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!
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.
Continue ReadingI’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 […]
Continue ReadingIf you’re looking for a bare-bones hovercraft build, this one from ENGINEERING.com’s Some Assembly Required is about as minimal as it gets: A leaf blower, a couple circles of plywood, a lawn chair, and a shower curtain for the skirt. [Thanks, Dad!]
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This video is short, and really pretty boring if you don’t know what’s going on. Shown is a chunk of new alloy that undergoes a phase change, at about 125C, from a nonmagnetic material to one that is strongly magnetic. If you bias the system with an additional, permanent magnet, heating the system past the transition temperature produces an electric current in a nearby coil, thereby converting heat to electricity.
Continue ReadingGarden_Pallet-Completed-430×300 How to Turn a Pallet into a Garden
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Robert Bruce Thompson, author of Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments, has assembled a chemistry set to sell to amateur chemistry buffs and homeschoolers. Because chemistry is widely considered to be the most difficult lab course to do well—particularly on a tight budget—we offer the CK01 Standard/Honors Home School Chemistry Laboratory Kit. It provides a […]
Continue ReadingIn this, the last installment of the third series of Bill Hammack’s wildly popular Engineer Guy videos, Bill exposes the wonders of fiber optics. He starts by demonstrating transmission of laser light through a fiber optic stereo cable, then explains total internal reflection with a really cool visual aid made from a bucket of antifreeze. There are details on the manufacture of the fibers themselves, the design of the first transatlantic fiber optic cable, and the signal processing used to encode data for transmission via fiber. All that, and more, in just five minutes and thirty seconds. Nice way to wound out series #3, Bill!
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