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Unread 01-16-2004, 08:06 PM   #11
superart
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: FL
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what exactly are you testing with your project?

If you just make a really cool block and get a high overclock, and just show that, you will get a really shitty grade. I'm not saying that to be mean, but thats just how science fairs and science projects work.

The best science projects pose one specific question, and then try to answer it through experiment. But before you start thinking about the experiment(s) you will do, think about what you are trying to achieve.

If you want to stick with the watercooling theme, brainstorm of a couple ideas that pertain to watercooling. And then form a question based on one of those ideas. Then design an experiment that will answer or prove that question. Then make sure to lay out the data from that experiment in a clear way, so that it is easy to understand and interpret.



For example, you could do something pertaining to materials used in waterblocks, or coolants, or flow rate, or optimal radiator configuration, or whatever.

Then say, out of those ideas, you picked coolants. Now pose a question or hypothesis, such as, "What is the best coolant for cooling microprocessors?" or "Is vodka a better coolant for cooling microprocessors than water?" or "Would additives to water make it a better or worse coolant?".

Then say you chose "Would additives to water make it a better or worse coolant?" as your topic. Now you have to design an experiment to answer your question. Remember, a good scientific experiment has to have a control, something to measure against. So your control would be pure distilled water. Then you would think of a couple additives. Perhaps different types of commercial antifreeze, you could try adding water-wetter which is a common water cooling additive, whatever.

Then you would design a way to test them. Perhaps a simple water block hooked up to a die sim or (to keep it accurate, this is a scientific venture after all) and a way to measure the values accurately.

Then, you would compare the data collected from your experimental with the data collected from your control (in this case pure water), and analyze it. If the data showed that additive X performed better than pure water, then your conclusion would be that "Adding additive X to water yields a more efficient coolant than pure water." If the data showed that the pure water was better than all the additives, then you would say something to the effect of, "Pure distilled water proved to be a more efficient coolant than all of the additives tested."

It also wouldn't hurt to add in a little about some applications for your research. something short and sweet, like "The data and conclusions obtained from this experiment may prove to be useful when deciding on what coolant to use for a small scale cooling system."

Thats the jest of it.

P.S.
I have been a judge at 2 science fairs, one on the middle-school level, and one on the High-school level. The thing that gets you the most points is the process you followed. I'm sure your teacher gave you guys a handout telling you about scientific method, and how the projects will be graded, and the process she wants to see. (S)he gives you that to help you. Follow it, and your project will be a lot better.

Also, the people who grade/judge these projects can tell if you did it or if your dad did it. Its great that your dad is willing to help you, but you should be doing the vast majority of the work, like I said, the judges can easily tell when the parents are doing most of it.
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