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

Neil A. Downie
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Price: £19.95 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly, and 27 Other Saturday Science Projects + Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars and More Dynamite Devices + 101 Incredible Experiments for the Shed Scientist
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press (24 Sep 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0691009864
  • ISBN-13: 978-0691009865
  • Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 19.4 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 287,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

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N. A. Downie
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Product Description

Review

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

Product 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.


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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Steve Taylor VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
What a great change, to see a "science book" with the sort of projects and demonstrations that will interest children of all ages, and quite a lot of adults.

The "Vacuum bazooka" is an extremely powerful device - especially with a damned great wet/dry vacuum powering it. We used plastic 35mm film cannisters and got 100 feet (high) shots from ours.

The fluid amplifier project is also nicely messy, but a great demonstration of some basic (electronic) theory.

Highly recommended to those interested in practical science, with good theoretical backup and resources in the book.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent book for people wanting to build Saturday science projects in the garden shed. It also has a number of useful ideas for science students/teachers wanting ideas for projects to use in the classroom.

Have a good look through the contents pages provided by Amazon to see if the projects look interesting...
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By J.B.
Format:Paperback
If you have the skills of a professional joiner, a large shed with electricity and equipped like a small laboratory, plus a comfortable budget to buy all the equipment you need,then perhaps a month of Saturdays with no weekday interuptions, maybe then you could truthfully add 'Saturday Science Projects' to the title. I bought this book to have some fun with our teenagers, it is a big disappointment. Save your money for something more feasible and achievable instead.
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