CHAMPIONSHIP SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS

Safe and easy-to-do science-fair experiments for the novice investigator using household items, including the familiar “Make a battery with a lemon,” and the less familiar “Show that a grape repels both poles of a magnet” (because it is diamagnetic). Each two-page project begins with a catch title, a list of what experimenters need, procedure, what they should notice, what happened, digging deeper, a line drawing and more things to try. Some projects are so briefly described that the reader may wonder, for example, how do you know the white gunky stuff you get from blending fresh spinach, salt and detergent is spinach DNA? While most projects will need significant elaboration and further research to qualify for a science fair, there’s plenty here to intrigue, and it’s attractively packaged in a sturdy binding with a zingy yellow lemon battery on the cover. Includes a word on safety, guidelines for setting up a science-fair project and an index. (Nonfiction. 10-14)