Welcome to Ask A Scientist! Our service has been in operation since 1991. We have already compiled answers to more than 20,000 questions – and this site now receives more than ten to twelve million hits each month!

Where to Start
If you have a question, first check our Archives to see if it has been asked and answered before. Ask A Scientist includes Archives containing questions that our volunteer scientists have answered since our service began. And since 1991, questions have come from every country on the planet!

How to Ask A Question
What kind of questions does Ask A Scientist answer? Ask A Scientist focuses on questions from K-12 students and teachers that are not commonly found in libraries, reference books or text books. There are certain topics and types of questions that Ask A Scientist does not address. For hints on using Ask A Scientist, please read How to Ask A Question.

Ask A Question
Do you have a question that is not already addressed in the Archives? And is it the kind of question that Ask A Scientist is designed to answer (as explained in How to Ask A Question)? Then Ask A Question! (But please ask only one at a time.). We will send your question out to our volunteer expert(s) who can answer it best.

Question of the Week
Want to see how Ask A scientist works? Check out the Question of the Week.

Our Expert Scientists
An international corps of volunteer experts field and answer questions on Ask A Scientist. Some of these experts have agreed to list their names on Our Expert Scientists.

If you would like to become a volunteer scientist, we would like to hear from you.

About Ask A Scientist
This online question-and-answer service for K-12 teachers and their students was launched in 1991.

It is part of the Newton Bulletin Board System operated by the Division of Educational Programs at Argonne National Laboratory, in Argonne, Illinois. Argonne National Laboratory is managed by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

Thanks for visiting Ask A Scientist!