Fast and Easy Science Fair Projects: Space Saver

The concept of volume

Purpose: Learn that an object's weight (mass) can remain the same, regardless of it shape.

Overview: Space in landfills, where towns and cities get rid of their trash and garbage, is limited. When things can be compressed so they take up less room, landfill space is preserved.

     The volume of an object is a measure of how much space it takes up. Tin cans and aluminium soda cans, those that are not returned to stores for the deposit, are among the items collected and recycled so the metal can be reused. Cans in a recycling truck can take up a lot of room. If they were crushed, they would have far less volume, so they would take up much less space. but, they would still weigh the same.

Hypothesis: Objects can be made to have less volume but still keep the same mass.

You need:

• Balloons
• Bucket

Procedure: Instead of crushing soda cans to demonstrate volume, we'll use balloons. Inflate some, making each balloon about the size of a soda can. In a bucket, put in as many balloons as you can fit.

     Now, take the balloons out of the bucket and lay them on a table. Count them. Lay the same number of uninflated balloons next to them. Compare the difference in the volume of the uninflated balloons to the inflated balloons - much different, right? - yet both weigh about the same. (Since air actually has some weight, the inflated balloons do weigh more, but the amount is negligible - not an important, easily measured, difference.)

Results and Conclusion: Write down the results of your experiment. Come to a conclusion as to whether or not your hypothesis was correct.

Something more: 1. Quantify the volume by how much water can be stored in a balloon. Does each balloon hold one quart? Buckets are usually sold by the number of quarts they can hold. Does a 12-quart bucket hold 12 quart-filled water balloons?

2. How many uninflated balloons can be put inside one balloon?

     Thanks for reading this one! Hope you liked it! This is my 47th hub on Fast and Fair Science Fair Projects. This one will be my last one on the topic! This one is extremely easy, useful and fun! I'm sure most of you all out there, enjoyed reading and trying out this one, especially kids! If you want more on Fast and Easy Science Fair Projects, you can try my other Hubs on the same topic. Here are five of my latest Hubs on Fast and Easy Science Fair Projects for you: