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!
Outstanding! SciAm is doing a podcast! “In this episode, Scientific American editor-in-chief John Rennie reflects on the Korean stem cell debacle; the National Inventors Hall of Fame announces this year’s inductees; and evolution defender Eugenie Scott discusses the importance of the decision in the recent Dover evolution trial. Also: hear outtakes from the CSI show you’re never going to see on TV.” [via] Link.
Awesome derby car mod – “I wanted to show you all the cool car my son Matthew and I made for his cub scouts pinewood derby. We wanted to do something entirely different and decided on mounting a very small camera to it along with an LED in the back to look like a jet engine. It was powered by a 9V battery which also served as the car’s weight. The car broadcast wirelessly to a receiver which we recorded on mini-DV. We won 7 prizes and finished 4th in the races.” [via] Link.
This week’s Cool Stuff Being Made video – heat treating! “You will see on this 18-minute video the many things that we use every day that are heat treated. As they say, heat treating puts the spring in springs. It also strengthens the metal used in axes, knives, saws, aircraft landing gears, jet engines, space ship launchers, computers, agricultural implements and oil drilling and refining equipment, to name just some. There’s also a scene toward the end that shows how many everyday things are heat treated. You see form one of the scenes the difference between a drill bit that is heat treated and one that is not. The former works while the latter fails.” Link.
Timbuktuchronicles writes “This is essentially a water heater attached to a pump, the only other thing you need is a barrel to wash your fuel, attach some hoses and valves from Home Depot and that’s all you need to make fuel from vegetable oil that will run on any unmodified diesel engine.” Link.
John writes “Here’s how to make a device that is useful for visualizing the movement of small particles and for demonstrating slip planes, dislocations, defect holes, and the three states of matter. If you would rather not create your own, you can buy one for $50, but this DIY version costs about $8”. Link.
Devin writes “These pages are a nice guide to making high voltage items (toys?) out of trash! These two pages show how to make a Tesla Coil out of trash, and how to hook up TV flyback ransformers for all sorts of fun HV stuff (arcs, jacob’s ladders, capacitor-bank charging, coin-shrinking, etc.)” Link & Link.
Hans Schepker’s mathematically correct glass and sculpture site is an excellent read – “All my stained glass work is based on geometry. Yes, it is math I am talking about! The following lines are a short explanation of the shapes I work with and a bit of theory around them.” Thanks 