Resources to help with science fairs and projects

Useful web sites for people doing science fairs and science projects.

Version 29: May 28, 2009
I have now cleaned out most of the dead links (a few are marked as failed, but need to be checked). I hope to bolster some lean areas later, but that may take some time. I write for my living, and this is a hobby. If you hit a dead link, go to the site and poke around. In fact, poke around in any case: these are just starting places to gather terms and ideas, but most pages have links off them.

This is a companion page to my Science fair projects page. It may one day support several books on projects which are on the back burner, but these two pages stand on their own.

The art of finding suitable references on the Web often comes down to knowing the right words to chase. You may not find much when you search for "stone tools", but if you know to look for "flint knapping", you can find lots of pages. The catch is that you need to be an old hand like me, in order to know the jargon.

I have used my jargon skills to find you some starter pages, but there are probably more. When you find a page that seems useful, you should look for technical terms in that page and chase them, so you can find more pages. This is a starting place, not a finish. I have just finished checking for currency: a page has to fail twice, a month apart, before I remove the link. Quite a few of them, on past experience, will work next time. If not, they will be deleted.

Please respect the limited copyright status of this page.

       Topic       
Notes about the sites
  Last viewed  
AnatomyA quick history of anatomy, with links.May 9, 2009
AnatomyThe life of William Hunter and the history of anatomy.May 9, 2009
AnatomyThe life of John Hunter.May 9, 2009
Anemometersa brilliant set of references.May 9, 2009
Animal culturea source for many manuals on keeping or culturing from the supply house, Carolina.May 9, 2009
Animals in the wildidentifying animals by their droppings: what scat is that? May 9, 2009
Antibioticssome background, good pictures, links.May 9, 2009
Antibioticsbacterial resistance to antibiotics.May 9, 2009
Antibioticsthe Why Files look at why antibiotics lose their power.May 9, 2009
Antibioticsbackground from the CDC on antibiotic resistance.May 9, 2009
Antibioticsgood tutorial on antibiotics: needs Shockwave.May 9, 2009
Antibioticsthe sensible use of antibiotics.failed May 9, 2009
Aqueductssome of the Roman aqueductsfailed May 9, 2009
Aqueductsan excellent encyclopaedia entry from 1875.May 9, 2009
Aqueductsanother encyclopaedia entry which has links to information on the cement used to line the aqueducts.May 9, 2009
Astronomythe plan for a telescope in Antarctica makes more sense than you may think!May 9, 2009
Astronomyexcellent work from Ian Musgrave, an Australian scientist who has astronomy as his hobby.May 9, 2009
Astronomya book-on-the-Web by David SternMay 9, 2009
Astronomyhow to make a cross-staff.May 9, 2009
Atoms and moleculeslinks from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 9, 2009
Australian fossilsa links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.May 9, 2009
Australian science history linksa links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.May 9, 2009
Bacterial sampling in rivers and lakesa useful guide from Massachusetts.May 9, 2009
Barometera barometer museum.May 9, 2009
Barometera home-brew barometer, in more senses than one.May 9, 2009
Beach pebblessome information on Pebble Beach, California.May 9, 2009
Beach pebblessand pebble beaches on Kythera, an excellent research site (well, we can dream, can't we?).May 9, 2009
Beach pebblessome ideas for the study of pebbles and sand.May 9, 2009
Beach pebblesbeach pebbles at Chesil Beach, England.May 9, 2009
Beach pebblesabout Rocky Bay, a sand pebble beach in New Zealand.May 9, 2009
Beetles of Australiaan ABC discussion and guide to some of the fanciest beetles.May 9, 2009
Benham discmaking a Benham's disc.May 9, 2009
Benham discthe Exploratorium's account of Benham's disc.May 9, 2009
Biodiversitythe New Zealand government's thoughts on biodiversity with some links.May 9, 2009
Biodiversitya South African view from the Iziko Museums of Capetown: a number of good links and case studies.May 9, 2009
Biodiversitybiodiversity hotspots.May 9, 2009
Biodiversitythe Australian government's thoughts on biodiversity with lots of links.May 9, 2009
Biodiversitya British view.May 9, 2009
Biodiversitya USGS site with links — excellent value.May 9, 2009
Biological controlthe Biological Control Virtual Information Center of the US National Science Foundation.May 9, 2009
Biological controlcopepods eat mosquito larvae.May 9, 2009
Biological controlthe Australian leaders in biological control: weak on information, a few good links: look for the link to feral.org.au which makes it worthwhile.May 9, 2009
Biomes of the worldincomplete, but the finished bits are good on detail.May 9, 2009
Biomes of the worlda good account. If you follow the links.May 9, 2009
