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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 - 2001

by Neil A. Downie

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 Downie stretches math, physics, and chemistry to do what they have never done before. This book describes 29 unusual experiments, detailing how they are done and the math and physics behind them.


From the publisher

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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From the rear 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

Details

  • Title Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly, and 27 Other Saturday Science Projects
  • Author Neil A. Downie
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 1st Edition
  • Pages 272
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Princeton University Press, Ewing, New Jersey, U.S.A.
  • Date 2001-10-14
  • Features Bibliography, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780691009865 / 0691009864
  • Weight 1.07 lbs (0.49 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.25 x 7.63 x 0.69 in (23.50 x 19.38 x 1.75 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Science - Experiments
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2001036258
  • Dewey Decimal Code 507.8

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booklist, 12/01/2001, Page 614

About the author

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.
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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

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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

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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
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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

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