9th Grade Research Topic Survey 2018

Please rate these ideas on the following interest scale.
4=Gotta Have It, I am motivated by this topic and can see myself as a leader in efforts to make this project a success
3=Love It, I am motivated by this topic and can commit serious time and effort to the development and implementation of this project idea
2=Like It, I am interested in this topic but am unsure on what role I would play in the development and implementation of this project idea at this point
1=Every cell in my body is saying no to this project

Information is organized by Title, then Question, Methods, Followed by Why this should be investigated

Tools

Name:

Alternate Energy Source

What form of alternate energy is the most efficient?

"Independent variables = Type of Energy use
Dependent = Speed of motor
Controlled = Same motor and wires
1. Set up water in container and cause movement which generates power that is funneled through the wires to the motor causing it to spin.
2. Set up fan and use speed to generate energy that goes to the motor
3. Set up fire to generate heat which makes energy going to the motor.
4. Calculate speed of motor and share results"

This experiment can find an alternate energy source to fossil fuels that can help reduce the amount of fossil fuels we burn. This will end up being helpful for the environment.

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Bacterial Biofilter for reducing estrogen contaminants in surface water.
Estrogens from prescription drugs are getting into the water supply from excreted urine. This can impact fish, and other freshwater, aquatic species.

Question-Can we grow a bacteria that, if put in a biofilter, will eat the estrogen traces in the water?

First, a water sample from Lacamas Lake and/or the Columbia River and a sample from the tap water will be sent to a lab to be tested for estrogen contamination. Then, bacteria from soil will be cultured, and a colony will be chosen to be purified. Afterwords, this colony will be exposed to an estrogen solution, made from fresh water with estrogen from pills dissolved into that water, by pouring the solution over the bacteria growing on an agar plate. Once a bacteria that grows favorably with the estrogen, that colony will be transferred and replicated in new agar plates. These bacteria will be harvested and put into a filter that contains sand and charcoal. Another filter will be built without the bacteria as a control filter. Estrogen containing water will be assayed and then be filtered and the filtered water will be tested again with the estrogen assay.

Many people are interested in clean water, and people do not want endocrine disruptors in their water.

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Bio Plastic
Is it feasible to make a quickly biodegrading plastic?

Well first, I would start by testing different Biodegradable plastics should be researched as many plastics used today are difficult to dispose of once they've outlasted their use.

Burning them is often toxic, and simply throwing them into a landfill will cause them to stick around for hundreds of years. They pose a threat to the environment, as they will sometimes release chemicals during prolonged exposure to the sun, and also pose a threat to organisms, as they sometimes mistake plastic for food. To limit our impact on the environment, its important that we find a safe way to dispose of it.

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Contagious Illnesses Spreading

What is the question/problem/hypothesis that drives your research?

Sickness spreads very quickly at the high school even though you're not supposed to come to school when you are ill but every year there is at least one or two seasons when the flu or cold spreads around to a large number of people. This has proved to be an issue as when you are ill, you cannot focus as well for class or you can't show up at all.

Our question is what is the cause of contagious illnesses at our school spreading at alarming rates? We hypothesize that one of the main causes may be contaminated hands on staircase balconies, water fountain spouts that have not been cleaned, and a multitude of other variables. "We will be testing samples from the school using swabs to pick up on the germs and other contaminants that might be the cause of sickness in the school spreading quickly. Our independent variable will be the staircase banisters, water fountain spouts, and other communal areas that many students come in contact with per day. Our dependent variable should be the results that we receive back about the germs and other contaminants. Our controlled variables might be the type of people who come in contact with the communal areas. We will clean a part of the communal area and then take a sample of it to compare.

Sickness in the school is a reason many are skipping it and we should be working hard to fix that issue as best we can. Its relevant to us because we don't want to be sick and miss out on important learning so we want to find the cause behind our risk.

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Creating a Machine Learning Program to Master Simple Games using Reinforcement Learning
How can I write a program that teaches itself to find the optimum moves in each game?
Once the program is completed, tests against other AI's will be conducted. The independent variable will be the amount of training attempts and the dependent variable will be the win percentage. As the program is tweaked to increase efficiency, additional tests will be performed to compare win rates with previous versions. Artificial Intelligence is a field that will be increasingly prominent. The concepts used in AI programs are universal and can be applied in many other areas, such as in virtual assistants and search engines. My inspiration for this project came from Deepmind's program, AlphaGo Zero, which revolutionized AI by being the first program to be able to play games without use of previous data, thus completely teaching itself.