Bird song linkssites around the world with bird songs. See also 'dawn chorus'.May 9, 2009
Bogong mothsThese moths migrate up to a thousand km to find somewhere cool for the summer, when to go to aestivate in the Snowy Mountains.May 9, 2009
Boiling pointspecific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials.May 9, 2009
Breaking strain.a poem by Rudyard Kipling.May 9, 2009
Bridgesa How Stuff Works page on bridges.May 9, 2009
Bridgesmodern bridge designs.May 9, 2009
Bridgesbridge disaster links.May 9, 2009
Brumbiessome background on brumbies, a few links.May 9, 2009
Brumbiesa conservationist viewpoint.May 9, 2009
Brumbiesa Parliamentary speech from NSW.May 9, 2009
Bubblesbubbles links.May 9, 2009
Bubblesall about bubbles from the Exploratorium.May 9, 2009
Bubblesthe bubbularium from the Exploratorium: all about the colours in bubbles: there may be an idea for you here!May 9, 2009
Bushfire regenerationthe science of bushfires, with lots of links.May 9, 2009
Bushfire regenerationphotos and links.May 9, 2009
Bushfire regenerationthe statistics of bushfires.May 9, 2009
Calorific valuespecific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials.May 9, 2009
Camouflage in naturea How Stuff Works page, with others following on: a good place to get ideas.May 9, 2009
Camouflage in natureanother good starting place.May 9, 2009
Camouflage in naturethe case of the peppered moth.May 9, 2009
Camouflage in natureadaptive coloration and camouflage.May 9, 2009
Camouflage in naturea page from the Natural History Museum in London.May 9, 2009
Camouflage in naturea reassessment of the peppered moth case.May 9, 2009
Capillary effectcapillary efects in industry: background.May 9, 2009
Capillary effectcapillary effects in soil.May 9, 2009
Capillary effectan explanation from the Madsci Network.May 9, 2009
Chemistrythe manufacture of saltpetre in the 1860sMay 9, 2009
Chladni figuresAnother source for informationMay 9, 2009
Chladni figuressome explanation and a neat applet to explore variations.May 9, 2009
Chladni figuresHow to make Chladni figures (brief)May 9, 2009
Chladni figuresA curious application of Chladni figuresMay 9, 2009
Chromatographysome sensible and useful background, but it goes well beyond the beginner stage.May 9, 2009
Chromatographysome simple paper chromatography investigations.May 9, 2009
Circular motiona good look at the relationship between simple harmonic motion and uniform circular motion.May 9, 2009
Climate changea How Stuff Works page on global warming.May 9, 2009
Climate changesome background from experts.May 9, 2009
Climate changeNew Zealand Climate Change Office, a site with many links.May 9, 2009
Climate changeWorld Glacier Monitoring Sevice.May 9, 2009
Climate changeThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeMay 9, 2009
Climate changeThe Pew Center for Climate Change.May 9, 2009
Climate changea USGS site with links — excellent value.May 9, 2009
Cloninga How Stuff Works page on cloning.May 9, 2009
Cloudsa basic view of the different types of cloud.May 9, 2009
Cloudsthe basics of clouds from the BBC Weather service, which is always excellent.May 9, 2009
Cloudsa good gallery of cloud types.May 9, 2009
Coalhow coal is formed: follow the links to learn more.May 9, 2009
Coalthe history of coal mining in Cape Breton.May 9, 2009
Coalthe National Coal Mining Museum in England.May 9, 2009
Cockroachesa good starting place, but most of the links are very technical.May 9, 2009
Cockroachesa cockroach in verse: Archy and Mehitabel.May 9, 2009
Colours and colour visionA good account of colours and colour phenomena, and more than one idea for an experiment. Look at Herschel's work on infrared, for starters!May 9, 2009
Columnar jointinga good image of columns, seen from below.May 27, 2009
Columnar jointingan experiment to simulate columnar jointing, using corn starch. You need to read it carefully.May 27, 2009
Columnar jointingScottish geology: Staffa and Fingal's Cave. Poke around this site!May 27, 2009
ComputingJohn Wolff's Web Museum of calculators and other mathematical stuff. This is a neat Australian site.May 27, 2009
ComputingThere is some excellent stuff here. Look at the Heath Robinson Rube Goldberg Computer for one, but this is an excellent place to browse!May 27, 2009
ComputingGeorg Scheutz made a difference engine that worked. How hard would it be to make a replica?May 27, 2009
Conditioningbackground on Pavlov, and a simulation game.May 27, 2009
Conditioninga good account of classical conditioning.May 27, 2009
Conditioninganimal behaviour online.May 27, 2009
Conditioningabout operant conditioning.May 27, 2009
Conditioningfrom Pavlov to the Skinner Box — has lots of good links to follow.May 27, 2009
Dawn chorusa set of 125 Australian bird calls from the ABC, in Real Audio format. See also 'Birdsong links'.May 27, 2009
Dawn chorusaccess to some MP3 recordings of a dawn chorus, and information on how it was done: brief but useful as a starting place.May 27, 2009
Dawn chorusthe Backyard Birdwatch project from the ABCMay 27, 2009
Dawn chorusa nifty bird identifier for Australian birds, from the ABC. Conbine this with their database of bird calls.May 27, 2009
