Environment
Environment projects for class 9 and 10: 37 ideas.
Each project below opens to its own page with what it shows, the science behind it, the materials, safety, step-by-step instructions, what you should see and viva questions. Many can be made from things at home; where a kit helps, the page links one.
Other subjects for class 9 and 10: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Earth and space, Electronics and robotics, Computing and coding.
Rainwater harvesting model
Rain falling on a roof is collected by gutters and pipes, filtered, and either stored in a tank or sent down a recharge pit to refill the groundwater.
Solar water heater model
Black surfaces absorb more sunlight than shiny or white ones, and a clear cover traps the heat, so water in a black, covered container warms fastest.
Greenhouse effect in a jar
A covered jar in the sun warms faster than an open one. It is a simple model of how greenhouse gases keep heat near the Earth; the real atmosphere traps heat by absorbing infrared rather than by stopping air moving.
Biogas plant model
Without air, microbes break down dung and kitchen waste and give off biogas, which is mostly methane. The slurry left behind is good manure.
Box-type solar cooker
The black inside absorbs sunlight, a mirror reflector sends more light in, and a glass lid traps the heat, so the box gets hot enough to warm food.
Vermicompost tub that turns kitchen peels into worm castings
Composting worms eat vegetable waste and pass it out as dark, crumbly castings that are a rich plant food. A tub with drainage, bedding and the right moisture turns a family's peels into compost and shows how much kitchen waste never needs to reach a dump.
One-week plastic audit of a household with a bar chart of sources
Counting and weighing every piece of plastic a family throws away in a week shows where it comes from: packaging of snacks, milk pouches, carry bags and bottles. Sorting it by type and by whether it can be recycled shows which habits would cut the most.
How much rain your roof can catch: a measured roof yield study
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.
Home energy audit using the meter, appliance labels and a week of logs
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.
LED, CFL and filament bulb: cost of light over ten years from the labels
Three bulbs giving the same brightness draw very different power: about 60 watts for a filament bulb, 14 for a CFL and 9 for an LED. Using the lumens and watts printed on the packs and the price per unit from a bill, a ten-year cost comparison shows the LED is cheapest by far despite its higher price.
Is our rain acidic? Testing rainwater pH at three locations
Clean rain is slightly acidic, around pH 5.6, because carbon dioxide dissolves in it. Sulphur and nitrogen oxides from vehicles and industry make it more acidic. Collecting rain in clean containers at three sites and testing with pH paper shows whether local pollution is lowering the pH.
Noise map of your neighbourhood with a phone decibel meter
Sound level is measured in decibels, a scale where every 10 decibels sounds about twice as loud. Measuring at the same spots at different times of day gives a noise map that shows where and when levels pass the limits set for residential and silence zones.
Tree census of the school ground with species, girth and shade area
A census records every tree in an area with its species, girth and canopy, the same way city forest departments do. The data show which species dominate, which trees are oldest, how much ground is shaded, and where new trees would help most.
Carbon footprint of the journey to school: petrol, bus, bicycle and walking
Burning fuel makes carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. By linking distance, mileage and fuel type you can estimate how much CO2 each way of getting to school sends into the air.
Urban heat island: temperatures on road, roof, grass and under a tree
Dark paved surfaces absorb more sunlight and warm up more than grass or shade. Mapping temperatures across a school or street shows how towns become hotter than the countryside.
Dissolved solids in ten water sources measured with a TDS meter
Water carries dissolved salts that conduct electricity. A TDS meter reads the conductivity and converts it into parts per million, so different sources can be compared.
How fast does rain soak in? Infiltration rate with a tin-can ring
Soil takes in water at a certain speed, called its infiltration rate. Measuring it in the playground, a field and a forest floor shows why some ground floods while other ground soaks up the monsoon.
How strong is sunshine? Watts per square metre from a blackened can
Sunlight carries energy. By measuring how fast the sunshine warms a known mass of water, you can estimate the power per square metre that reaches the ground, which is a guide to solar energy.