I aim to create a much simpler version that can play games such as connect four with a high win rate.

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Efficiency of Nanoparticle Enhanced Photovoltaic Cells
Will the augmentation of single-junction photovoltaic cells, via dyed nanoparticles, increase the maximum conversion efficiency of current solar cells?
"Dependent variable: Efficiency Rate
Independent variable: Type of DSSC (Color and nanoparticle form)
Controlled variables: Light source’s luminosity and wavelength, overall structure of the cells, exposure time, environment of testing.

After producing our dyed photoanodes, we will implement them into the unfinished solar cell. We will then expose the cell to a light source in order to test its efficiency.
"Emission free energy sources are becoming more and more necessary as global trends of CO2 and temperature increase. Reaching maximum conversion efficiency will make solar an even better clean energy source.
"

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Facial Recognition
How will you program a device to recognize objects?
"I will try to create the software using python with the help of my uncle. Then we will test to see if it will work or not.

The independent variable would be the software and the dependant variable would be the chances of it being able to recognize objects and such.

I would probably use an open source program as a controlled, to see how many times that software got the items right compared to mine." "Facial recognition is already showing its importance in today's culture. It would be much more secure for people to use their face as a password or signature as it isn't likely to by copied.

It isn't limited there, we could also use it to identify plants, whether or not it is invasive. Bringing the software into the robot, it could possibly eradicate the weed for us and make garden work easier. This has already been done by Farmbot, but I would like for the robot to be able to move around freely.

Although I am only testing it on objects, I would like to continue to work on it so that it will be able to differentiate between plants."

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From Real-Life to 3D Models
How can I use real life objects as a base for 3D models to create a simulated environment?
"For my research, I will use an Xbox One Kinect to replicate real objects into a 3D model with the official program called ""3D Scan"" on the Microsoft Store for the basic shapes and proportions of the object. After that, I will try again with different objects to see if I can get consistent results regardless of shape. Once I am comfortable with basic objects, I can move on to more complex ones like a table or chair if possible.

A simple cube will be used as a controlled variable to compare to other models quality in terms of rendering, texture, and physics.

The independent variable will be the different objects used as bases such as juice boxes, vases, and others.

The dependent variable will be how well I can import the object, add texture, physics, and render object by object. Data will be qualitative rather than quantitative.

I will research other methods from professionals for 3D modeling and learn to render, add textures, and physics to improve the quality of the models." "I feel like the topic of copying real-life objects into usable 3D models should be investigated, because people who use 3D models do not always have access to pre-made designs or the time to create a 3D model from scratch, so if I could create a way to make a base for 3D models quickly and efficiently, it would make many jobs much easier and less time-consuming.

As for why this topic is important, relevant, and interesting, I would like to explore the field of 3D modeling to provide background knowledge for a career involving 3D modeling. 3D models can be used in a variety of fields whether its for game development, advertisements, or architecture. Because of its versatility, I chose this project so that I could practice 3D modeling and get a head start in pursuing a career I am interested in."

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How radiation effects antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

What is the effect of UV radiation on the time taken for bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics?

"Dependant variable: bacteria growth, Independent Variable: Duration of UV irradiation, Controlled variables: amount of sunlight, size of starter culture, amount of agar, size of petri dish, amount of antibiotic, position of petri dish relative to UV lamp.

I would start by measuring an equal amount of agar jelly and distributing it into equally sized petri dishes. I would then put an equal amount of the culture into each petri dish. Next, I would measure the cfu/ml of each petri dish before starting the experiment. I would then put equal amounts of antibiotic in each petri dish and measure the cfu/ml again. Then I would set up my UV lamp with a wavelength of 260-270 nm and leave the petri dishes. Each week for 8 weeks I would take a sample and measure the number of bacteria in each petri dish. I would also have a control petri dish with the antibiotic but that doesn't receive any UV radiation. My goal is to see whether the mutagenic UV radiation will increase the rate at which bacteria develop a resistance to the antibiotic. In order to measure the bacteria I would take sample from the petri dish and put it on a slide. Afterwards I would count the number of visible bacteria, calculate cfu/ml and then record the results." Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are potentially very hazardous to human health and are becoming increasingly more common, which is why I think that research should be conducted regarding them.

