Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly: And 27 Other Saturday Science Projects

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.

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.

"Definitely a significant contribution to the field. There are few books that contain both interesting experiments and their physical explanations--most leave them somewhat mysterious, with no logical solutions. Being among those special few, this book will be of interest to general readers with inquiring minds."--Ronald D. Edge, University of South Carolina

"Downie writes well--with clear, crisp prose, and with a sense of humor I find delightful."--Paul J. Nahin, University of New Hampshire

"The most important aspect of this book is that it allows the reader to come up with non-intuitive practical results. Why make a toy that does something predictable? Why invest time in something that everybody else expects? But if you learn how to do something that will impress your friends, then you will do it."--Florin Diacu, University of Victoria

Project Ratings xi

Preface xiii

KINETIC CURIOSITIES

1. Hovering Rings 3

2. Dynabrolly 14

3. Gravity Reversal 21

4. Maypole Drill 28

5. Rotarope 33

STRONG STRING THINGS

6. String Nutcracker 45

7. Twisted Sinews 51

STRONG NOTHING

8. Vacuum Muscles 61

9. Vacuum Bazooka 70

SOUNDS PECULIAR

10. String Radio 83

11. Mole Radio 93

12. Bat Doppler 102

TRANSMISSIONS WITH OMISSIONS

13. Toothless Gearwheels 113

14. Flying Pulleys 121

CLOCKS WITHOUT CUCKOOS OR QUARTZ

15. The Crank and the Pendulum 127

16. A Symphony of Siphons 134

17. Bernoulli's Clock 142

CURIOUS CONVEYANCES

18. Dougall or U'brocraft 151

19. Follow That Sunbeam 157

20 Duohelicon 167

21. Fishy Boat 174

22. Rotarudder 182

23. Cable Yacht 190

ANTEDILUVIAN ELECTRONICS

24. Beard Amplifier 199

25. Tornado Transistor 207

ELECTRIC WATER

26. Meltdown Alarm 215

27. Electric Rainbow jelly 222

INFERNAL INVENTIONS

28. Binary Match 229

29. Ultimate Bunsen Burner 234

Useful Materials and Components 241

A Reminder about Units 245

Bibliography 247

Index 251