Wind Speed Challenge

Take the Wind Speed Challenge Anemometer An anemometer will help show you how fast the wind is going by spinning cups around. The faster the wind is moving the faster the cups will spin. What you'll need: Paper cups A skewer (or something similar to poke holes) Straws Scissors A marker (felt pen) Tape or glue The Challenge: Your challenge is to design something that can measure the wind speed. Create an anemometer that features free spinning cups that spin faster as the wind increases. The wind should blow into the cups pushing them away. The faster the wind the more force it has to push the cups and the faster they spin. You can measure the wind strength by comparing how many times the anemometer spins around every 10 seconds. Does it vary from place to place and day to day? Wind Speed Box Make a wind speed box to measure how fast the wind is blowing. Similar in use to the anemometer, your wind box will be able to measure the strength of the wind in different places. What you'll need: An old shoe box A marker (felt pen) String Tape or glue A piece of card The Challenge: The challenge is to make a wind box that can compare different wind speeds. Marking a scale inside the box is a good place to start and you can use the piece of card as a guide, with it swinging further along the scale as the wind increases. The rest is up to you and your problem solving skills. A stronger wind has more force to push the piece of card along the scale, while it might struggle to move it at all on a very calm day. What's next? Combine your wind speed results with wind direction, air pressure and rain fall for a full weather report.

Barometer

Make Your Own Barometer What you'll need: A balloon Scissors A jar A rubber band Tape A straw A piece of card A marker (felt pen) Instructions: Cut the top off the balloon (the part which you blow into). Stretch the balloon over the top of the jar and hold it in place with a rubber band. Place the straw across the top of the jar so that one third of the straw is hanging over the edge. Stick the straw to the balloon with tape. Draw three lines on the piece of card that are about half a centimeter apart from each other. Label these lines as high, moderate and low. Tape the card against the back of the jar so that the straw points to moderate. Put your barometer on a flat surface somewhere inside. What's happening? When there is low air pressure the balloon should expand out and the straw will point down. This is because the air inside the balloon now has relatively more air pressure compared to the air outside, it pushes the balloon out as a result. When there is high air pressure the air on the outside will push the balloon into the jar and the straw will point upwards. The air inside the balloon now has relatively less pressure, this pushes the balloon inwards as a result. In general, high air pressure indicates fair weather while low air pressure indicates that bad weather is more likely. Although forecasting the weather isn’t an exact science and can be very difficult at times, give it a go and see how accurate you are. Combine your results with wind speed, wind direction and rain fall for a full weather report.

Wind Vane

Make Your Own Weather Vane What you'll need: An icecream container lid (or an old food container lid) Scissors or a craft knife (be careful and use adult help when necessary) A marker (felt pen) A skewer A straw A pin Instructions: Trace a triangle onto the icecream container lid with the marker and cut it out. Repeat the process but this time trace and cut out a rectangle. Cut a slit in both ends of the straw and slide the triangle in one end and the rectangle in the other end and glue into place. Push a pin through the exact middle of the straw and then into the flat end of the skewer. Place it outside where you can easily see it from the inside and you’ll be able to tell which direction the wind is blowing without even having to go outside. What's next? Combine your wind direction results with wind speed, air pressure and rain fall for a full weather report.

Rain Gauge

Make a Rain Gauge

What you'll need:

• A plastic (soft drink) bottle
• Some stones or pebbles
• Tape
• Marker (felt pen)
• A ruler

Instructions:

1. Cut the top off the bottle.
2. Place some stones in the bottom of the bottle. Turn the top upside down and tape it to the bottle.
3. Use a ruler and marker pen to make a scale on the bottle.
4. Pour water into the bottle until it reaches the bottom strip on the scale. Congratulations, you have finished your rain gauge.
5. Put your rain gauge outside where it can collect water when it starts raining. After a rain shower has finished, check to see how far up the scale the water has risen.

What's happening?

Rain falls into the top of the gauge and collects at the bottom, where it can be easily measured. Try comparing the amount of rain to the length of time the shower lasted, was it a short and heavy rain shower or a long and light one?

If you want to get serious you can graph the rainfall over weeks or even months, this is especially interesting if the place you live experiences varying seasons where sometimes it is very dry and other times it is very wet.

