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!
Micheal Dittman and his daughter Paige built longboards together, based on the article in MAKE Volume 26. Besides this being epically cool and sweet in and of itself, they started the project over Spring Break, but when Paige had to go back to school, they continued to collaborate, finish their projects via Skype and email.
Time lapse video by Elias Politis, uppermost, and single image composite of same, immediately above. It’s NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for June 25.
1960’s “Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments,” by Robert Brent and Harry Lazarus, is now freely browsable on Scribd, and can be downloaded as a .PDF after either paying $5 or uploading a document of your own in exchange.
Hereโs an excerpt from my new book, The Practical Pyromaniac. Itโs a bit different than a lot of the other projects because it deals with making things NOT catch on fire. Itโs a pretty simple chemistry project. By the way, it makes paper fire resistant, not fire proof.
Our favorite pyromaniac, Bill Gurstelle, is back, and just in time for the 4th of July. He’s also here to talk about/excerpt from his latest book, The Practical Pyromaniac. We’re always excited to have Bill onboard, not only ’cause he’s a great guy, an epic maker, and a good writer, but being the pyro that he is, you just never know what he’s fixin’ to immolate. Keeps a person on their toes.
A sphericon is a shape that you get by: (1) rotating a symmetric polygon about a mirror axis to get a solid of revolution, (2) cutting the solid into two equal pieces, and (3) putting the pieces back together differently. With a lathe or a 3D printing machine, it is easy to make many kinds of sphericons, with different starting polygons. Here is one based on a star.
I’m absolutely amazed by Markus Kayser’s Solar Sinter Project, a 3D printer that uses the sun for power and sand as its raw material: In a world increasingly concerned with questions of energy production and raw material shortages, this project explores the potential of desert manufacturing, where energy and material occur in abundance. In this […]
