Stand out with your junior high school independent research! A collection of fun experiment and craft ideas

impossible object

How to make an impossible object: using optical illusions — How to make an impossible cube

Are you familiar with images known as optical illusions or trick art? Works like Escher’s famous staircase that appears to ascend forever are well known—these are images that use visual illusions to depict structures that are actually impossible, or that look different depending on the viewing angle.

An “impossible object” is an attempt to create such effects in three dimensions.

If you carefully design and build it with the viewing angle in mind, your eyes will be fooled and it will appear to be a mysterious, impossible 3D object.

This could be a great opportunity to summarize your thoughts on how human vision works and how we perceive things.

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Hane Keisuke

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Measure everyday items using a homemade pH indicator solution

[Experiment 75] Color Changes of Red Cabbage / Independent Research / Denjiro Yonemura [Official]

If you’re a middle school student, you’ve probably used BTB solution or litmus paper, right? These reagents show beautiful color changes depending on the acidity or alkalinity, but did you know you can measure pH the same way with a purple cabbage solution? Anyone can do it as long as you have purple cabbage, so give it a try this summer! Here’s how to make it: finely chop the purple cabbage and dissolve its extracted juice in neutral water—that’s it.

The base color of this solution is purple.

It turns red in acidic conditions and yellow in alkaline conditions.

Depending on the strength of the acidity or alkalinity, it can also shift to pink, green, or blue, so it could be fun to create a color gradient.

Try measuring the pH of lots of everyday items around you!

Hot Water Engine

How to Make a Soda Can Stirling Engine, Part 4: An Engine That Runs on Hot Water

Let’s deepen our understanding of the Stirling engine, an engine that operates by using the expansion and contraction of air.

By learning how an engine works, you might also become more interested in cars that use engines.

It’s good to experiment with a commercially available Stirling engine to observe its motion, but building one yourself can also deepen your understanding.

It also seems interesting to learn about its history and the kinds of things it has been used for.

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kappamaki

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Comparison of tin can telephones made with various materials

[Experiment] Does the sound change when you make a tin can telephone with 11 different kinds of string?!

Have you ever made a cup-and-string telephone? These days everyone has a cell phone, so you might not need a string phone, but it makes a great experiment for studying how sound is transmitted—so give it a try.

This time, instead of just making a string phone, we’ll run an experiment by swapping the connecting string for various materials and observing the differences.

It’s really interesting how the sound changes depending on the thickness and material.

It’s also a good idea to investigate why the way it sounds changes.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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Aroma Fragrance

[Summer Vacation Independent Research][Summer Vacation Craft][DIY] Done in 5 minutes! Super easy! Recommended for elementary school girls! How to make an aroma fragrance (air freshener) using a cold pack

If you’re looking for an easy, summery craft, I recommend making an aroma fragrance jar! Prepare a jar, gel ice packs, blue food coloring, essential oils, and decorations like marbles or seashells.

First, fill the jar about one-third full with the gel from the ice packs and add the food coloring to tint it.

Once the color is set, add more gel and a few drops of your favorite essential oil.

Finally, add the decorations and put the lid on—you’re done! Using blue food coloring with marbles or seashells makes it look like you’ve captured the sea inside the jar.

Try creating one with your favorite theme!

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sasashina

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Let’s make a leaf vein specimen

[BCS Project] Let’s Make Leaf Vein Specimens! / Suzukake Science Day 2021

Let’s make a leaf vein specimen using leaves you can find around you.

First, bring water with 3 tablespoons of baking soda to a boil and add the leaves.

Simmer for about 15 minutes, then when the water turns brown and the leaves become limp, remove the leaves.

This softens the pigments other than the veins.

Next, rinse the leaves under running water and gently tap them with a toothbrush to scrape away everything except the veins.

Be sure to choose sturdy, relatively tough leaves for this experiment.

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sasashina

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Bamboo Speaker

[DIY] How to Make a Bamboo Smartphone Speaker for Zero Material Cost

Let’s try making a speaker that plays sound from your smartphone using bamboo.

It takes advantage of bamboo’s tubular shape to naturally amplify sound through resonance.

If you have a bamboo grove nearby or can get hold of bamboo, this is a perfect summer vacation craft project.

Cut the bamboo, peel off the green outer skin, and lightly scorch the surface with a gas burner.

Charring it with the burner turns it black and gives it a beautiful finish.

Cut out the section where the smartphone will go and drill holes on the surface.

The key is to be careful not to crack the bamboo.

It’s a detailed project, but that makes it all the more rewarding, and you’ll end up with a one-of-a-kind creation.

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Nakajima Junko

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