Fifth Grade, Electricity & Electronics Science Projects (22 results)
Stop for a minute and try to imagine your world without electrical power and electronic gadgets.
No convenient appliances in the kitchen, no electric lights. No computers, MP3 players, television, or video games.
Your life would be completely different, wouldn't it? Electricity and electronics are so central to modern life that, paradoxically, they're easy to overlook.
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Coding Projects
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When you think of a motor, you may immediately think of a car, but you actually encounter other motors in your home every day. That's right, if you put on clean clothes from the washing machine, ate food from the fridge, or used a fan, you used an electric motor. In this electronics science project, you will make a simple electric motor with two magnets that "talk" to each other. As they interact, they will alternate between "liking" each other (pulling together), and "disliking" each other…
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You may be familiar with permanent magnets—the kind that hang on a refrigerator. But did you know that other magnets, called electromagnets, can be turned on and off? When turned on, electromagnets act just like permanent magnets, but if you turn them off, their magnetic properties disappear. Electromagnets are an important part of many electronic devices, like motors, loudspeakers, and hard drives. You can create an electromagnet with a simple coil of wire and a battery. In this project,…
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Have you ever walked next to your favorite ocean, lake, or creek and seen plastic waste everywhere? Have you ever thought about how much plastic breaks down into microplastics and pollutes waterways? Scientists are coming up with new ways to remove these microplastics from our waterways, and now you can test them out for yourself at home.
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Have you ever wondered how a radio can grab signals that are transmitted through the air and convert them into sound? In this science project, you will build your own AM radio receiver from scratch and use it to listen to AM radio broadcasts. With your crystal radio you will be able to experiment with the circuit and the antenna to get the best reception.
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Water is a valuable resource, and water shortages are a serious problem in many parts of the world. The problem can be made worse by people who waste water; for example, by watering a garden or using sprinklers on their lawn (or a farmer taking care of an entire field) when it has rained recently or the soil is already moist. How can you help conserve water and prevent such waste? One way is to build an electronic soil moisture sensor. This project will show you how to build a circuit that…
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You have probably read all about forms of alternative energy like solar and wind power. But what about human power? With the aid of a coil of wire and some magnets, you can generate electricity with nothing more than a flick of your wrist. In this project, you will build a small hand-powered electrical generator that can power a series of tiny lights. Get ready to save the planet and get some exercise at the same time!
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Have you ever seen a waiter balance an entire tray of drinks without spilling any? How do they do it? Do you think you could build a robot waiter that can do the same thing? In this project, you will learn how to build a self-balancing robotic tray. You can incorporate the auto-leveling tray into one of our many other robotics projects, like the Bluebot or robotic arm.
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"Paper circuits" are a fun way to mix electronics and art by adding lights directly to a painting or drawing. These lights need a battery to power them, and typically you would use wires to connect them. In paper circuits, though, many materials can be substituted as "wire," including special types of paint, ink, and even aluminum foil. There are also different options for what type of battery you can use. Which materials do you think will work best? Try this project to find out!
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How do you make a spacecraft land safely on the Moon or another planet like Mars? It probably helps to know how far away the ground is so you can deploy landing gear, activate a parachute, or fire thrusters to help slow down. In this project you will build your own "lander" vehicle with a sensor that can measure distance to the ground, allowing you to program outputs like blinking lights or an audible alarm.
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Have you ever seen a video of a glitter prank package? They usually show an unsuspecting person opening a package or a gift, only to be sprayed by a shower of glitter. Former NASA engineer Mark Rober got tired of thieves stealing packages off his porch, so he decided to build an elaborate decoy glitter package*, as he shows in this video. Mark's device involves a lot of custom software, electronics, and 3D printing, so might seem a little intimidating if you are new to engineering. The summary…
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Have you tried our first and second play dough circuits projects? Are you a master circuit artist, ready to try something even bigger and better? Try this project to see if you can build a three-dimensional light-up sculpture.
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Dimmer switches let us control the brightness of a light, anywhere from completely off to full brightness. This can be nice when you want to set the brightness "just right," as opposed to a regular light switch that only lets you turn a light on or off. It turns out that you can make a dimmer switch out of an everyday object—a pencil! Try this project to find out how a dimmer switch can control the brightness of a light.
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Scientific Method
Engineering Design Process
