Electric Diwheel With Active Rotation Damping (EDWARD)
An honors mechanical engineering project from a group of thirteen at Australia’s University of Adelaide. Rich technical detail available at the project’s webpage.
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!
Math Monday: Cardboard Catenary Arches
By pleating a square sheet of paper with a pattern of concentric squares, one can fold a saddle shape that mathematicians call a hyperbolic paraboloid, sometimes nicknamed a hypar. Erik Demaine led a workshop at a recent Museum of Mathematics event where he showed how multiple hypars can be assembled to make star-like geometric forms.
Showing Off Aluminum’s Natural Reactivity via Gallium Alloy
Very interesting vid from 16-year-old Hayden Parker, who impressed me greatly with his animated chemistry demonstrations at Maker Faire. Metallic aluminum can be dissolved in liquid gallium to create an aluminum-bearing alloy that is liquid at ambient conditions. Because it can flow in the alloy, the aluminum cannot form a stable passive oxide layer and will react violently with water, which nicely demonstrates the normally-hidden high natural reactivity of metallic aluminum.
How-To: Operate a Homemade Scanning Electron Microscope
When we last checked in on Ben Krasnow’s homemade SEM, he had just achieved his first successful image with the device. As his latest video shows, the project has come a long way since then. It’s a long clip, by internet standards, at almost 10 minutes, but Ben does a great job of communicating what he’s doing and why, taking us through each step in the imaging process, from loading the sample, through pumping down the vacuum chamber and powering up the electronics, to fine-tuning the image itself.
Slow Motion Video from High Speed Photography
Normally, ultra slow motion video requires very expensive cameras and lots of light. Using an unconventional method reminiscent of Eadweard Muybridge’s Sallie Gardner at a Gallop, Destin from Smarter Every Day caught slow motion video of a bullet coming out of a gun. Since that particular fast action is easily repeatable, he was able to […]
Open Source Space Flight Attempt Today
Copenhagen Suborbitals is a suborbital space endeavor, based entirely on private donors, sponsors and part time specialists. Our mission is to launch human beings into space on privately built rockets and spacecrafts. The project is both open source and non-profit in order to inspire as many people as possible, and to involve relevant partners and […]
Recycling Paperbacks as Partitions
Diane spotted this interesting idea from London designer Lucy Norman, who writes: “There is currently no infrastructure set up to recycle the paper from books because the paper is low grade and the glue on the spine must be removed. The Paperback Partition is made from this waste, creating an aesthetically pleasing and interesting divide in a room. It provides both good heat insulation, and acoustic insulation…”