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Hydroelectric Turbines
How does the amount of blades used affect the amount of electricity generated?
I will have a controlled turbine (built to the model of some at the bonneville dam but smaller) as well as my turbine, and test them in a river with multiple trials to see which one is more efficient at generating power.

This hypothesis should be investigated because renewable resources are essential to the sustainability of the environment; so these resources have to be as efficient as possible in order to be comparable or better than natural gasses.

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Hydroelectric turbines
What is the most efficient hydroelectric turbine design?

We will put the turbine, designed by us, in a river or flowing stream and record the amount of energy produced. The independent variable is the amount of turbines and the dependent variable is the amount of energy produced. Finally, our control variables involve the size of propellers, same amount of river flow and same material of propellers.

Due to the fact that in reality, we should be able to more efficiently be able to produce energy.

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Insect-Keeper-Awayer

It there a way to keep insects away from fenced in areas without using pesticides?

I will construct a small solar powered box that creates electricity that flows through the fence shocking the insect, but nit killing them. Hopefully they adapt and go somewhere else

So that humans can get rid of insects and bugs without killing them

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Subliminal messaging and the long term impacts on decision making

How long does subliminal messaging impact decision making, and does subliminal messaging impact decision making at all?

We would gather two separate test groups, and have them in different rooms. We would then give them a survey on their opinions before the video starts. We let them watch the video once then give the first group a survey with similar questions 30 minutes after the video is played to the group. Then the second group will take a survey 2 hours after the video. Both groups will then take a final survey one week after the video was played. The controlled variables will be the material on the survey, and the video played. The Independent variable is when the surveys are given. The Dependent variable is the test results, and what answers match what was shown in the video as a subliminal message. This question should be investigated because there is little known about the effects of subliminal messaging and how long the effects last.

This is a subject that will only become more important as advertisements will use this method more and more we need to know about the long term affects.

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The Effect of Positive Music on Creativity

What is the effect of positive music on a person's creativity?

To conduct my research, I will gather a group of 100 students from camas high school to get into 5 groups of 20, with varied grades and ages in each(controlled,maintains diversity and variation as not to confuse the results with creativity affecting age). Then, the 100 students will listen to 4 songs, and take a survey to classify them as "happy", "sad", "frightening", or "calming". Each group will be assigned a song, (dependent variable) with one control group only listening to silence(controlled variable), then attempt the marshmallow test(independent variable). The results will be measured by the height that each group can get their tower to.

This topic is relevant because if indeed, creativity is improved by happier and more upbeat music, then people preparing to take a test, or go into a situation in which they are needed to have a creative, open mind, such as a job interview or any form of arts, could listen to music that has a happier tune and in turn, improve their creativity.

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Using Titanium Dioxide to Reduce the Amount of Carbon Emissions in the Air

How does titanium dioxide coated onto different materials affect the amount of CO2 pollution in the air?

To conduct our research, we will be testing the effects of titanium dioxide on different housing materials to figure out which one is the durable. We will test the titanium dioxide by building different house models made of wood, recycled plastic, glass, and bamboo. We will then coat the models in titanium dioxide and place it in a closed environment which has contaminated air. The model which best reduces the carbon pollution in the air would be the most effective to use in housing. The independent variable would be the material coated by titanium dioxide. The dependent variable is the amount of carbon remaining in the air (lbs of CO2 per unit of volume). The controlled variables would be the design of the model houses, the amount of titanium dioxide used, and the amount of pollution exposed to the houses. This question should be investigated because it can apply to real world problems.

Sustainability is a big issue that needs to be resolved in order for the human civilization to thrive for the years to come. We need to find housing that is beneficial to both humans and the environment.

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UV and LED lights in bathrooms

How effective are UV lights at killing germs that are in bathrooms to reduce their spread?

Start by building a basic circuit board containing UV and LED bulbs and then put that above a sink. Then, flush the toilet and then turn on the UV light. After 5 minutes walk back in and do test to see the amount of germs that still remain."

To help make bathrooms more sanitary and the reduce the amount of people getting sick because of disease spread in bathrooms.

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Variable Camber Wing

Can a variable camber wing improve the quality of flight by providing lift in a variety of different circumstances?