Desertificationthe USGS viewpoint.May 27, 2009
Desertificationa South African viewpoint, covering the basics.May 27, 2009
Desertificationthe FAO viewpoint.May 27, 2009
Dinosaursgood dinosaur links.May 27, 2009
DinosaursDinodataMay 27, 2009
Dinosaursthe Ornithischia.May 27, 2009
Dinosaursthe Saurischia.May 27, 2009
Diseaseone of the best starting places: the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).May 27, 2009
DNA and geneslinks from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 27, 2009
Dyesgetting a purple from lichens, but look at the links for more.May 27, 2009
Earth shapea review of flat earth literature.May 27, 2009
Earth shapethe Earth's shape is changing!May 27, 2009
Earthquakesa links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.May 27, 2009
Earthquakesa National Geographic site: the forces of nature.May 27, 2009
Earthwormslinks on dissecting (or not dissecting) earthworms and other invertebrates.May 27, 2009
Earthwormsearthworm anatomy.May 27, 2009
Earthwormsearthworm background article.May 27, 2009
Earthwormsearthworm sites and books.May 27, 2009
Earthwormssome earthworm links.May 27, 2009
Earthwormsearthworm facts.May 27, 2009
Electric motorgood explanation of an unusual design (Hall effect).May 27, 2009
Electric motorgood explanation of an unusual design (reed switch).May 27, 2009
Electric relaythe story of Edward Davy, inventor of the electric relay.May 27, 2009
Electric relaysome technical background.May 27, 2009
Electric relaylinks to some relay projects, originallly in Italian but now translated: the circuit diagrams are OKMay 27, 2009
Electricitya potted history with useful links.May 27, 2009
Electricityinformation about early thermopiles.May 27, 2009
Electrochemistrya set of simple projects, worth exploring.May 27, 2009
Electromagnetic radiationlinks from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 27, 2009
Electronics projectsoriginally in Italian, English translations are now up: check the circuit diagrams.May 27, 2009
Electrophoruseshow to make and use one.May 27, 2009
Electrophorusesthe Exploratorium's account of the electrophorus and the Leyden jar as well.May 27, 2009
Endangered speciesshould we eat kangaroo?May 27, 2009
Endangered speciesTasmanian devilsMay 27, 2009
Endangered speciesthe Corroboree frog of Australia.May 27, 2009
Endangered speciesabout sharks in Australia.May 27, 2009
Endangered speciesa USGS site with links — excellent value.May 27, 2009
Energya series of detailed lectures on energy conversion: approach with care.May 27, 2009
Energylinks from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 27, 2009
Environmental science questionsgood answers to many simple questions.May 27, 2009
Erosiona USGS site with links: excellent value.May 27, 2009
Estimating pithe Buffon's needle simulation.May 27, 2009
Estimating pia treatise on pi.May 27, 2009
Estimating pia good introduction to pi (though he is too kind to Lazzerini, who definitely cheated!).May 27, 2009
Estimating pianother Buffon's needle simulation: this one offers a Java applet.May 27, 2009
Estimating piProject pi (very bandwidth intensive!)May 27, 2009
Evaporative coolingan unusual application of evaporative cooling in modern physics. See also the Coolgardie safe entries.May 27, 2009
Evaporative coolingevaporative cooling in leaves.May 27, 2009
Evaporative coolingthe windchill factor.May 27, 2009
EvolutionUnderstanding evolution.May 27, 2009
EvolutionHow Darwin is misunderstood: essay.May 27, 2009
Exoplanetsplanets beyond our solar system.May 27, 2009
Expansionfrom Eric Weisstein's encyclopaedia, a good but no-holds-barred account of the technicalities.May 27, 2009
Expansionanother guide to measuring the linear coefficient of expansion.May 27, 2009
Faults and earthquakesA useful set of diagrams and pictures.May 27, 2009
Feral animalsan Australian government source: explore the other choices from this page!May 27, 2009
FernsAustralian ferns and their cultivation.May 27, 2009
Fernslinks for fern maniacs -- well, that's what it says!May 27, 2009
Fernsmore good information on ferns.May 27, 2009
Fernsfern links.May 27, 2009
Fernssome good background on ferns.May 27, 2009
Fernsanother useful set of fern links.May 27, 2009
Fernssome technical background on the ferns and their allies.May 27, 2009
Fernsbracken fern is dangerous: take note!May 27, 2009
Fibonacci seriesthe Fibonacci series and music.May 27, 2009
Fibonacci seriesthe Fibonacci numbers, the Golden section and the Golden string.May 27, 2009
Fibonacci seriesa life of Fibonacci.May 27, 2009
Fish stocksa USGS site with links — excellent value.May 27, 2009
Fossil linkslinks to a whole range of fossil dealers.failed May 27, 2009
Fossil linkssome fossil links: you need to burrow down to find out what else is here.May 27, 2009
Fossil preparationthe Why Files give a neat view on the methods of fossil preparation.May 27, 2009
Fossil preparationa commercial supplier of trilobites in Oklahoma outlines the way that a fossil should be prepared.May 27, 2009
