Science projects
Your Science Exhibition Guide
Choose a project, build it, present it and answer the judges with confidence
Science project idea finder
1028 science project ideas, from class 1 to college.
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
- Class 1 to 5Simple, safe models made with help at home.224 ideas
- Class 6 to 8Working models of the science you learn in class.485 ideas
- Class 9 and 10Energy, electricity, light and first robots.467 ideas
- Class 11 and 12Investigatory projects for the practical exam.331 ideas
- College and diplomaArduino, IoT and sensor projects.119 ideas
Idea finder
Find your project
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.
PhysicsMedium
Baking-tray ripple tank: reflection and refraction of water waves
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
A shallow tray of water lit from above shows ripples as bright and dark lines on white paper below. Ripples reflect from a barrier and bend when they pass from deep to shallow water, because waves travel more slowly in shallow water.
You will need
- A clear glass or plastic tray, about 30 cm by 20 cm, or a glass baking dish
- Water
- White paper or a sheet of white card for the screen
- A bright LED torch or phone light
- Four books to raise the tray
- A ruler, a pencil and a dropper
- A flat piece of plastic about 2 mm thick
Safety: Keep the lamp and phone away from water and wipe spills at once. Use only battery lights, never a mains lamp near the water. An adult must supervise.
Take it further: Use two dippers together to show interference between two sets of circular waves.
PhysicsMedium
Speed of sound from an echo: clapping in time with a wall
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
If you stand about 50 m from a large wall and clap so that each clap meets the echo of the one before, the time between claps equals the time sound takes for the round trip. The distance and time give the speed of sound as about 340 metres per second.
You will need
- A big flat wall, school building or compound wall in an open ground
- A measuring tape or a 30 m rope marked in metres
- A stopwatch or phone timer
- A notebook
- A helper to count
- A calculator
Safety: Choose a quiet open place away from traffic and keep clear of roads. Do not go near water or unsafe walls. An adult must be present.
Take it further: Repeat in the morning and in the afternoon and plot the calculated speed against the temperature.
PhysicsMedium
Blowing over a tube: pitch against air column length
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
A tube closed at the bottom with water gives a note when you blow across the open top, and a shorter air column gives a higher pitch. The frequency is roughly inversely proportional to the length of the air column.
You will need
- A tall narrow plastic bottle, jar or PVC pipe, about 40 cm long and 3 to 4 cm wide
- A tall jug or bucket of water to hold the tube upright
- A phone with a free frequency meter or tuner app
- A ruler
- A funnel and a jug for adding water
- Graph paper
Safety: Use clean tubes and wash the mouthpiece edge if shared. Do not blow hard enough to feel dizzy. Wipe spilt water.
Take it further: Make a set of eight tubes tuned to a musical scale using your frequency app.
PhysicsMedium
Electrophorus: charging a foil plate again and again by induction
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
A foil plate with an insulating handle can be charged over and over from one rubbed plastic sheet without losing the sheet’s charge. It shows charging by induction and earthing, and the plate can make a small spark in a dark room.
You will need
- A polythene or thermocol sheet, about 30 cm by 30 cm
- A piece of wool or dry hair-free woollen cloth
- A foil pie plate or a round plate of card covered with aluminium foil
- A plastic cup or bottle glued upside down at the middle of the plate as an insulating handle
- A small paper strip or a foil ball on a thread to detect charge
- A dry day
Safety: The sparks are tiny and harmless but can surprise you. Use only on a dry day, away from electronics and away from people with pacemakers. An adult must supervise.
Take it further: Charge the plate and use it to charge a jar electroscope or a hanging foil ball by induction, and compare the deflection.
PhysicsChallenging
Latent heat of melting ice measured by mixing ice with warm water
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
Ice at 0 °C takes a large amount of heat to melt, without any rise in temperature. Mixing a known mass of ice into warm water and noting the final temperature lets us calculate this latent heat as about 334 joules per gram.
You will need
- A thermos flask or a well-insulated steel cup with a lid
- A thermometer with 0.5 or 1 °C marks
- A kitchen scale
- About 60 g of ice cubes made from clean water and dried with a cloth
- About 200 g of warm water at about 50 °C from the tap or flask
- A spoon for stirring
- A calculator and a notebook
Safety: An adult must handle the warm water, which should not be above 55 °C. Wipe spills and handle thermometers carefully because glass can break.
Take it further: Estimate the latent heat of evaporation using the heat taken from a cup of water by a wet cloth.