The method I plan to use to conduct my research is to map the wing intp a fluid dynamics simulator to measure drag and lift. Using a real wind tunnel would also be an option. The independent variable for my studies would be the camber of a wing, meaning the ratio of the top curved surface to the bottom one. The dependant variable(s) would be the lift and the drag produced at different cambers, which could be simulated in software or a wind tunnel. The controlled variables would be the angle of attack of the wing, the length of the wing section, and the surface material of the wing. This question should be investigated because current aircraft are limited in their performance by the shape of their wings.

Certain wings are good for some situations and some for other, and airplane wings can't be changed. With a variable camber wing, aircraft could be much more versatile.

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Waste Water Treatment

How can wastewater be treated to create safe and renewable supplies of water?

I will take the wastewater and put it into a cup labeled wastewater. From there on there will be different cups labeled with what their purpose is. In each different trial I do, the manipulated variable will be the different cups with different purposes and the dependent variable is the purity of the water, or how clean it turns out being. Some of the controlled variables are the amount of water and the temperature of the water.

This question should be investigated because many cities/villages around the world have no access to clean water and are forced to use dirty water from rivers and lakes that the big cities pollute in. If we are able to implement this water recycling process into our cities, we will not only be cutting down on how much fresh water we have to use but we can also use this "recycled" water as a renewable energy source to help struggling cities, towns and villages.

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Efficiency of Nanoparticle Enhanced Photovoltaic Cells

Will the augmentation of single-junction photovoltaic cells, via dyed nanoparticles, increase the maximum conversion efficiency of current solar cells?

"Dependent variable: Efficiency Rate
Independent variable: Type of DSSC (Color and nanoparticle form)
Controlled variables: Light source’s luminosity and wavelength, overall structure of the cells, exposure time, environment of testing,
After producing our dyed photoanodes, we will implement them into the unfinished solar cell.

After producing our dyed photoanodes, we will implement them into the unfinished solar cell. We will then expose the cell to a light source in order to test its efficiency." Emission free energy sources are becoming more and more necessary as global trends of CO2 and temperature increase. Reaching maximum conversion efficiency will make solar an even better clean energy source.

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Optimized Water Electrolysis

Pulsing electrical currents instead of having a constant flow of electricity will increase the efficiency of water electrolysis.

I am going to test how much oxygen and hydrogen I can create using electricity to split up water. However, I am going to do this in two ways. I am going to pulse electricity for one of the tes and for the other test I am going to keep a constant flow of electricity. I am going to use the same total amount of energy for each test. I am testing which method results in the most hydrogen and oxygen.

Some machines and cars can run off of hydrogen. Water electrolysis could be a good way to power these vehicles in a renewable way.

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Biodegradable plastic

Can we make a plastic that degrades

We attempt to make samples of the plastic and Plastic is bad for the environment and is being left on the sides of the road or dumped in the ocean.

By making plastic that safely degrades, it will greatly help with the pollution problem

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Natural Teeth Whitening

Are natural teeth whitening methods more efficient than conventional?
"1)Set 3 beakers out containing 50 mL of coke.
2) Put one egg in each beaker and wait for 3 hours.
3) After waiting, take each egg out. Brush each egg with toothpaste with a toothbrush for 3 minutes.
4) Compare the new egg color with to the color it corresponds to on the whiteness chart.
5) Record data on each egg.
6) Repeat steps 1-5 once, however, brush the eggs with activated charcoal with a new toothbrush
7) Repeat steps 1-5 once, but brush the eggs with olive oil with a new toothbrush
8) Clean up area and do analysis

Controlled Variables - 50 mL of Coke, Egg type, Wait time,
Independent Variables - Toothpaste, Charcoal, Olive Oil
Dependent Variables - Egg whiteness" Discovering whether or not natural teeth whitening methods are efficient can help us find out if it can whiten teeth better than conventional toothpaste.

This can also advance our technology for oral hygiene

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The Most Productive Color

How does the color of a paper affect the score a student gets on a test?

First, I will select my students randomly and write them down on a list. Then, I will print the test that the students will take onto all the papers. Next I will go down the list and evenly assign each student a color. Over the course of five days, one day for each group, I will put the students together in a room. Their only instructions will be that they have 30 minutes, not to talk and to do the test to the best of their ability, as well as not to cheat. They will have 30 minutes to finish the test and then I will collect them. I will then score the tests and record the percentages in their color's column. I will then calculate the averages and the color with the highest average score will be the most productive color.

I want to help students get better grades on tests and I think that the brain is very interesting and I want to learn more about it.

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Mrs. Roberts

Science Teacher

Camas High School

Camas, WA

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