Science Fair Project Ideas - The Solar System

Scientists believe the solar system began forming 10 to 12 billion years ago as swirling gas and dust formed a dense core. The core, with most of the mass, collapsed around 5 or 6 billion years ago and later became the Sun.

The small amount of remaining material swirled into a disk. Some of it crashed together and formed planets. That's the main theory though most scientists think that's how it happened.

Scientists suspect there are many other solar systems like ours. And as of late, they had found nearly two dozen other planets orbiting faraway stars. None of them appear to have the right conditions to support life, though.

Project Ideas:

1. Build a scale model of our solar system.
2. Explain the forces at work when the planets orbit the sun. What keeps them in place? Are they moving further away?
3. Study pictures from telescopes. Show the different planets in the pictures and their moons.
4. What are the features of the planets? Could they support some kind of life? Why or why not?

Link Resources to Complete the Science Fair Project

1. Basics of The Planet Venus
2. Pictures of The Planet Venus
3. Build a Solar System
4. Your Weight on Other Worlds

Related Science Fair Project Resources

• The Five Types of Science Fair Projects
• Top 4 Science Fair Project Books

Part of our Science Project Ideas Index