Combine your results with wind speed, wind direction and air pressure for a full weather report.

Keeping Drinks Hot

Keeping Drinks Hot and More What you'll need: 4 cups that are exactly the same Hot water Cold water Cold milk A thermometer Spoons Instructions: Half fill each cup with hot water. Check that all of the cups are at the same temperature. Leave the thermometer in one of the cups for now. Add 1 spoon of milk to the first cup. Add 1 spoon of cold water to the second cup. Add 3 spoons of milk to the third cup. Don't add anything to the last cup. Check the temperature of each cup every minute with the thermometer. Which cup of water stays hot for the longest. What's happening? This one's up to you, do you think you can you explain it? Some other interesting questions related to this topic include: What are some good ways of keeping drinks hot? Have you heard of the word ‘insulation’? What happens if you want to keep a drink cool rather than hot? Which is more likely to keep a drink hot for longer: a tall thin cup or a wide shallow cup? Do some liquids cool faster than others? What type of cup is better for keeping drinks hot: paper, plastic, clay or glass?

Model Hand

Make a Model Hand What you'll need: A piece of card the size of your hand A pen or pencil Scissors String Instructions: Take the piece of card and trace the outline of your hand with a pen or pencil. Cut out the shape of your hand with scissors. Cut the string into 5 pieces that are about the length of your hand. Tie a piece of string to the tip of each finger and thumb and stretch it to the base of the palm. Staple the string to the card at the same points where you have joints in your fingers and thumb. Try pulling the strings from the base of the palm, what happens? What's happening? The muscles in your body are there to shorten or contract, a simple but very important task. Every movement you make is driven by the muscular system, from a simple smile to lifting a heavy box. The muscles inside your forearm have long tendons running through ligament fibers, known as the carpal tunnel, in the wrist. These muscles allow you to flex your fingers, bending the tips towards your palm, as your fingers do when giving the thumbs up. This is what happens when you pull on the strings of your model hand.

Stethoscope

Check Your Heart Rate What you'll need: A balloon A piece of tubing 2 small funnels Scissors A timer Rubber band (optional) A calculator (optional) Instructions: Take the piece of tubing and fit a funnel to each end. Stretch the balloon by blowing it up and then letting the air out. Cut off the top third of the balloon with scissors. Stretch the top third of the balloon tightly over the open end of one the funnels. If necessary, use a rubber band to hold it in place. Making your stethoscope work: Find your heart with your hand by feeling where it beats in your chest. Sit down somewhere quiet and place the end of the funnel with the balloon over it against your chest, directly onto your skin, just to the left centre. Hold the other funnel to your ear. You should hear a low beating sound. Use the timer to count how many beats you hear in 20 seconds. Multiply this number by three (use a calculator if you’re not confident) to find out how fast your heart beats in one minute. Try doing some more tests such as running around for 5 minutes and then checking how fast your heart is beating. Compare your results to your brothers, sisters, parents and even pets heart rates, are there any differences? What's happening? Did you know that when a doctor listens to your heartbeat with a stethoscope, they are actually listening for two sounds? The first sound is a longer, lower pitched sound. The second is a shorter, higher pitched sound. The lower pitched sound is made by the closing of two heart valves when blood is flowing out of the heart. The higher pitched sound is made by two other valves when blood is flowing into the heart. When a person exercises or participates in any kind of physical activity, the heart beats faster in order to pump more blood and oxygen to the muscles that are being used. The closing of the heart valves makes a sound which causes the stretched balloon to vibrate. The vibrating balloon makes the air in the tube vibrate and the tube then carries these sound vibrations to your ear.

Microscope

Make Your Own Microscope

What you'll need:

• A piece of fuse wire
• Some water
• Objects to look at (newspaper or a magazine with fine print works well

Instructions:

1. Make a loop at the end of the fuse wire about 2mm wide.
2. Dip it into some water to get a drop formed in the loop.
3. Hold it close to your eye and look closely at an object such as a magazine.
4. You may have to experiment to get the right distance but you should see a magnified image, especially if you have the drop as close to your eye as possible.

What's happening?

