Expert: Sue Kayton Date: 2/17/2008 Subject: I need help for my kids' Science Projects for 3rd and 4th Grades?
Question
My daughter chose "Will saltwater evaporate faster than water w/out salt?" and my son chose "How does exercise affect the human heart rate?"
My problem is that research needs to be looked up and since I've very little education, it's extremely hard for me to help them.
Please have mercy on me and kindly leave me ideas on how to help my kids or direct me to any websites that may give me as much information that is easy for me to understand and explain to my kids.
By the way they're both in special educatioon classes so now you understand how much harder this subject is for me.
Answer You don't need any websites to do these fun and easy experiments.
For the salt water project
1) Get two identical small drinking glasses and fill them up with identical amounts of water. It's easiest if you use clear glass or clear plastic so you can see the contents easily.
2) Dump some salt into one of the glasses and stir.
3) Leave both glasses sitting next to each other on the kitchen counter and see which one evaporates fastest.
4) If you want to have some numbers to report, use a calendar or clock and write down when the experiment starts. Then write down when one glass is empty (the water has completely evaporated when it is empty). Then write down when the second glass is empty. You can calculate how long it took each one to evaporate.
The exercise experiment is a little harder since you will need a stopwatch or a clock with a second hand or a watch with a second hand, or a digital clock that can display seconds.
1) Pick a volunteer - perhaps your daughter can be the volunteer for your son's experiment.
2) Have her sit quietly for a few minutes so her heart will be resting. Measure her heart rate. The easy way to do this is to count how many times her heart beats in one minute and write it down. Expect to see a heart rate in the range of 50 to 100 beats per minute when she is resting. People have strong pulses in their wrists and also on the side of their necks. Your son (or you) can gently rest your fingers on the wrist or side of the neck to feel the pulse and count the beats. This website shows how to measure the pulse rate
3) Now have her run around and exercise so her heart rate will speed up. Then have her sit down and quickly measure her heart rate again. Write down the result.
