Science in Motion

A project book for young readers with a need for speed, this work provides instruction on 25 easy-to-construct racecars that can be driven both indoors and out. They will learn how to use mousetraps, rubber bands, chemical reactions, gravity, and air pressure to power the cars that are made for little or no cost using recycled and repurposed materials. Readers will discover how to turn a potato chip can, a rubber band, and weights into a Chip-Can Dancer; retrofit a car with a toy plane propeller to make an air-powered Prop Car; and use an effervescent tablet in a small canister to make an impressive rocket engine for a Mini Pop Car. Each project is accompanied by a materials list, detailed step-by-step instructions with photos, and explanations of the science behind each racecar, including concepts such as friction, Newton's laws of motion, and kinetic and potential energy.

With detailed, step-by-step instructions, this richly illustrated science project book shows how to construct and safely launch homemade balloons. Some designs, including the Solar Tetroon or the Giant Solar Sausage, are made from garbage bags and tape, while others, such as the Khom Loi, are created from tissue paper and wire; yet all of the projects use inexpensive, readily available materials and are easy to construct with only basic crafting skills. Ever safety conscious, this manual provides detailed guidelines for various methods to heat the interior air that lifts the balloons, including when and where open flames are appropriate, and the proper weather conditions to launch these creations. With a full chapter on troubleshooting, should a design fail to fly, this book will make balloon engineers of just about anyone.

Calling all future Amelia Earhart's and Chuck Yeager's there is more than one-way to get off the ground. Author and physics teacher Bobby Mercer will show readers 35 easy-to-build and fun-to-fly contraptions that can be used indoors or out. Better still, each of these rockets, gliders, boomerangs, launchers, and helicopters are constructed for little or no cost using recycled materials. The Flying Machine Book will show readers how to turn rubber bands, paper clips, straws, plastic bottles, and index cards into amazing, gravity-defying flyers. Learn how to turn a drinking straw, rubber band, and index card into a Straw Rocket, or convert a paper towel tube into a Grape Bazooka. Empty water bottles can be transformed into Plastic Zippers and Bottle Rockets, and ordinary paper can be cut and folded to make a Fingerrangs, a small boomerang or a Maple Key Helicopter. Each project contains a material list and detailed step-by-step instructions with photos. Mercer also includes explanations of the science behind each flyer, including concepts such as lift, thrust, and drag, the Bernoulli Effect, and more. Readers can use this information to modify and improve their flyers, or explain to their teachers why throwing a paper airplane is a mini science lesson.

There is more than one way to power a toy boat. Electric motors, balloons, gears, water jets, belt drives, chemical reactions, steam, and even gravity can be used to propel a small ship across a pool. In addition, the boats propellers and paddles can be side-mounted or at the stern, or even sit above the waterline, like a fan-powered swamp boat. The Motorboat Book will show children how to build more than 20 different models through step-by-step instructions with clear photos. Moreover, if they would rather travel under the water than over it, the book has six different submarine projects. In addition to the boatbuilding activities, author Ed Sobey includes instructions on how to build an ocean to test the boats, as well as accessories such as four different water pumps, waterproof battery and motor cases, and a working foghorn. Most of the boats are built from recycled and easy-to-find materials, but an appendix lists local and online sources for wire, plastic propellers, small motors, and more. Educators will appreciate the Meeting Science Standards summary at the end of the book.

How to use reuse and recycle components and supplies to build a variety of devices. The 20 easy-to-build robots in this project book can be constructed for little or no cost using common household objects and repurposed materials. From learning how to turn a toothbrush, an old cell phone or pager, and scrap wire into a Brush Bot, or how to hack a toy car to hotwire a Not-So-Remote Bot, each hands-on project contains a materials list and detailed step-by-step instructions with photos. Explanations of the science and technology behind each robotincluding concepts such as friction, weight and mass, center of gravity, kinetic and potential energy, electric circuitry, DC vs. AC current, and moreare also included.

A detailed reference on the latest craze in lightweight aeronautics, this manual shows how to build and throw paper boomerangs. Techniques for mastering the basics will help beginners, while techniques for impressive throws such as the behind-the-back toss; the boomerang juggle; the under-the-leg catch; and the dreaded double-handed, backward, double-boomerang throw will thrill even the most advanced boomeranger. A history of the device and the physics behind its circuitous flight are also included, making this the only comprehensive reference on this fascinating toy.