Science projects
Your Science Exhibition Guide
Choose a project, build it, present it and answer the judges with confidence
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Science project idea finder
Find a project by class, subject and type. Every idea explains the science it shows, what you need, how long it takes and how to stay safe, with free ebooks and ready-made kits if you need them. 929 ideas have numbered steps and viva questions on their own page.
Every idea by class: Class 1 to 5, Class 6 to 8, Class 9 and 10, Class 11 and 12, College and diploma.
Want a complete build with diagrams? 16 free detailed project guides

Idea finder
Choose your class and what interests you, or search for a word such as magnet, solar, heart or robot. Open any card for a summary, or its title for the full page with the science, the steps and the viva questions.
Passing a small current through copper sulphate solution deposits a layer of copper on the object connected to the negative terminal, while the copper anode slowly dissolves to replace the copper ions. A clean steel key or coin comes out with a bright copper coating.
Safety: A teacher or adult must prepare the copper sulphate solution and supervise throughout; copper sulphate is harmful if swallowed and irritates skin and eyes, so wear gloves and goggles and wash hands. Use only batteries, never mains, and give the used solution back to the teacher for disposal rather than pouring it down the drain.
Take it further: Plate two keys for 5 and 15 minutes and compare the colour and thickness of the coating.
The mass of copper deposited in electrolysis is proportional to the charge passed, that is current multiplied by time. Weighing the cathode after fixed intervals at a steady current gives a straight line, and the slope lets you estimate Faraday’s constant from school equipment.
Safety: Teacher supervision is required; copper sulphate is harmful if swallowed and irritates skin and eyes, so wear gloves and goggles. Use only batteries. Return the used solution to the teacher for disposal.
Take it further: Repeat at double the current and show that the slope of the mass against time line doubles.
Soap forms insoluble scum with the calcium and magnesium in hard water and lathers poorly, while a synthetic detergent forms soluble calcium salts and lathers almost as well in hard water as in soft. Measuring foam height for both cleaners in water of increasing hardness makes the difference visible and numerical.
Safety: Epsom salt and calcium chloride are not for eating; wash hands after use. Nothing is heated.
Take it further: Add washing soda to the very hard water before testing soap and show that the foam height recovers.
Tea and coffee are mildly acidic, and the acidity depends on how long they brew and whether milk is added. Measuring pH with indicator paper for black tea, green tea and coffee brewed for different times shows how extraction of acids changes with time and how milk partly neutralises them.
Safety: An adult must pour the hot water and the brews must cool before any strip is dipped. Do not drink brews that have had indicator strips in them.
Take it further: Measure the pH of the same tea brewed in bottled, tap and borewell water to see whether the water itself shifts the result.
Rusting is an electrochemical process that speeds up when the water conducts better. Nails kept in water with 0, 1, 3.5 and 10 percent salt for two weeks, then cleaned and weighed, show that salt accelerates corrosion, which is why vehicles and ships near the sea rust faster, and also that very strong brine slows it again.
Safety: Nails are sharp; carry them point down. Rust-cleaning should be done over newspaper and hands washed afterwards. No chemicals other than salt and water are used.
Take it further: Repeat with one jar of boiled, cooled water sealed with a layer of oil on top to show that removing oxygen almost stops rusting.
An iron nail wrapped with zinc stays bright in salt water because the more reactive zinc corrodes instead, while a nail wrapped with copper rusts faster than a bare nail because copper makes the iron the more reactive partner. This is the chemistry of galvanised sheets and the zinc blocks bolted to ship hulls.
Safety: Nails and wire ends are sharp; an adult should cut the wire. Only salt water is used. Wash hands after handling.
Take it further: Connect a nail to a zinc strip with a wire instead of a wrap, both in the same jar, to show that protection works even when the metals are not touching directly.
The acetic acid content of vinegar can be compared by titrating a measured volume with a standard washing soda solution until an indicator changes colour. Running three brands and a home-made dilution ranks them by strength and, with a simple calculation, gives an approximate percentage of acid to compare with the label.
Safety: Vinegar and washing soda solution can irritate eyes; wear goggles if available and wash hands. The teacher handles phenolphthalein. Nothing is tasted.
Take it further: Titrate lemon juice and lime juice the same way and compare their citric acid content, remembering that citric acid gives three hydrogen ions per molecule.
A 10 cm arm pivots at the centre of a circle on a grid. At any angle, the height of its tip above the horizontal is 10 times the sine and the distance along the horizontal is 10 times the cosine, so at 30 degrees the tip is 5 cm up and 8.66 cm across.
Safety: An adult must drill the pivot hole if a bolt is used.
Take it further: Add a vertical tangent line at x = 10 cm and extend the arm to meet it: the height where it meets is 10 times tan of the angle.
Beads falling through seven rows of nails bounce left or right at random at each nail. With eight collecting slots at the bottom, the expected share of beads in each slot follows Pascal's triangle, 1, 7, 21, 35, 35, 21, 7, 1 out of 128, which draws a bell-shaped curve.
