Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly, and 27 Other Saturday Science Projects

(Paperback)

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Description

How do you crack nuts with a piece of string Reverse gravity Cobble together a clock out of a coffee cup, a soda bottle, and some water Use a vacuum cleaner and nineteenth-century railroad technology to fashion a makeshift bazooka that can launch paper projectiles Create a rainbow in a block of Jello This is a one-volume romp through a whole array of counterintuitive science experiments that require little more than common household items and a sense of curiosity. Prepare to have your surprise sensors on overload as Neil Downie stretches math, physics, and chemistry to do what they have never done before. This book describes twenty-nine unusual but practical experiments, detailing how they are done and the math and physics behind them. It will delight both casual and inveterate tinkerers. Of varying levels of complexity, the experiments are grouped in sections covering a wide field of physics and the borders of chemistry, ranging from dynamic mechanics ("Kinetic Curiosities") to electricity ("Antediluvian Electronics") and combustion ("Infernal Inventions").The chapters are titillatingly titled, from "Twisted Sinews" and "Mole Radio" to "A Symphony of Siphons" and "Tornado Transistor. " More-detailed explanations, along with simple mathematical models using high-school level math, are given in boxes accompanying each experiment. Armchair scientists will welcome this edifying and entertaining alternative to idleness, not least for the buoyant prose, enriched by historical and literary anecdotes introducing each topic. With this book in hand, tinkerers, whether dabblers in science or devotees, students or teachers, need never again wonder how to impress friends, the judges at the science fair, and, not least, themselves.

Reviews

"This is great interactive stuff, amusingly written by a British scientist who honed his skills conducting a Saturday activity center for kids... As well as the fun there is science too, equations and all."--Douglas Palmer, New Scientist "A fertile and funny idea-book for the Erector set crowd."--Booklist "A fascinating new book... The style is eclectic and interesting... It brings together practical, accessible physics with a gentle amount of theory in an entertaining and educational manner. There is much here that will both stimulate a curiosity about physics and help with good--if not inspirational--physics teaching."--Physics World

Author Bio

Neil A. Downie has worked on a variety of engineering projects for the British Ministry of Defence and private industries in the UK. He is currently a scientist with Air Products and Chemicals at their labs in Blasingstoke near London.