Fossil preparationthe art of preparing a fossil.May 27, 2009
Fossil preparationthe art of preparing a fossil at home.May 27, 2009
Fusion pointspecific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials.May 27, 2009
Genomicsfrom NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 27, 2009
Geomorphology, structural geology and sedimentary geologya links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.May 27, 2009
Glass harmonicaBen Franklin's harmonica.May 27, 2009
Glass harmonicaa short article and illustration.May 27, 2009
Global warming and healthfrom NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 27, 2009
Ground watercapillary effects in soil.May 27, 2009
Ground watera USGS site with links — excellent value.May 27, 2009
Hall effectexplanation and definition.May 27, 2009
Hall effectan unusual application.May 27, 2009
Hazardous materialsthis will give you good places to go to get Materials Safety Data Sheets.May 27, 2009
Heart and circulationa good brief account from the Franklin Institute, but see the links for more.May 27, 2009
Heart and circulationa very neat tutorial on the basics, with some useful links to follow.May 27, 2009
Heart and circulationfrom the American Heart Association: about heart failure.May 27, 2009
Heart and circulationan excellent set of links on blood and circulation.May 27, 2009
Heart and circulationan excellent set of links, though you will need to drill down. The anatomy page, for example, has many excellent illustrations.May 27, 2009
Heart and circulationa reasonably simple account of the human blood circulation.May 27, 2009
Human evolution humans, hobbits and Neandertals: background.May 27, 2009
Hygiene a very neat tutorial on the basics, with some useful links to follow.May 27, 2009
Hypnosisa How Stuff Works page on hypnosis.May 27, 2009
Imagesa Dutch museum of scientific instrumentsMay 27, 2009
Imagespictures of scientists from many fields.May 27, 2009
Immune systemhow Edward Jenner developed inoculation.May 27, 2009
Immune systemlinks from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 27, 2009
Insect trappingsome useful background material from Florida.May 27, 2009
Insect trappinga commercial site with useful background.May 27, 2009
Insect trappinginformation on the use of pheromone lures.May 27, 2009
Insect wingsusing wing venation in bees.May 27, 2009
Insect wingssome basic details and definitions.May 27, 2009
Integrated pest managementfrom NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 28, 2009
Interferometersome background on interferometers.May 28, 2009
Interferometerthe Very Large Telescope Interferometer.May 28, 2009
Invasive speciesa South African view.May 28, 2009
Invasive speciesan official Australian government portal.May 28, 2009
Invasive speciesan official US government portal.under reconstruction May 28, 2009
Invasive speciesUSDA National Agricultural Library site.May 28, 2009
Invasive speciesa USGS site with links -- excellent value.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencea method of assessing potentially revolutionary contributions to physics that you think may be crackpottery.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencedebunking the paranormal: lots of links.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencethe home page of Victor Stenger, with interesting links, but most of them heavy going.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencethe Bad Science site.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencethis page is called physics abused. Read it.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencethe Museum of Unworkable Devices.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencesome of the urban myths of science.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencea review of flat earth literature.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencethe Encyclopedia of Psychology: pseudoscience: good links.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencecurious: the DHMO story.May 28, 2009
Junk sciencegood story.May 28, 2009
Kitesthere used to be a good box kite design, ready to make, but it seems to be gone—poke around.May 28, 2009
Kitsthis site has lots of neat kits, though some may be unsafe or unsuitable: check first!May 28, 2009
Knots, breaking strain.handy material, how to tie the knots.May 28, 2009
Latin squaresthis is the home of EDGAR, a really neat program for generating Latin squares.May 28, 2009
Leyden jarsa good guide to making a Leyden jar: some of the links don't work.May 28, 2009
Leyden jarshow to charge a Leyden jar: see the link to a dissectible Leyden jarMay 28, 2009
Leyden jarsa museum of old electrical apparatus, with pictures of Leyden jars and some history.May 28, 2009
Lichenslinks relating to lichens.May 28, 2009
Lichensbackground and definitionsMay 28, 2009
Lichenswhat a lichen is, different types.May 28, 2009
LichensNorth American lichens, and a photo gallery: may be useful elsewhere.May 28, 2009
LightningElectrostatic Discharges (ESD).May 28, 2009
Lightningpreventing ESD. (What's ESD? Read on!)May 28, 2009
