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

From Booklist
Downie runs a weird-science club in England that, through the construction of Goldbergian gadgets, teaches kids the physical principles behind technology. In these recipes, he exhibits a playful attitude that disarms any hesitation about cannibalizing everyday stuff--radio-controlled toys, for example--for the quite basic gear that many of Downie's projects require. Most illustrate the physics of waves or mechanics, and for the hard-core gadgeteer, Downie appends to each project an explanation of the mathematics describing what's going on with, say, a rotating, ribless umbrella, but every project is built around inspiring delight and wonder. There is an upgrade of the classic cups-and-string telecom technology, which Downie calls the string radio. He illustrates the basic idea of modern smart-bomb warfare in the shape of a (perfectly safe) guided carpet missile, and throughout he sprinkles a number of amusingly useless labor-saving devices: Anybody need a string-driven nutcracker? A fertile and funny idea-book for the Erector set crowd. Gilbert Taylor
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Douglas Palmer, New Scientist
This is great interactive stuff . . . As well as the fun there is science too, equations and all.


Review
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.


Book 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.


From the Back Cover
"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


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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 Basingstoke near London.


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