After consultation with Ms Tan, my original idea did not seem like such a good one after all!
Firstly, there were too many factors affecting my results. I had intended on testing out the experiment on 3 cars, but Ms Tan had rightly pointed out that the 3 cars were of different make, model etc. She suggested I go to a car dealer and ask if I could test the experiment out on their cars (since they were all already parked outside and were all of the same brand), but this was not very good as the salesperson would not agree to the experiment.
Secondly, if it was a rainy day they whole experiment was going to be a failure. Since I can borrow the necessary experiment from the the science laboratory for only 3 days, if all 3 days were rainy ones I could not even conduct my experiment!
Thus, I decided to change my idea. My favourite fruit is peach, and every time I ate peaches I noticed that they would turn brown after a while. This made the peach unappetizing. I was wondering whether there were any easily available household preservatives that could preserve the colour of the peaches for the longest time?
Thursday, May 26, 2011
SIP Proposal (Appendix D)
Science Investigative Project
Project Proposal Form
Name: | Claire Tay Ern Ying (6) | Sec 2/13 |
Topic of investigation : | Oxidation of peaches |
A Observations made
I noticed that every time I ate peaches, the peaches tended to turn brown very quickly. I heard that salt water was an effective method of retaining the colour of the peaches, and I wanted to test if this was true. I also wondered if there were any other commonly available household substances that could retain the colour of the peaches.
Based on background knowledge, I also know that Vitamin C is a good preservative.
B Research Question
What is the best household preservative to prevent the browning of cut peaches?
C Hypothesis
Redoxon (1000 mg) is the best household preservative to prevent the browning of cut peaches as it contains a high concentration of Vitamin C.
D A short summary of research done on the area of investigation
Peaches contain an enzyme (called polyphenol oxidase or tyrosinase) that reacts with oxygen and iron-containing phenols that are also found in the peach. The browning appears when the fruit is cut or bruised because these actions damage the cells in the fruit, allowing oxygen in the air to react with the enzyme and other chemicals.
E Bibliography
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question168.htm
Writing Guidelines
Science Investigative
Project Report Writing Guidelines
1. What do you want to find out? (Aim/Purpose/Research question)
2. What is the tentative explanation of your research question? (Hypothesis)
3. In an investigation, there is only one variable to be changed.
Which variable will you change in this investigation? (Independent Variable)(Aim/Purpose/Research question)
2. What is the tentative explanation of your research question? (Hypothesis)
3. In an investigation, there is only one variable to be changed.
Which variable will you change in this investigation? (Independent Variable)What is the tentative explanation of your research question? (Hypothesis)
3. In an investigation, there is only one variable to be changed.
Which variable will you change in this investigation? (Independent Variable)In an investigation, there is only one variable to be changed.
Which variable will you change in this investigation? (Independent Variable)Independent Variable)
4. All the other variables must be kept constant. What are a few important variables that will
affect the results greatly? (Controlled Variables)All the other variables must be kept constant. What are a few important variables that will
affect the results greatly? (Controlled Variables)(Controlled Variables)
5. What results will you measure? (Dependent Variable)Dependent Variable)
6. What are the materials and apparatus that you will need to carry out the investigation
(Materials and Apparatus)
7. What are the steps that you will take to carry out the investigation? (Procedure)
Step 1: ______________________________________________________________
Step 2: ______________________________________________________________
8. How are data collected? (Data collection)Procedure)
Step 1: ______________________________________________________________
Step 2: ______________________________________________________________
8. How are data collected? (Data collection)(Data collection)
9. How to show that the experimentation was carried out as reported? (Evidence)(Evidence)
Use of photograph, audio or video recording.
10. How to organize and present the data collected? (Results)(Results)
*The data can be presented in the form of tables and/or graphs.
11. What do the data mean? (Data Analysis)
12. What can you deduce from the discussion of your data analysis? (Conclusion)
Does it support your hypothesis? If not, what would you do?
13. How can you apply what you have learnt to everyday life? (Application)
14. What are the limitations of your experimentation? If you were to work on the same topic
again, would you conduct the experimentation differently? Why? (Limitation and further
improvement)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The Idea
The only problem with this idea is: it doesn't really fit into any of the Science categories. But I'm interested to find out the answer!
The situation: There was a recent newspaper article about a 3 year old Malaysian girl who died after her father had forgotten about her and left her sleeping in the car. The car was locked and windows were wound up. The car was parked under the blazing hot sun. By the time he remembered about her more than an hour later, the girl had already suffered serious heatstroke.