Linksthis has a number of links I already have, but it has even more that I don't..May 28, 2009
Linksthe Exploratorium's Ten Cool Sites page: look out for the archives link on the left, because there are HEAPS of other sites listed here.May 28, 2009
Linksthe main entry point for How Stuff Works.May 28, 2009
Linksscience forums, periodicals and programs.May 28, 2009
Linksan excellent set of links.May 28, 2009
Linksa links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material: you need to drill down in this one!May 28, 2009
Linksthe Seed LaboratoryMay 28, 2009
Linksscience cresources: make sure you drill down through some of the links.May 28, 2009
Linksthe Gateway to Educational Materials (I happen to be a consortium member): use this US government portal to search for stuff that has been carefully selected.May 28, 2009
Living fossils the Wollemi pine.May 28, 2009
Mantidskeeping mantids factsheet from an English zoo.May 28, 2009
Mantidsthe care of mantids, has some links.May 28, 2009
Mathematical amusementssome unusual bits and pieces of mathematics, well worth digging into.May 28, 2009
Medine, historya great Indian site to exploreMay 28, 2009
Microscopyan excellent set of sources on the history of optics.May 28, 2009
Microscopyhow to use the microscope.May 28, 2009
Microscopythe virtual microscopy library.May 28, 2009
Moon phasesa neat lunar calendar: find out when that next full moon will be, or where the moon was, the day you were born.May 28, 2009
Mosquito culturegrowing a variety of small invertebrates, emphasis on using them as fish food.May 28, 2009
Museumsthe Exploratorium in San Francisco, one of my favourite places.May 28, 2009
Museumslinks to science centres and organisations.May 28, 2009
Museumsthe National Museum of Australia.May 28, 2009
Museumsthe American Museum of Natural History.May 28, 2009
Museumsthe Questacon site in Canberra, a bit heavy on bandwidth.May 28, 2009
Newtonian mechanicsa book-on-the-Web by David SternMay 28, 2009
Nuclear powerfrom How Stuff Works: an explanation.May 28, 2009
Nuclear powerthe future of nuclear power, as seen by MIT.May 28, 2009
Nuclear powerthe Greenpeace organisation opposes nuclear power.May 28, 2009
Nuclear powerthe OECD Nuclear Energy Agency has some good links.May 28, 2009
Nuclear powernews stories with a pro-nuclear slant.May 28, 2009
Nuclear poweran essay favouring nuclear power.May 28, 2009
Oil viscosityexcellent background on automotive oils.May 28, 2009
Oil viscosityinterpreting automotive oil viscosity numbers.May 28, 2009
Oil viscosityviscosity measurement: this is probably too technical, but explore the links.May 28, 2009
Oil viscosityanother background pieceMay 28, 2009
Oil viscositysome useful lab procedures: fairly advanced, but worth reading.May 28, 2009
Optical illusionsa good set of links.May 28, 2009
Optical illusionsthis has some good copies of the standard ones.May 28, 2009
Optical illusionssome mediocre but different illusions on the main page, but check the links on the left, and ignore their nonsense about colour blindness, because the author doesn't know what he/she is talking about. (I'm colour blind!)May 28, 2009
Optical illusionsa quick run-down from one of the world experts, Richard L. Gregory.May 28, 2009
Optical illusionsa set of curious Japanese illusions.May 28, 2009
Opticsan excellent set of sources on the history of optics.May 28, 2009
Orrerya Java applet that simulates an orrery is one of the links from this page.May 28, 2009
Paper planesa set of links.May 28, 2009
Parachutesnotes for making parachutes: check the links.May 28, 2009
Pascal's trianglegenerating Pascal's triangle in a spreadsheet.May 28, 2009
Pascal's trianglebackground information.May 28, 2009
Pascal's trianglea guide for teachers that may give you some hints.May 28, 2009
Pendulum clock stuffa clock hobbyist's view of the pendulum. See also timing devices.May 28, 2009
Periscopethe invention of the periscope.May 28, 2009
Periscopepicture of William Beech with his periscope rifle.May 28, 2009
Periscopethe periscope rifle.May 28, 2009
Periscopea design from the Exploratorium.May 28, 2009
Perpetual motionan amusing background piece.May 28, 2009
Perpetual motionthe Museum of Unworkable Devices.May 28, 2009
Perpetual motiona history of perpetual motion machines with excellent links from a brilliant source..May 28, 2009
Petroleumthe museum that commemorates Drake's first oil well in Pennsylvania.May 28, 2009
Phenomicsfrom NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 28, 2009
Physics informationthis is Eric Weisstein's encyclopaedia of physics, a nexcellent resource.May 28, 2009
Physics linksanother excellent page from Donald Simanek.May 28, 2009
PlatypusesAustralian egg-laying mammals.May 28, 2009
Plimsoll linehistory behind the Plimsoll line.May 28, 2009
Plimsoll lineencyclopaedia entry with picture.May 28, 2009
Poetrya cockroach in verse — Archy and Mehitabel.May 28, 2009
Poetryan engineering poem.May 28, 2009
Pollutiona USGS site with links — excellent value.May 28, 2009