Pioneers of early microscopes originally used tiny glass globes filled with water to magnify objects, this is similar to what you are doing in this experiment. The water droplet forms the shape of a convex lens, which refracts the light and converges it at the point where you see the image clearly. It was later that the method of grinding glass to make lenses was perfected. Modern microscopes have many lenses in them and allow us to see extremely small objects.

Kaleidoscope

Make Your Own Kaleidoscope What you'll need: 3 pieces of mirrored perspex A roll of duct tape or masking tape Overhead transparency paper Colored see-through plastic A pencil Instructions: Take 3 pieces of mirrored perspex and tape them together to form a triangle shape.  Make sure it is solid and the tape is on the outside of the triangle. Trace around the small triangle at the end of the kaleidoscope onto the overhead transparency paper (add another 1cm all the way around the triangle to allow for folding). Place the transparency paper onto the end of the kaleidoscope and cut slits at the corners so the edges can be folded down. Tape the transparency paper into place. Draw another triangle, making this 2cm bigger than the last. Decide what kind of colored see-through plastic you would like to put inside your kaleidoscope. Cut out small pieces that will sit on top of the transparency paper. Put the colored plastic over the end of the kaleidoscope that has the transparency paper, and on top of that add the other (slightly bigger) triangle transparency paper.  Tape the second triangle down on top so that there is still just enough room for the plastic to move between the two transparencies. When your kaleidoscope is finished feel free to design and decorate a cover using cardboard, felt pens, glitter, tubing or anything else you want to use. What's happening? The patterns inside your kaleidoscope are made by light bouncing between the mirrors on the inside. While you look through one end, light enters through the other and reflects off the mirrors. Varying colors and patterns are formed thanks to the symmetric pattern created by the well placed mirrors.

Stalactite

Make Stalactites and Stalagmites

What you'll need:

• Two glass jars
• A saucer
• Woolen thread
• Either baking soda, washing soda or Epsom salts

Instructions:

1. Fill both jars with hot water. Dissolve as much soda as you can into each one.
2. Place the two jars in a warm place and put the saucer between them.
3. Twist several strands of woolen thread together before dipping the ends into the jars and letting the middle of the thread hang down above the saucer. The ends can be weighed down with various small, heavy objects to keep them in the jars.
4. The two solutions should creep along the thread until they reach the middle and then drip down onto the saucer.
5. Watch what happens to the experiment over then next few days.
6. Don’t forget to wash your hands when you’ve finished.

What's happening?

Over a few days the dripping water will leave behind the baking soda, forming a tiny stalactite (which forms from the roof) and stalagmite (which forms from the ground). With enough time these may eventually join to create a single column. Stalactites and stalagmites are columns of stone which form in underground caves. They are made from minerals dissolved in rainwater that slowly drips from the roofs and walls of caves

Fossil Cast

Make Your Own Fossil What you'll need: Plasticine 2 paper cups An object that you would like to use as the fossilized impression Plaster of paris Water Instructions: Flatten a ball of plasticine until it is about 2 cm thick while making sure the top is smooth. Put the plasticine inside a paper cup with the smooth side facing up. Carefully press the object you want to fossilize into the plasticine until it is partially buried. Carefully remove the object from the plasticine. An impression of the object should be left behind. Pour half a cup of plaster of paris into the other paper cup. Add a quarter cup of water to the plaster and stir until the mixture is smooth. Leave it for around two minutes. When the mixture has thickened pour it on top of the plasticine in the other cup. Leave the mixture until the plaster has dried (leave it for 24hrs if you want to be sure). When the plaster has fully dried, tear away the sides of the paper cup and take out the plasticine and plaster. Keep it in a warm dry place and enjoy your very own fossil. What's happening? Fossils are extremely useful records of the past. In your case you left behind an impression of an object you own but fossils found by scientists around the world can date back to the time of dinosaurs. These fossils allow paleontologists (the name of scientists who study these types of fossils) to study what life might have been like millions of years ago. Fossils such as the one you made can leave delicate patterns and a surprising amount of detail. Further research and information: Research more about fossils, how they are formed, the study of paleontology, petrification and more at our facts about fossils page.

Robot

Make Your Own Robot!

Depending on the age and skill level of students you can try one of two different robot building projects.

Build a robot from household items

Let younger kids enjoy building a robot from everyday household items. It's lots of fun and is sure to keep their attention.

