Browse real student projects, abstracts, and awards.
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Coal accounts for 38% of global power production. Lignite is the lowest rank of coal, containing 25% to 35% carbon with low energy potential. Sulfur appears in coal in two forms; elemental f…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Sinkholes are a persistent problem throughout the world. Biomineralization is a large step forward in science and has been applied to restore cement structures, statues, etc. but has never b…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The anthropogenic impact on the biosphere is constantly increasing affecting ecosystems, reducing species diversity and lowering the rate of biomass formation. Normally determining the impac…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
In this experiment, the effects of metallic bonding to the organic compound carbon monoxide were observed and analyzed. Basing our idea off the way in which carbon monoxide reacts with and b…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This project integrates three individual studies: microcystin detection, bloom prediction, and septic distribution analysis. With the data from a four month longitudinal collection period, a…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Mealworms (Tenebrio monitor) digest polystyrene with conversion into CO2 + biomass. Antibiotics were given to mealworms to modify gut microbiome + measure changes in styrofoam digestion. Adv…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Water covers about 71% of the earth's surface, yet water shortages are impending worldwide. While this can be baffling, it's simple: out of the 71% of water only 3% is fresh water and 1% is…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This project in its present form is the result of a simplified method to analytically measure ground-level ozone in the atmosphere in our rural town at low temperatures. The researchers hypo…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Although e-cigarettes have rapidly proliferated within our youth communities and supplanted cigarettes as the primary means of nicotine consumption across the United States over the past dec…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Objective: Glaciers have been moving in the Sierra for thousands of years. Recently these glaciers have been melting. I wanted to see if Sierra glaciers are still moving. Methods: I measured…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
_ Bricks_ _ ecological: The effects of recycled plastic in constructing brick. Plastic plays a big factor in environmental degradation and causes major earth and ocean pollutions, in which p…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Evapotranspiration is a fundamental, but not widely understood, contributor to natural water cycles. This project incorporates a rigorous mathematical equation to help understand evapotransp…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from mixed gas streams is vital for industrial flue gas remediation, fuel gas refining, and chemical production. Existing liquid amine technology is hampered by…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Microfibers are tiny threads of plastic and a large contributor to plastic pollution. Millions enter the environment through washing machine effluent. Fiber shedding can be reduced by alteri…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
In the past century, global temperatures and emissions of carbon dioxide have increased. This project's purpose was to see how variations of carbon dioxide levels affected the temperatures o…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
In response to the growing concerns of coastal protection brought by climate change and habitat destruction, this experiment attempted to scientifically model the collision behavior between…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Natural products such as palm leaves and sumac extracts were used to eliminate two types of bacteria (E.coli and staphylococcus bacteria,) can be used instead of antibiotic and anti-inflamma…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This project investigated the relative importance and sources of marine plastic pollutants to reduce plastic pollution. Stratified pollution surveys investigated the relative quantities and…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Triggered largely by the warming and pollution of oceans, corals are experiencing bleaching and a variety of diseases caused by the spread of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Identification of…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Plastics are of increasing concern in the marine environment. When plastics break down into microplastics (<5mm), they release additives. A specific microplastic of interest is polyurethane…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Brine, a wastewater-byproduct from oil and gas drilling, can be 10 times saltier than seawater. About 98% of oilfield waste is brine. Brine from oil and gas drilling is the leading cause of…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Urban development is associated with negative effects on the environment, but these consequences are difficult to measure quantitatively. Thus, effective legislation cannot easily be created…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Daphnia magna is an invertebrate water flea species that lives in freshwater and brackish water and is commonly found on the United States’ northeastern coasts. The purpose of this experimen…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The herbicide glyphosate, N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine, is a widely used active ingredient in Roundup herbicide that controls broadleaf weeds, grasses, and aquatic plants. It is known that th…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
After researching an effective alternative for plastic straws due to the extensive amount of microplastic pollution, I became concerned with the possibility of our drinking water supply bein…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Common chloride-based road salts pollute the environment, including vegetation and infrastructure; an eco-friendly compound able to melt ice is critical. I tested thirteen different substanc…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The purpose of this project was trying to start to advocate that Abandoned Uranium Mines on the Navajo Nation needs to be taken seriously and mentioned to the residents living on the Navajo…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The investigation aimed to determine how introducing micro-plastics into the habitat of brine shrimp affected their life processes. The hypothesis was that the brine shrimp would confuse mic…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The Tar Creek superfund site is an abandoned lead mine in northeastern Oklahoma that was declared in 1983 and is located in the cities of Picher and Cardin. From 1900 to the 1960’s, lead min…
ISEF · 2020
Earth and Environmental Sciences
We investigate the impacts of the interannual climate oscillations on the global mean sea level (GMSL) with data derived from satellite radar altimeter observations since 1992. After removin…