Pot luckan excellent set of links — as the front page calls them, science gems, all sorted by age suitability. Get in here and burrow!May 28, 2009
Pot luckthe Access Excellence Classic Collection, a set of essay/tutorials.May 28, 2009
Pot luckbuy the 'Scientific American' Amateur Scientist CD-ROM here (or get your librarian to look — this is a brilliant resource!). May 28, 2009
Pot luckamateur science sites: give this a try!May 28, 2009
Pot luckphysics toys from the incomparable Donald Simanek.May 28, 2009
Pot luckDonald Simanek's scrapbooks.May 28, 2009
Pot lucksome interesting home experiments: the site is a bit cumbersome, but worth persevering with.May 28, 2009
Pot luckfrom 'Scientific American': seek, and you never know what you will find!May 28, 2009
Pot luckfrom 'Scientific American': seek, and you never know what you will find!May 28, 2009
Pot luckfrom 'Scientific American': seek, and you never know what you will find!May 28, 2009
Pressing plantsa more detailed account of how to prepare and mount plant specimens for a herbarium: this is the best!May 28, 2009
Pressing plantshow to collect and press seaweeds.May 28, 2009
Properties of metalsthermal conductivity and other properties of metals.May 28, 2009
Proteomicsfrom NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 28, 2009
Radio historythe apparatus used by Hertz in 1888.May 28, 2009
Radio history designs for spark transmitters. WARNING: these are illegal in most countries because they broadcast on all frequencies and cause interference.May 28, 2009
Rainbowsrainbow links.May 28, 2009
Rainbowsthe mathematics of rainbows.May 28, 2009
Rainbowsbuild a rainbowMay 28, 2009
Rainbowsa Mad Scientist view: rainbows and cubic droplets.May 28, 2009
Rainbowsthe physics of a rainbow: Java applet, needs Java, OK but not brilliant. Some useful links.May 28, 2009
Rainbowsa lesson on rainbows and their causes.May 28, 2009
Referencesthis is Project Gutenberg, a great place to find older books.May 28, 2009
Rock collectinga useful set of links.May 28, 2009
Safetythis will give you good places to go to get Materials Safety Data Sheets.May 28, 2009
Sand particles some ideas for the study of sand particles.May 28, 2009
Science humourmolecules with amusing names. You can even find me among the contributors.May 28, 2009
Science news Eurekalert is sponsored by AAAS, and offers news releases.May 28, 2009
Science news Scientific American, a world journal published in the USA.May 28, 2009
Science news a US government science portal.May 28, 2009
Science news Science News Online.May 28, 2009
Science news Nature, a world journal published in Britain.May 28, 2009
Science news the Newswise Science News site: this is the best, especially when you begin searching by keywords.May 28, 2009
Science news Popular Science magazine.May 28, 2009
Science news Science Daily.May 28, 2009
Science news Science, a world journal published in the USA.May 28, 2009
Science news a science news site called 'Science News for Kids'.May 28, 2009
Science News (old)browse or search this journal from 1846 to 1869: almost every page. Discover thumbnail views or master the serach functions.May 28, 2009
Science projectsa good question, which they answer very well: what is a science project?May 28, 2009
Science projectsproject ideas: the companion page to this page.May 28, 2009
Science projectsa handy guide with useful links.May 28, 2009
Scientific frauda case study of faked data from 1819.May 28, 2009
Scientific frauda case study of people being duped.May 28, 2009
Scientific frauda different take on Intelligent Design.May 28, 2009
Scientific methodthe seven types of science: the text of two radio talks, showing that there is more than one sort of thing called science.May 28, 2009
Sediment in riversusing acoustic sampling: this is too advanced, but skim it to find out how real scientists do it!May 28, 2009
Sediment in riversthis deals with the Colorado River: look in particular at the second link (overview), but many of the links are worth chasing.May 28, 2009
Sediment in riverssome good background on simple sampling methods from the FAO, with pictures and diagrmas: essential reading.May 28, 2009
Sediment in riversa Bulgarian sediment study, in English.May 28, 2009
Sediment in rivershow stream samples are taken by scientists.May 28, 2009
Seed viabilitya good explanation.May 28, 2009
Sensitive plantsabout Mimosa pigra.May 28, 2009
Sensitive plantsabout Mimosa pudica.May 28, 2009
Sensitive plantsthe carnivorous plants FAQ.May 28, 2009
Simple machinesexcellent links, list of terms.May 28, 2009
Simple machinesall about the block and tackle.May 28, 2009
Skeletonshow to prepare a snake skeleton, good links.May 28, 2009
Snail locomotionsome mollusc links from the University of Melbourne.May 28, 2009
Snail locomotiona serious study of factors influencing snail speed: this is not easy reading, but go to the PDF (needs Acrobat) and give it a try.May 28, 2009
Snail locomotionanother serious study on snail locomotion.May 28, 2009
Snail locomotionsome mollusc links from the Australian Museum.May 28, 2009
Snail locomotionsome background on apple snails.May 28, 2009