Safety: An adult must hammer the nails and check none pokes through the back.
Take it further: Bend some nails so beads go right with probability more than a half, and show the peak shifting to one side like a skewed distribution.
In a group of just 23 people there is a better than even chance (about 50.7 percent) that two share a birthday, and with 30 people the chance is about 70.6 percent. Collecting birthdays from many class sections shows how often a shared birthday actually turns up.
Take it further: Work out how many people are needed for a 50 percent chance that someone shares your own birthday: it is 253, far more than 23.
Rice grains scattered evenly over a square land inside the circle drawn within it with probability equal to the circle's share of the area, which is pi divided by 4. Counting grains inside and outside and multiplying the inside fraction by 4 estimates pi, a Monte Carlo method used in real computer simulations.
Take it further: Write a ten-line program that drops a million random points and compare its estimate with your rice result.
Slicing a cone with a flat cut gives a circle when the cut is parallel to the base, an ellipse when tilted, a parabola when parallel to the slanting side, and a hyperbola when steeper than the slanting side. Four clay cones, each cut one way, show the four curves side by side.
Safety: An adult must handle the cutting wire; plaster must be mixed outdoors and never poured down a drain.
Take it further: Shine a torch at a wall at different angles: the edge of the light patch traces the same four curves.
Threads joined between two scales at right angles, the first point on one to the last on the other and so on, form no curve themselves, yet their edges outline a smooth parabola. The curve is the envelope of the lines, touched by every one of them.
Safety: An adult must hammer the nails and cover the points at the back with tape.
Take it further: Put nails round a circle and join each nail n to nail 2n to see a cardioid envelope appear.
A loop of string round two pins and a pencil draws an ellipse, because the pencil keeps the sum of its distances to the two pins constant. With pins 6 cm apart and a loop giving a major axis of 10 cm, the minor axis comes out as 8 cm and the eccentricity as 0.6, exactly as the formulas predict.
Safety: Drawing pins are sharp; keep them in a closed box.
Take it further: Draw a hyperbola with a ruler pivoted at one focus and a string tied at the other, keeping the difference of distances constant.
Four land areas joined by seven bridges cannot be walked in one trip crossing every bridge once, because every land area has an odd number of bridges. Lifting any one bridge off the board leaves only two odd areas and the walk becomes possible, starting at one odd area and ending at the other.
Take it further: Draw the map of your school corridors as a graph and find a route that walks every corridor exactly once, or prove there is none.
The dew point is the temperature at which air becomes saturated and water starts to condense. Cooling a shiny can slowly until it mists over gives the dew point, and from dew point and air temperature the relative humidity can be read from a table.
Safety: Handle the thermometer gently; a digital probe is safer than glass.
Take it further: Build a wet-and-dry bulb hygrometer from two thermometers and compare its humidity values with the dew point method.
A planisphere is a star map on a dial with a window shaped for one latitude. Turning the dial to the date and time shows exactly which stars are above the horizon, which demonstrates how the sky shifts through the night and through the year.
Take it further: Make a second mask for a southern Indian city and compare which stars each can see.
Land heats and cools much faster than water. In summer the hot Indian land has low pressure and air flows in from the cooler sea, carrying moisture; in winter the land is colder and the flow reverses. Measuring sand and water under the same sun shows the difference that drives the monsoon.
Safety: Handle glass thermometers gently; a digital probe is safer.
Take it further: Repeat with wet sand and show how moist ground behaves more like water.
The water a roof can harvest equals roof area times rainfall times a runoff factor. Measuring a real roof and using the local annual rainfall shows that even a small house in a 800 millimetre rainfall town can collect tens of thousands of litres a year, often more than the family drinks.
Take it further: Cost a tank of the size you calculated and compare it with buying tanker water for the dry months.
Reading the electricity meter daily and logging how long each appliance runs shows which ones use most of the units. In most homes a few items, such as the geyser, air conditioner, old refrigerator and ceiling fans running all day, account for most of the bill, and small changes cut it without any discomfort.
Safety: Read labels and the meter display only. Never open a meter box, switchboard or appliance, and never touch wiring; an adult must be present when reading the meter.
Take it further: Repeat the week after the changes and compare the two pie charts and bills.
A NodeMCU (ESP8266) joins the home Wi-Fi, runs a tiny web server and turns a relay on or off when a phone browser taps a button. The relay switches a 12 V LED strip, so the whole thing is a low-voltage copy of a smart switch.
Safety: Only the 12 V LED strip goes through the relay. Never connect the relay to a mains wire or socket. An adult must check the wiring before the adapter is plugged in.
Take it further: Add a second relay and a DHT11 so the page also shows room temperature and lets you switch a 12 V fan.
A passive infrared (PIR) sensor detects the heat of a moving person. An Arduino switches a 12 V LED strip on through a relay and keeps it on for a timer period that restarts with every new movement, so the light never cuts out while someone is still walking.
