Science Concepts

These are science concepts that would be great to include in your science fair papers if they apply to your project:



Abiotic - something that is not alive

Absorption - light energy being transferred to objects they interact with

Acceleration - the rate at which velocity changes

Acid - a chemical that has a pH level of less than 7

Adaptation - a characteristic of an organism’s ability to change in order to survive in its environment

Archimedes’ principle - when an object is placed in a liquid, the liquid will displace an equal amount of fluid as the volume of the object

Atmospheric pressure - pressure on objects caused by the weight of the atmosphere

Base - a chemical that has a pH level of more than 7

Bernoulli’s principle - a moving fluid has less pressure than a stationary fluid; as the velocity of a fluid increases, the pressure of that fluid decreases

Biotic - something that is alive

Boiling - the change of state from a liquid to a gas throughout the liquid

Buoyant force - the force that a fluid will exert on an object within the fluid, pushing the object away from the fluid

Cerebellum - the part of the brain that keeps track of a body’s position

Cerebrum - the part of the brain that processes the senses, and controls voluntary movements and thoughts

Charles’ law - as the temperature of a gas increases, so does the volume of that gas

Chemical change - when one or more substances completely change into new substances with new properties


Chemical energy - the energy chemicals have because of their structure and ability to release energy when burned (like food being used by organisms)

Combustion - the process of burning

Controlled experiment - an experiment that tests only one factor at a time

Decibel - a unit to measure how loud different sounds are depending on pressure the sound waves cause

Density - the ratio of an objects mass and volume

Ecology - the study of the impact of interactions between organisms and their environment

Electricity - the energy of moving electrons which allows work to be done

Energy - the ability to do work

Force - a push or a pull exerted on an object

Friction - a force that opposes all motion because two surfaces are in contact

Gas - a form of matter without a definite shape or volume

Gravity - the force of attraction between objects due to their masses and the distance between them

Inertia - the tendency of an object to resist a change in motion

Innate behavior - a behavior that is influenced by genes and does not depend on the environment or on learning a skill

Kinetic energy - the energy of an object because of its motion

Law of conservation of energy - energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only transferred

Law of conservation of mass - mass cannot be created or destroyed in chemical or physical changes

Liquid - a state of matter with a definite volume but no definite shape

Machine - a device that makes work easier by changing the size or direction of a force

Malnutrition - a disorder resulting from not consuming the right combination of nutrients

Mass - the amount of matter in an object

Metabolism - a total of all the chemical processes that happen in an organism

Mineral - an element that is essential for good health

Newton’s 1st Law of Motion - objects at rest stay at rest, objects in motion stay in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an outside force

Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion - the acceleration of an object depends on the object’s mass and the amount of force acting on the object (acceleration has a direct relationship with force and an inverse relationship with mass)

Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion - every action has an equal and opposite reaction

Nutrient - a substance that must be consumed or taken in by an organism to promote normal growth, maintenance, and repair

Pascal’s principle - within a fluid, equal force will be exerted in all directions

pH - a value that describes the chemical composition of a substance depending on its acidity or alkalinity


Placebo effect - a person’s attitude can affect an outcome; if a person takes a sugar pill thinking that it is medicine they might start feeling better just because they think they should be feeling better because they are taking medicine

Power - the rate at which work is done

Pressure - the amount of force exerted on a given amount of surface area

Projectile motion - the curved path of an object because of the force of gravity combining with the force of forward motion

Senses - ability for an organism to gather information about its environment using a central nervous system

Solid - the state of matter which has a definite shape and volume

Sound wave - waves that move through substances by vibrations and may be perceived by living organisms through hearing

Surface tension - the force of attraction at the surface of a liquid which minimizes the amount of surface area

Temperature - a measurement of the average kinetic energy of all the particles in an object

Viscosity - the resistance of flow in a fluid

Weight - a measurement of the gravitational force exerted on an object