For the balloon race, you need a 4-inch piece of plastic drinking straw, 12 feet of string, two chairs, various sizes of balloons, a timer and a meter stick. Thread the drinking straw on the 12-foot string. Tie the string between the backs of two chairs. One at a time, blow up a balloon, hold the end closed and tape it to the straw. Release the balloon and time it. Measure the distance traveled. Record your results. Repeat with different sizes of balloons. Graph distance versus time using a different color for each balloon.
To perform an experiment to see how paper airplane design affects the distance the object travels, gather several sheets of standard copier paper and a 50- or 100-meter measuring tape. Do this experiment in a large room, such as a gym. Make several paper airplanes of different designs from the paper. Stand at a predetermined spot and fly the plane a minimum of 10 times, using the same amount of force each time. Measure the distance flown by the plane and record your results. Repeat with the other plane designs. Average the results of each plane and graph the results.
For this experiment, you need an inclined plane with sides, golf ball, stopwatch and a meter stick. Prop the inclined plane, and measure and record the angle. Beginning at the bottom, mark the inclined plane in increments of 10 cm. Hold the ball at one mark and release it without pushing it. Time and record how long it takes the ball to reach the bottom of the inclined plane. Repeat with other distance markings. Try different angles of the inclined plane. If you graph distance versus time, you will see that the distance the object (golf ball) moves increases in a given amount of time.
You'll need various test surfaces, such as sandpaper, foil or carpet, large enough to accommodate rubber-band powered objects; test objects of different textures, such as a wooden block, a sponge or a rubber eraser; pennies and dimes to equalize weights of the objects; tape; a balance; a rubber-band launcher and a tape measure. Launch a test object horizontally over a test surface by pulling the rubber band back a predetermined amount. Measure the distance traveled and record your results. Test each object a minimum of 10 times on each surface. Calculate the average distance traveled by each object. Make a bar graph showing surface combination versus distance traveled.