Safety: Low voltage only: the relay switches the 12 V strip, never a mains lamp. An adult must check the adapter connections.
Take it further: Add an LDR so the light only works after dark, and log each trigger time to the serial monitor.
An MQ-2 gas sensor changes resistance when LPG, butane or smoke touches its heated element. The Arduino compares the reading to a threshold, sounds a buzzer, flashes a red LED and switches a 12 V DC fan through a relay to clear the air.
Safety: Test with a gas lighter held unlit near the sensor for a moment, never with a cylinder valve open. The relay switches only the 12 V fan. An adult must be present for the gas test. The sensor heater gets warm; do not touch it.
Take it further: Replace the Uno with an ESP8266 and send a phone notification through a free IoT app when the alarm triggers.
An infrared flame sensor module detects the flicker and wavelength of a flame from a metre away. The Arduino sounds an alarm and runs a 5 V submersible pump through a relay so a tiny sprinkler sprays water on the model store room.
Safety: Test the sensor with a candle held by an adult, at arm's length, over a metal tray, and keep water away from the Arduino. Never leave the candle unattended. The pump runs on 5 V only.
Take it further: Use a 5-way flame sensor array and turn a servo so the sprinkler points towards the strongest reading.
Before you start
Six things to think about before you decide. A project you understand and finish well beats a big one you rush.
Good projects answer a question you are curious about: why does iron rust, which fabric keeps tea hottest, how does a robot follow a line? A question gives your project a purpose.
Find out whether your teacher wants a working model, a still model or an investigatory project, the size limits, the topic or theme, the date, and whether ready-made models are allowed.
Each idea here shows a class band, a difficulty and a rough time. Choose something you can finish properly with time to test it, rather than something huge you have to rush.
Judges and examiners ask how it works. Choose an idea whose science you understand, or can learn from your textbook and the free ebooks, and practise explaining it.
Write down everything you need before you start. Many models use things from home; motors, LEDs, sensors and boards are easy to buy as spare parts or in a kit.
Change one thing and measure what happens, add a chart of your readings, or show a real-life use. Even a well-known model becomes yours when you add your own observations.
Plan your time
Work backwards from the date of your exhibition or submission. Short of time? Do the same steps faster, but never skip testing.
On the day
You will usually have a minute or two to explain your project, then questions. Practise both out loud at home.
Projects and kits
Need a working model, a kit to build yourself, or a motor, LED, battery or sensor to finish your own? Every idea card links to the matching section of the store.







Cannot find what you need? Ask the head office on WhatsApp.
Free ebooks
Step-by-step project books for every class, plus guides to exhibitions, project files and viva questions. Free to download, read and print.
Science projects
Choose a project, build it, present it and answer the judges with confidence
Science projects
How to write the report, from the cover page to the bibliography
Science projects
How to answer examiner questions, with sample questions for popular projects
Science projects
Simple, safe projects young children can make with a little help
Science projects
Working models matched to middle-school science topics
Science projects
Topics, method and report structure for physics, chemistry and biology
Stay safe
Read these with a parent before you start. Ideas that need extra care carry their own safety note on the card.
Power your models with cells, batteries or a low-voltage adapter. Never connect anything home-made to a wall socket.
Cutters, blades, glue guns, soldering irons and drills need an adult beside you. Cut away from your body on a board.
Use only safe household materials at home. Acids, stains and other lab chemicals are for the school lab with your teacher. Wear goggles and never taste anything.
Candles and burners only with an adult present and water nearby. Tie back long hair and keep paper away.
Do not short-circuit a battery, mix old and new cells, or puncture or heat a lithium battery. Remove batteries when the model is stored.
Magnets, button cells and small parts can be swallowed. Keep them away from younger brothers and sisters, and wash your hands after making.
Still have a question?
Chat on WhatsAppA working model moves or works to show a principle, such as a windmill that lights an LED. A still model shows how something is built or arranged, such as the layers of the Earth. An investigatory project asks a question and answers it by experiment: you change one thing, measure the result and draw a conclusion from your readings.
Check your school’s rules first: some competitions want models made by the student, and some allow ready-made ones. Either way, you must understand how it works and be able to explain it. A good approach is to build from a kit, or to add your own measurements and chart to a ready-made model.
Each idea here shows a rough time for the making. Leave extra time for reading, testing, the report and practice: three to four weeks from choosing to presenting is comfortable for most school projects.
A title page, your aim, the science behind it, the materials, the method with a diagram, your observations in a table, the result and conclusion, precautions, and the books and websites you used. The free ebook “Writing a Science Project File” explains each part.
Carry spare cells, wires and tape, and test everything when you arrive. Take a short video or photos of it working at home. If something still fails, explain calmly what should happen and what you would check: judges value understanding as much as a perfect model.
More help
Read the student help pages, try the free calculators for circuits and units, or ask the head office on WhatsApp.