Evaporation from pans in sun, shade and wind: millimetres a day
Water leaves open surfaces at a rate set by heat, wind and humidity. Daily readings from identical pans show how much water a field or a tank loses and why crops need irrigation in summer.
Weighing a fortnight of food waste: what we throw away and why
Food thrown away takes land, water and energy to produce, and it makes methane when it rots in a landfill. Weighing waste every day shows how much is wasted and where it comes from.
Bowl and cup solar still that makes clean water from salty water
Water evaporates in the sun and condenses on cool plastic, leaving salt behind. It is a small model of how the water cycle and distillation work.
How many litres does your family use in a day? A water audit
You measure how much water each daily activity uses by counting buckets, mugs and tap flows, and then work out litres per person per day. The result helps find where water can be saved.
Foil panel solar cooker that warms a pot of water
A panel cooker uses flat foil-covered reflectors to bounce extra sunlight onto a dark pot sealed in a clear bag. It shows that sunlight can heat water without any fuel.
Solar still in a basin that separates fresh water from salty water
Sunlight evaporates water from salty or muddy water, and the vapour condenses on a cool plastic sheet as clean water. It models how sea or borewell water could be made drinkable with free heat.
Solar dryer cabinet against open-air drying of chilli and fruit
A covered, ventilated box dries food faster and cleaner than open-air drying. Weighing equal slices each day shows how quickly water leaves in each method.
Paper and sawdust briquettes: how long do they burn compared with wood?
Waste paper, sawdust and crop leaves can be pressed into fuel blocks. Burning equal masses under adult supervision and timing a water boil shows the energy in each fuel.
Tin-can rocket stove model that boils water with a handful of twigs
A rocket stove has an insulated chimney and a small fuel feed so the fuel burns hot and clean. Comparing the boil time against a three-stone fire shows how a design change saves fuel.
Classroom lighting audit: lux readings and how much LEDs would save
Measuring light levels and counting lamp hours shows where electricity is wasted. Comparing old tube lights with LED tubes on paper gives the units and rupees saved per year.
Straw, leaf, paper and bare soil: which mulch keeps pots moistest?
A layer of mulch slows evaporation from the soil surface. Weighing identical pots each day shows how much water each mulch saves, which helps farmers during dry spells.
Greywater reuse: rice-wash, soapy and tap water on bean seedlings
Water used in the kitchen can sometimes be reused on plants, but soap can harm them. Growing seedlings with different kinds of used water shows which can be safely reused.
Polyhouse tunnel against open bed: temperature, humidity and seedling growth
A plastic tunnel holds warmth and moisture and protects plants from wind and rain. Comparing a covered bed with an open bed shows how polyhouses extend the growing season.
Terraces and contour furrows against straight slopes: runoff model
Terracing and ploughing along the contours slow rain runoff and hold soil on hillsides. A sand tray model measures the soil and water lost on each slope.
Five home water cleaning methods ranked with a clarity tube
Cloth, sand, charcoal, alum and boiling each do different jobs. A homemade clarity tube ranks how well each method clears water, and the project explains which methods also remove germs.
Sunlight bottle disinfection model: temperature in clear, black-backed and shaded bottles
The solar disinfection (SODIS) method leaves clear water in sunlight for hours so heat and ultraviolet light weaken germs. Measuring temperature in different bottle set-ups shows how to make it work better.
Recharge pit model that refills a borewell tube from roof water
Roof rain can be led through a filter pit into the ground to raise the water table. The model shows how a recharge pit with gravel and sand layers refills a borewell.
Cutting pond evaporation with shade, floating balls and an oil film
Open ponds and tanks lose a lot of water by evaporation in summer. Testing four covers on trays of water shows which method saves the most water.
Litres per kilo of rice, wheat and vegetables: a virtual water table
Growing food uses a lot of water. Collecting published figures and farm data for crops shows which foods use the most water and how a family’s diet affects its water footprint.