Quite a lot of people don't know that leaving somebody in the car with no ventilation or air-con can actually cause a person to die if it is hot enough outside. This is not the first time something like that has happened.
(Actually, even with air-con on you can still die from carbon monoxide poisoning, but that's a different story)
Hence, I would like to find out: just how high can the temperature in the car get in comparison to outside temperature, and how long does it take to reach such a temperature? It must be in comparison to the outside temperature, because although Singapore's temperature is constant (equatorial region), there can still be slight fluctuation on different days.
Do different coloured cars affect the the time taken to reach this temperature? (e.g. darker coloured cars, orange etc.)
Do different location affect the time taken to reach this temperature? e.g. In a basement carpark, under a large tree, in an open area under hot sun.
Note: A person's internal body temperature reaches 40-44 degrees when he has heatstroke.
The situation: There was a recent newspaper article about a 3 year old Malaysian girl who died after her father had forgotten about her and left her sleeping in the car. The car was locked and windows were wound up. The car was parked under the blazing hot sun. By the time he remembered about her more than an hour later, the girl had already suffered serious heatstroke.
Quite a lot of people don't know that leaving somebody in the car with no ventilation or air-con can actually cause a person to die if it is hot enough outside. This is not the first time something like that has happened.
(Actually, even with air-con on you can still die from carbon monoxide poisoning, but that's a different story)
Hence, I would like to find out: just how high can the temperature in the car get in comparison to outside temperature, and how long does it take to reach such a temperature? It must be in comparison to the outside temperature, because although Singapore's temperature is constant (equatorial region), there can still be slight fluctuation on different days.
Do different coloured cars affect the the time taken to reach this temperature? (e.g. darker coloured cars, orange etc.)
Do different location affect the time taken to reach this temperature? e.g. In a basement carpark, under a large tree, in an open area under hot sun.
Note: A person's internal body temperature reaches 40-44 degrees when he has heatstroke.
More Ideas
Rate of reaction of Vitamin C tablet - how fast will a Vitamin C tablet dissolve if placed in water of different temperatures?
Observation: When one fruit rots, the fruit in contact with it begins to rot too. Why? At what distance does this occur? Is it only when the fruit is touching the rotting part does it start to rot?
Experiments involving building simple rockets - putting Redoxon tablet in film canister, fill with water, turn upside down and let it shoot into the air
Observation: When one fruit rots, the fruit in contact with it begins to rot too. Why? At what distance does this occur? Is it only when the fruit is touching the rotting part does it start to rot?
Experiments involving building simple rockets - putting Redoxon tablet in film canister, fill with water, turn upside down and let it shoot into the air
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
SIP Ideas
Ideas for SIP:
1. There is a myth that states that hot water will freeze faster than cold water, due to an effect called the Mpemba effect. One of the several possible explanations for this effect involves evaporation: if you start with extremely hot water, quite a lot of it will evaporate (and a smaller quantity of water will freeze faster than a larger quantity). And so, according to chemists, it is possible and not a myth.
2. Coca cola can remove gum from hair. The chemicals found in Coca-Cola will loosen the gum and make it looser and easier to pull out.
3. Some websites say that Coca-cola can remove rust because of the phosporic acid in the coke. However, others say that Coca-cola causes nails to rust as rust is caused by oxygen combining with the metal, in this case iron and steel. The acid in the coca-cola strip off contaminants and increase the speed at which this process takes place. Acid also has oxygen in it and when it meets up with various other items it makes more oxygen available for the process. Apparently, oil protects the nails by preventing oxygen from getting to the metal.
1. There is a myth that states that hot water will freeze faster than cold water, due to an effect called the Mpemba effect. One of the several possible explanations for this effect involves evaporation: if you start with extremely hot water, quite a lot of it will evaporate (and a smaller quantity of water will freeze faster than a larger quantity). And so, according to chemists, it is possible and not a myth.
2. Coca cola can remove gum from hair. The chemicals found in Coca-Cola will loosen the gum and make it looser and easier to pull out.
3. Some websites say that Coca-cola can remove rust because of the phosporic acid in the coke. However, others say that Coca-cola causes nails to rust as rust is caused by oxygen combining with the metal, in this case iron and steel. The acid in the coca-cola strip off contaminants and increase the speed at which this process takes place. Acid also has oxygen in it and when it meets up with various other items it makes more oxygen available for the process. Apparently, oil protects the nails by preventing oxygen from getting to the metal.
4. Do aerodynamic paper planes really travel faster than planes of other shape?
5. Which light source will cause dyes to fade the most? e.g. UV light, florescent light etc.
5. Which light source will cause dyes to fade the most? e.g. UV light, florescent light etc.
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