drivers use: Caltex, Petron and Shell. The biodiesel was produced through a process called trans-esterification. It makes methyl ester from the used cooking oil that is similar to the complex hydrocarbon chains of petroleum products. Glycerine and soap are the byproducts of this process. A percent yield of 73 percent makes the product relatively good for economic distribution. Mechanical Chalkdust Dispenser The mechanical chalk dispenser aims to hasten the removal of chalk dust on the chalkboard eraser. It will also enclose the dusts preventing possible skin irritation. It also produces chalks with the aid of the resin. The researchers made a machine guided by the principles of level and wheel and axle. In making chalks, additives were added in the chalk dust forming the common chalk. Electric Bill Reader as an Electric Consumption Converter Since electricity nowadays is very important in our day-to-day living, the researchers have conducted a study to test the effectiveness of the electric bill reader as an electric cost converter. To help the electric consumers on their cost-cutting measures was the general objective of the study. Fernan B. Olegario IV-St.Clare of Assisi