Snail locomotionsome snail information and links.May 28, 2009
Soil salinityfrom NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 28, 2009
Soil salinitylinks from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 28, 2009
Soil salinityfrom NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 28, 2009
Soil watersoil water monitoring and measurement: fairly technical.May 28, 2009
Soil watercalibrating soil water measurement devices: skim this for background.May 28, 2009
Solar cellsmaking a solar cell in your kitchen: full instructions.May 28, 2009
Solar cellsan Australian company selling commercial products.May 28, 2009
Solar cellsa German site showing how solar cells work.May 28, 2009
Solar heatinga set of neat designs for solar cookers in different languages. I liked the 'Fresnel' design.May 28, 2009
Solar heatinga useful set of links to chase.May 28, 2009
Solar heatingthe Solar Oven Society: information and a few links.May 28, 2009
Solar heatinga commercial site which explains the benefits of solar heating, with a few links.May 28, 2009
Solar systemplanets beyond our solar system.May 28, 2009
Solar systema simulator from NASA.May 28, 2009
Solar systemhow to get the right scales to build a model: needs Javascript enabled.May 28, 2009
Solar systemNine Planets: this is THE place to start!May 28, 2009
Solar systemlinks from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 28, 2009
Solar systema solar system coloring book - think of this as a source for your own pictures.May 28, 2009
Space historythe first successful firing of a scramjet engine: and it was an Australian engine!May 28, 2009
Space historyDoug Rickard was an Australian scientist who was invoved in the early days of space tracking. He had many hair-raising tales to tell: these are just a few of them.May 28, 2009
Space travelhow humans dream of going into space.May 28, 2009
Space travela translation of Noordung's The Problem of Space Travel.May 28, 2009
Space travela site for younger usersMay 28, 2009
Spaceflight and spacecrafta book-on-the-Web by David SternMay 28, 2009
Specific heatspecific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials. See also properties of metals.May 28, 2009
Specific weightspecific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials.May 28, 2009
Spidersspider page with several useful pages coming off it.May 28, 2009
Spiderskeeping Singapore spiders.May 28, 2009
Spiderssome background on spiders.May 28, 2009
Star mapssome information about constellations.May 28, 2009
Star mapsanother site with some handy links.May 28, 2009
Star mapsprint off a star map for your own sky.May 28, 2009
Statisticsabout significant figures.May 28, 2009
Statisticscan you trust statistics? Examples of dopey correlations.May 28, 2009
Statisticsall about Student's t-test, including a neat little system to compare two sets of data and compare the null hypothesis that there is no difference between two samplesMay 28, 2009
Statisticsanother page that offers excellent online help in doing statistical tests.May 28, 2009
Statisticsa neat little replacement for a dead link, sent to me by a reader. Thanks, Ashley!May 8, 2009
Stem cellsfrom NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 28, 2009
Stone toolsa useful introductory article with a number of links.May 28, 2009
Stone toolssimple illustrations.May 28, 2009
Stone toolsresources, books and links.May 28, 2009
Stone toolspictures of some American examples.May 28, 2009
Stone toolssome useful background.May 28, 2009
Suna book-on-the-Web by David SternMay 28, 2009
Sundialsan excellent site French site in English: includes a freeware sundial design program and many links. See also timing devices.May 28, 2009
Technology newsabout word recognition.May 28, 2009
Technology newsPopular Science magazine.May 28, 2009
Telegraphyabout Stephen Gray.May 28, 2009
Telegraphya history of the telegraph: sketchy on early attempts, but good on the later stages.May 28, 2009
Telegraphya potted history.May 28, 2009
Telegraphya sketch of the Wheatstone apparatus.May 28, 2009
Telegraphythe text of 'Heroes of the Telegraph' by John Munro, a download from Project Gutenberg.May 28, 2009
Telegraphya slightly peculiar history of the telephone, covering much of the telegraph in passing: worth putting up with the hopeless layout.May 28, 2009
Telegraphythe Wheatstone two-needle telegraph.May 28, 2009
Telescope basicsthis is from a commercial supplier, but will give you good coverage.May 28, 2009
Telescope basicsan excellent set of sources on the history of optics.May 28, 2009
Telescope basicssome historical background from the University of Hawaii.May 28, 2009
Telescope basicsa good encyclopaedia entry.May 28, 2009
Telescope linksthe Southern Skywatch page from Ian Musgrave, an all-round Good Bloke: this page has many links and is also essential reading. See also Astronomy 1May 28, 2009
Telescopesmodern telescopes: follow the links.May 28, 2009
Telescopesthe Anglo-Australian Telescope.May 28, 2009
Telescopescolour pictures from the AAT.May 28, 2009
Terrariumdesign tricks.May 28, 2009
