Ilustrating chemistry in action, group of teens applies nail polish.
Fifth grade science is quite simple in nature. Students who have yet to learn abstract mathematical thought processes cannot be expected to understand advanced scientific topics, like molecular bonding or gravitational attraction. For this reason, science projects in the fifth grade are practical and hands on, involving accessible household materials and dealing with basic scientific subject matter.
Effect on Nails
Nail polish is infamous for its tendency to cause staining and brittleness in nails. This is because of the ingredients; alcohol, for example, can dry out your nails, causing brittleness. If you do a project on the effects of nail polish on fingernails, you must examine fingernails belonging to people who have been wearing nail polish for a long time. For example, you can test the effects of nail polish by testing 10 participants who use one brand of nail polish and 10 who use another. Take pictures of all 20 sets of nails and then compare those from brand A to those from brand B. Look for features like stains or patches of discoloration and brittleness. You can judge the brand that produces more of these features as the worst for your nails.
Ingredients
Nail polish has many ingredients. Among the most common nail polish ingredients are formaldehyde, toluene and alcohol. Projects on nail polish ingredients can deal with topics such as alternatives to nail polish ingredients or ways of minimizing the negative effects of nail polish ingredients. If you do a project on alternative ingredients, for example, you can test homemade polishes made from common household alternatives, such as watercolor paints. You can test the effectiveness of these makeshift polishes by recording how much peels away at the end of each night. The test here is not to actively try to peel the nail polish off, but to see how much naturally comes off at the end of each night. Pick an hour each night to examine the nails.
Health Effects
Nail polish contains some ingredients that are known to be carcinogenic or otherwise unhealthy, such as formaldehyde. You can do a project dealing with the health effects of these ingredients by surveying life-long users of nail polishes and comparing their heath to those of non-users. To do this project, you simply put up ads in a busy area requesting nail polish users to participate in a short health survey. Then, a few weeks later you put up ads asking for non-users. Once you have survey results from both groups, you add up the total number of respondents in either group reporting severe health issues and compare the two numbers. Nail polish has been linked to skin conditions, including rashes, skin dryness and even skin cancer, so your survey should ask questions like "have you ever been diagnosed with a skin condition related to nail polish?"
Nail Polish Removal
Nail polish removers are lacquer-based liquids that cause dried nail polish to peel off the fingernails. Nail polish remover is typically dangerous to keep around children because it is based on a solvent that can cause intoxication when inhaled. If you want to do a project on nail polish removers, you can try out alternatives to commercial nail polish remover, such as alcohol based solutions, that are less dangerous for fifth graders to use. Purchase these substances at healthy cosmetics stores. Test the effectiveness of each substance by having test subjects apply each one to their nails. Then use a stopwatch to time how long it takes to clean each set of nails.
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