PhysicsMedium
Cooling curve of hot water in a bare cup, a lidded cup and a wrapped cup
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
Hot water cools quickly at first and slowly later, because the rate of heat loss depends on how much hotter the water is than the room. A graph of temperature against time for three cups shows how a lid and a wrapping reduce heat loss.
You will need
- Three identical steel cups or glass jars
- A thermometer up to 100 °C, or three thermometers
- A stopwatch or phone timer
- A lid for one cup
- Woollen cloth and a rubber band for another
- Hot water, about 70 °C, from a kettle
- Graph paper
- A room-temperature thermometer
Safety: An adult must pour the hot water, which should be at most 70 °C. Keep cups on a stable tray and away from the table edge. Do not stir with a glass thermometer.
Take it further: Test cups of different colours and compare how colour changes the cooling, using the same hot water.
MathsMedium
String wound on a half ball: surface area of a sphere is four circles
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
The string that covers the curved surface of a hemisphere covers exactly two flat circles of the same radius, so a hemisphere has an area 2 pi r squared. A whole sphere is therefore four circles, 4 pi r squared.
You will need
- A foam or polystyrene ball, 8 to 10 cm across, or a rubber ball and clay
- A long thin cotton thread, about 10 m
- Strong glue or double-sided tape
- A pencil, a pin and a ruler
- Thick cardboard
- Scissors
- A knife for an adult
Safety: An adult must cut the foam ball in half with a knife. Use the knife on a flat board and cut away from the body. Keep pins away from small children.
Take it further: Use the same thread method to estimate the surface area of an orange and compare with the formula from its measured diameter.
MathsMedium
Cone, hemisphere and cylinder of equal radius: volumes in ratio 1 to 2 to 3
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
A cone, a hemisphere and a cylinder with the same radius, and height equal to the radius for the cone and cylinder, have volumes in the ratio 1 to 2 to 3. Pouring rice from a cone and a hemisphere together exactly fills the cylinder.
You will need
- Thick card or thin plastic sheets
- A compass, ruler and scissors
- Clear tape
- A half rubber ball or a round steel katori of about 8 cm width as the hemisphere
- Rice or sand, about 500 g
- A plate or tray
- Paper to make a funnel
Safety: An adult must cut thick card or plastic. Do not let children put rice in their mouths. Clean up spills to avoid slipping.
Take it further: Change the cone height to 2r and show that the volume doubles, then compare it with the hemisphere.
MathsMedium
Mirror on the ground: finding the height of a tree or building by similar triangles
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
A small mirror on the ground, a tape and your own eye height are enough to find the height of a pole, tree or building without climbing it. Light reflecting from the mirror forms two similar right triangles, so the heights are in proportion to the distances.
You will need
- A small flat mirror, a pocket mirror or a steel plate
- A tape measure or rope of 30 m marked in metres
- Chalk for marking the ground
- A flat open place near a tree or building
- A notebook and a calculator
- A helper
Safety: Stay on level ground, keep away from roads, wires and the edge of any roof, and never climb anything to measure. An adult must be present.
Take it further: Measure a building and then check against the height printed in its plan or the number of floors times 3 m.
MathsMedium
Pin and thread board for the circle theorem: angle at the centre is double
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
On a circle, an arc makes an angle at the centre exactly twice the angle it makes at any point on the remaining circumference. Moving the pin around the circle shows that the angle at the edge does not change.
You will need
- A thick cardboard or thermocol sheet 30 cm square
- A compass and a pencil
- About 12 pins or small nails with heads
- Coloured thread
- A protractor
- A white sheet to glue on the board
- A ruler
Safety: An adult must supervise the use of pins and compass points. Push pins in fully so heads are the only part left above, or cover points with clay.
Take it further: Show that opposite angles of a cyclic quadrilateral add to 180 degrees with four pins.
MathsMedium
One 40 cm thread loop, many shapes: which encloses the most area?
Show detailsHide detailsWhat it shows
A closed loop of thread of fixed length can be made into a triangle, rectangle, square, hexagon or circle. The enclosed area grows as the shape gets more regular and is largest for the circle, so for a fixed perimeter the area can be very different.
You will need
- A thread loop with a total length of exactly 40 cm
- Squared paper with 1 cm squares, a few sheets
- Pins or small pieces of tape
- A ruler, a pencil and an eraser
- A thick card sheet to lay the thread on
- A calculator
Safety: An adult should supervise the use of pins, or use tape instead.
Take it further: Fence a field with 100 m of rope against a wall on one side and find the rectangle with the largest area.
