1. QUESTION
Can a 12-year-old scientist make a cool home page by using the scientific method?

2. HYPOTHESIS
If I put enough stuff about me on a web page, then it will be cool, because I am pretty cool. (Mom says I am. Mom might be biased. See Sources of Error.)

3. MATERIALS

• 1 computer (Dad's, Windows 98, 56K modem)
• Netscape Navigator
• 1 book about HTML from the library (2 weeks overdue, sorry library)
• Dad's patience (amount: started high, went down, see Data)
• 1 cat (did not help)
• 1 bag of pretzels (for energy)

4. PROCEDURE

1. Signed up for a free home page.
2. Typed <HTML>. Felt like a scientist.
3. Made all the words green. Could not read them. Made them blue.
4. Put in a flask picture. It bubbles!!! Put in two more.
5. Beaker walked on the keyboard and typed "ffffffffffffff." Deleted it.
6. Accidentally deleted everything else too.
7. Dad said "did you save it?" I had not saved it.
8. Repeated steps 1 through 4, this time saving every 5 minutes.

5. DATA (Facts About the Scientist)

My science fair projects so far:

• 4th grade: Baking soda volcano. I know. Everybody does one. Mine went on the ceiling.
• 5th grade: Which paper towel absorbs the most water? (3rd place ribbon!!)
• 6th grade: Red cabbage juice as a pH indicator. It turns pink in vinegar and green in baking soda water. It is like magic but it is science. (2nd place ribbon!!!)
• 7th grade: Not decided yet. Currently observing Beaker.

Observations of Beaker (the cat):
Beaker is orange and 3 years old. Last Saturday I observed him from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. He was asleep for 9 hours and 40 minutes of it. Cats sleep a lot of the day, so this is normal. He also knocked a pencil off my desk 3 times. I do not know why yet. More research is needed.

6. RESULTS
The page exists. (You are looking at it. That is evidence.) I measured the coolness on the Isaac Coolness Scale, which goes from 1 (a rock) to 10 (a volcano that goes on the ceiling). This page scored a 6.5.

Sources of Error:

• Mom said the page is cool before she even saw it. Not a fair test.
• The cat was in the lab the whole time. Contamination.
• I only have one flask picture (I used it three times).

7. CONCLUSION
INCONCLUSIVE. Needs more GIFs. I will repeat the experiment when I find more GIFs.

Experiment still in progress

Further Research: Will Dad's computer still work after Y2K? I will test this on January 1, 2000 and post my results.

Acknowledgments: Thank you to Dad for helping with the hard parts, and for not being mad about step 6. Thank you to Beaker for nothing.