Terrariuma simple version.May 28, 2009
Terrariuma terrarium in a bottle.May 28, 2009
Thereminsa handy introduction with some links.May 28, 2009
Thereminsmore theremin links.May 28, 2009
Thin rock sectionsa quick introduction to thin sections with some useful links.May 28, 2009
Thin rock sectionsmaking thin sections by hand.May 28, 2009
Thin rock sectionssome selected images of rock sections.May 28, 2009
Time senseanother page that offers some ideas on how to set up your experiment. (Note that you are supposed to ask for a log-in code to actually use it, but ignore that.)May 28, 2009
Time sensea system for testing time estimation that does not work all that well: can you make a better one? (Needs Java)May 28, 2009
Time sensetime sense exercises for people with brain injuries: a possible source of ideas.May 28, 2009
Time sensean odd side-issue that may be worth chasing (or may not — I just chanced on this).May 28, 2009
Timing devicessome useful history, but check the pages before and after.May 28, 2009
Timing devicessome unusual designs, but rather technical.May 28, 2009
Torsion pendulumthe Coulomb balance: an account notable only for a legal disclaimer that is longer than the instructions.May 28, 2009
Torsion penduluman excellent description of the physics of the pendulum and its setup.May 28, 2009
Torsion penduluma highly technical account of the torsion pendulum.May 28, 2009
Torsion pendulumanother account of Cavendish's experiment, with full lab instructions. Note the safety warning about the laser.May 28, 2009
Torsion penduluman account of the Coulomb balance.May 28, 2009
Torsion pendulumabout Henry Cavendish, with advice on repeating his experiment and good links.May 28, 2009
Torsion pendulumsome useful links on the Cavendish experiment, fairly advanced text.May 28, 2009
Torsion pendulumabout Maskelyne, Cavendish and Boys.May 28, 2009
Torsion pendulumthe Michell-Cavendish experiment.May 28, 2009
Tsunamissome background from experts.May 28, 2009
Tsunamisa University of Washington site.May 28, 2009
Tsunamisfrom NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.May 28, 2009
Tsunamisa USGS site with links: excellent value.May 28, 2009
Ultraviolet detectorsmaking a detector (needs electronics skills).May 28, 2009
Vaccinesa very neat tutorial on the basics, with some useful links to follow.May 28, 2009
Venerable wombata pointer back to the origins of this page.May 28, 2009
Viscosityhow to measure viscosity.May 28, 2009
Viscositygood background.May 28, 2009
Volcanoesglossary of volcano terms. See also columnar jointing.May 28, 2009
Volcanoesa useful USGS site with links.May 28, 2009
Volcanoesa links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.May 28, 2009
Volcanoesa National Geographic site: the forces of nature.May 28, 2009
Watercurious: ABOUT dhmo.May 28, 2009
Water clocksome useful history, but see also the pages before and after.May 28, 2009
Water clockhow to build one, from the AAAS.May 28, 2009
Water pollutionsome USGS bacground and links in eutrophication.May 28, 2009
Water pollutionsome background and useful links.May 28, 2009
Water pollutionbasics and terminology for water pollution.May 28, 2009
Water qualitya South Australian view of water quality with many links.May 28, 2009
Water qualitya USGS site with links: excellent value.May 28, 2009
Water resources, marine and coastal geologya links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.May 28, 2009
Water salinitysome CSIRO salinity research.May 28, 2009
Water salinitysalinity in the Murray-Darling basin: map and links.May 28, 2009
Water salinitya South Australian view of Murray salinity problems: check the links on the left.May 28, 2009
Water wheela chaotic water wheel: this is seriously advanced, but looks like fun: note that there are other pages on this topic, so do a search.May 28, 2009
Water wheela water wheel project, though this one seems more decorative than useful.May 28, 2009
Wattles in winterwhy do some Acacias bloom in winter in Australia?May 28, 2009
Weather, extremea National Geographic site: the forces of nature.May 28, 2009
Wind vaneA simple model.May 28, 2009
Wind vaneA South African design.May 28, 2009
Wind vaneUsing a wind vane in wind power generation.May 28, 2009
Zircon extraction.some methods of extracting zircons and zirconia.May 28, 2009
Zoetropebackground about zoetropes, and links to more information.May 28, 2009
Zoetropelinks to animation-related pages.May 28, 2009
Zoetropehow to make a zoetrope, with a link to all the bits you need to print.May 28, 2009
Zoetropea commercial site with useful information.May 28, 2009


This file is http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/scifun/resource.htm, first created on June 17, 2005. Last revision and date prepared are shown at the top. At the moment, it is being worked on intermittently, and gets an upgrade far too rarely: it really depends on what I am working on. Right now, I am hoping to go through soon, checking for dead links, and augmenting in odd places.

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