Before you start
How to choose a good project
Six things to think about before you decide. A project you understand and finish well beats a big one you rush.
Start with a question
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.
Check what is asked
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.
Match your time and class
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.
Pick science you can explain
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.
List materials and costs
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.
Make it your own
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
A four-week project timeline
Work backwards from the date of your exhibition or submission. Short of time? Do the same steps faster, but never skip testing.
- 4 weeks before
Choose and get it approved
- Shortlist two or three ideas
- Write your aim or question in one sentence
- Show your teacher and agree the idea
- 3 weeks before
Read and collect materials
- Read the science in your textbook and a free ebook
- Sketch the design with measurements
- Collect or buy the materials and spare parts
- 2 weeks before
Build and test
- Build one part at a time and test each part
- For an investigation, repeat each reading at least three times
- Write every observation in a notebook with the date
- 1 week before
Write the report and chart
- Aim, materials, method, observations, result and conclusion
- A neat table or graph of your readings
- A chart or poster with a labelled diagram
- Last 2 days
Rehearse
- Practise a one-minute explanation out loud
- Prepare answers to the questions below
- Pack spares: cells, wires, tape and glue
On the day
Present it with confidence
You will usually have a minute or two to explain your project, then questions. Practise both out loud at home.
A one-minute explanation
- 1Name and question“My project is a … It answers the question …”
- 2What it showsOne sentence of science, in your own words.
- 3How it worksPoint to each part as you explain it.
- 4What you foundYour readings or result, and what they mean.
- 5Real lifeWhere the same science is used every day.
Questions judges often ask
- What does your project show, in one sentence?
- How does it work? Which law or idea of science is behind it?
- What did you change, and what did you measure?
- What went wrong while you were making it, and how did you fix it?
- Where is this idea used in real life?
- What would you improve if you made it again?
What your project file needs
- Title page with your name, class and school
- Aim or question
- Introduction: the science behind it
- Materials list
- Method, step by step, with a diagram
- Observations in a table
- Result and conclusion
- Precautions and safety
- Sources: books and websites you used
Projects and kits
Ready-made projects, kits and spare parts
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.
School Projects, Class 1 to 9
Ready-made working models for class 1 to 9: science, maths, physics, chemistry and biology.Browse
School Projects, Class 10 to 12
Working models and investigatory projects for class 10, 11 and 12.Browse
Best Out of Waste
Models made from bottles, cardboard and old parts, for waste-management themes.Browse
Robotics and Coding
Robot kits, Arduino projects, line followers, obstacle avoiders and smart projects.Browse
DIY Kits
Kits with every part and step-by-step instructions, to build the model yourself.Browse
Components and Spares
Motors, LEDs, batteries, switches, wires, sensors and breadboards to build or repair.Browse
Engineering Projects
Minor and major projects for diploma and BTech students.Browse
Cannot find what you need? Ask the head office on WhatsApp.
Free ebooks
Free books for making projects
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
Writing a Science Project File
How to write the report, from the cover page to the bibliography
Science projects
Viva Questions for Science Projects
How to answer examiner questions, with sample questions for popular projects
Science projects
Easy Science Projects for Class 1 to 5
Simple, safe projects young children can make with a little help
Science projects
Science Projects for Class 6 to 8
Working models matched to middle-school science topics
Science projects
Investigatory Projects for Class 11 and 12
Topics, method and report structure for physics, chemistry and biology
Stay safe
Safety rules for every project
Read these with a parent before you start. Ideas that need extra care carry their own safety note on the card.
Never use mains electricity
Power your models with cells, batteries or a low-voltage adapter. Never connect anything home-made to a wall socket.
Adult help for sharp and hot tools
Cutters, blades, glue guns, soldering irons and drills need an adult beside you. Cut away from your body on a board.
Chemicals with care
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.
Flames only with an adult
Candles and burners only with an adult present and water nearby. Tie back long hair and keep paper away.
Look after batteries
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.
Small parts away from little ones
Magnets, button cells and small parts can be swallowed. Keep them away from younger brothers and sisters, and wash your hands after making.
Questions about science projects
Still have a question?
Chat on WhatsAppWhat is the difference between a working model, a still model and an investigatory project?
A 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.
Can I buy a ready-made project?
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.
How long does a school project take?
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.
What should go in my project report or file?
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.
What if my model stops working on the day?
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
Stuck on a project?
Read the student help pages, try the free calculators for circuits and units, or ask the head office on WhatsApp.