Science

DIY science is the perfect way to use your creative skills and learn something new. With the right supplies, some determination, and a curious mind, you can create amazing experiments that open up a whole world of possibilities. At home-made laboratories or tech workshops, makers from all backgrounds can explore new ideas by finding ways to study their environment in novel ways – allowing them to make breathtaking discoveries!

Analog Tide Computers and the D-Day Invasion

Analog Tide Computers and the D-Day Invasion

Bruce Parker, former Chief Scientist and eleven-year veteran of NOAA’s National Ocean Service, wrote this fascinating article in the September issue of Physics Today. It covers the technical history
of the science of tide prediction leading up to the beautiful mechanical computers developed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to quickly extrapolate recorded tide patterns into useful predictions, and goes on to explain how those computers were critical in planning the Normandy landings.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan14
Using Liquid Paint Stripper as Acrylic Cement

Using Liquid Paint Stripper as Acrylic Cement

Unless your application is critical, cheap liquid paint stripper from the hardware store (not the gel, paste, or color-changing varieties) is a fine substitute for commercial acrylic solvent cement. Comparing one MSDS to another, we see that each product is about 75 wt% dichloromethane (AKA methylene chloride), which is the “active ingredient” that softens the plastic and allows it to weld. Purpose-made acrylic solvent is a bit thinner, in my experience, and evaporates a little faster, and contains trace amounts of acrylic monomer that may result in a slightly stronger bond, but for most practical purposes I have not found these qualities to justify paying twice as much for it.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan5
A New Twist on Building with Watch Parts

A New Twist on Building with Watch Parts

Whenever there’s an available surplus of watch parts it seems that makers tend to gravitate toward constructing vehicular creations: motorcycles, mopeds, etc. We’ve covered these kinds of slick, brassy machines in the past, and Blogger user 2nde VIE (2nd Life) follows where other such makers left off, but then veers into creature territory. He uses the discarded parts to make clockwork owls, turtles, and other entities that have a whimsy that’s all their own. [via Recyclart]

Continue Reading Michael Colombo4