4th Grade Science Projects

4th grade science projects, and for that matter, all science projects crop up from the minds of curious people; those who have the knack to observe things around them. Such people are loaded with tons of 'Why's and How's' crawling in their brains, and science projects are just a way of unraveling the answers. Science fair projects are effective and meaningful when their idea serves the child's interest and understanding.

Science Projects for 4th Graders

Project #1 - Bottle the Egg!
Take a raw egg and place it in a cup of vinegar. Leave it for one whole day. The next day, feel the egg and you will find to be soft. So, in this way you can put the egg inside a bottle whose mouth is smaller than the size of the egg. Now, how did this happen? Egg is made up of calcium carbonate and vinegar is acetic acid. When the egg is immersed in vinegar, acetic acid and calcium carbonate react to form carbon dioxide. This gas is released from the egg in the form of bubbles. So, when egg loses all the carbon dioxide, it becomes soft thus, enters even a narrow bottle without breaking. Now, if you keep the egg in a dry place for another day, it will retain its hardness. This happens as the calcium that is left in the egg gets the carbon dioxide back from the air.

Project #2 - Which is the Good Egg and the Bad?
By plainly looking at an egg, it is difficult to determine if it is fresh or old or has gone bad, unless the person is Superman! So here is an experiment that would help you with the same. All you need is a glass of water and an egg. Place the egg in the water and if it drowns, and lies flat in the glass, then consider it fresh. But if you see that the smaller end of the egg lies on the bottom and the egg is standing upright, then that means that stuff has started to lose its freshness. And if the egg is fully floating in the water, then it is time to dispose it. So what happens out here? An egg has an air pocket inside it, which is the smallest when the egg is fresh. But with time, the egg loses its moisture and carbon dioxide. This in turn, causes the air pocket to increase in size. So as we saw in the experiment, the smaller the pocket, the heavier the egg remains, which helps it stay submerged in the water, and vice versa.

Project #3 - Cardboard and Water
This science project makes use of a hard cardboard and a glass. Fill the glass with water up to the brim. Place the cardboard over the glass. Now turn the glass upside down without moving the cardboard. Keep holding the glass and take away your hand from the cardboard. What will happen is, the cardboard won't fall nor will the water leak. This happens due to air pressure created inside the glass.

Project #4 - Create an Electromagnet
Take a piece of iron core and coil it with insulated copper wire. Take care that the wire is coiled very close to each other. Now, connect one end of the wire to the positive terminal of a battery and the other end to the negative terminal. Place a needle or a safety pin close to the iron and observe them getting attracted towards it. This phenomenon is known as electromagnetism, and this is created by the flowing current. The more the wire is wrapped around the iron core, the stronger will be the magnetism produced. As current is involved in this project, some heat may be generated and so it is recommended that the project is carried out under parent's supervision.

Projects #5 - Create a Magnetic Compass
You would require a needle, a bar magnet, a piece of cork and a small bowl of water. Rub one end of the needle against the magnet, always in the same direction (for about 15 times or more). Now drive the needle through the cork and place the cork in the water. Let the water be still and observe the needle pointing itself towards the north pole. The rubbing of the needle against the magnet makes it magnetically charged and hence it aligns itself towards the north pole.

Kids can try out these projects at home or at school with the help of their parents and teachers. Your duty as a parent is not only to encourage your kids to take up such projects but also to help them learn what causes such phenomenon to take place. Books and elders are the best source for such information. So, help your kids with the above ideas and many other science projects. Help them learn more and grow intellectually.