What you'll need:

• Useful materials include soft drink lids, old boxes, tin foil, ice cream containers, old clothing, various material, straws, paper and crayons.

General instructions:

• You'll need quite a lot of materials (depending on how many children will be taking part). A good idea is to start off with unused cardboard boxes and go from there. The children can glue or tape boxes together to form the general shape of a robot before attaching other items to complete the project. There is room for a wide variety of ideas on this project so if you have an idea that you think will work then give it a go!

Build a robot using electronics equipment or a robotics kit set

For older groups of children you can try a robot building project using real electronics equipment or a robotics kit set.

What you'll need:

• There are a number of great robotics kit sets out there as well as the always dependable Lego Mindstorms NXT which offers plenty of scope for robot building challenges.

General instructions:

• Rather than just letting them build any type of robot, give them a fun challenge which can serve as the inspiration behind the design of their robot as well as the focus of any program they make using a computer. This challenge could involve a race of some type, robots that use sensors to find something, a test of strength or building a robot that responds to some form of human input. As well as designing and building their robot, students will have to think about how they will program it as well.
• This project can be further developed into a great science fair project focusing on technology. You could research what kind of artificial intelligence your robot is capable of as well as any physical limitations it has that stop it from performing required tasks.

Salt Crystals

Grow Your Own Salt Crystals

What you'll need:

• A jar
• Water
• About half a cup of salt
• A spoon for stirring
• String
• Scissors
• 2 toothpicks

Instructions:

1. Fill the jar with water.
2. Add about half a cup of salt to the water.
3. Mix the solution together with a spoon.
4. Cut a piece of string with scissors and tie each end to a toothpick.
5. Place the string over the top of the jar so that the string dangles into the middle of the solution and the toothpicks hang over the edge.
6. Don’t forget to clean up when you’ve finished.

What next?

Leave the experiment and wait for salt crystals to form along the string. They are an excellent example of cubic crystals and you can do further research with them by examining them under a microscope.

When you look at various crystals under a microscope you can examine the differences between them: Are they perfectly formed? What shape are they? What color? Can you see any microorganisms on the crystals?

Crystals can be found grouped together as lots of small crystals or as huge individual crystals. They vary in size from those at the microscopic level all they way up to crystals that are meters in length!

Try collecting a range of crystals for your project, label the different types and make a rock collection box to keep them in.

Egg Drop

Can you protect a falling egg? What you'll need: Eggs Paper towels Build your egg protectors from resources such as: Plastic straws Popsicle sticks Tape Recycled paper Glue Plastic bags Boxes Used material Plastic containers The aim: Your goal is simple, design and build a system that will protect an egg from a 1 metre (3.3 feet) drop. Eggs that smash or crack fail the test while eggs that survive without a scratch pass! Getting started: You need to create something that can absorb the energy the egg gathers as it accelerates towards the ground. A hard surface will crack the egg so you have to think carefully about how you can protect it. Something that will cushion the egg at the end of its fall is a good place to start, you want the egg to decelerate slowly so it doesn't crack or smash all over the ground. You'll need to run a few trials so have some eggs ready as guinea pigs, those that don’t survive will at least be comforted knowing they were smashed for a good cause, and if not, you can at least have scrambled eggs for dinner right?

String Phone

Make a String Telephone What you'll need: 2 paper cups A sharp pencil or sewing needle to help poke holes String (kite string and fishing lines work well) Instructions: Cut a long piece of string, you can experiment with different lengths but perhaps 20 metres (66 feet) is a good place to start. Poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup. Thread the string through each cup and tie knots at each end to stop it pulling through the cup (alternatively you can use a paper clip, washer or similar small object to hold the string in place). Move into position with you and a friend holding the cups at a distance that makes the string tight (making sure the string isn't touching anything else). One person talks into the cup while the other puts the cup to their ear and listens, can you hear each other? What's happening? Speaking into the cup creates sound waves which are converted into vibrations at the bottom of the cup. The vibrations travel along the string and are converted back into sound waves at the other end so your friend can hear what you said. Sound travels through the air but it travels even better through solids such as your cup and string, allowing you to hear sounds that might be too far away when traveling through the air. More about phones: Landline telephones feature microphones that convert sound waves into electric currents that are then sent through wires and converted back into sound waves by an earphone inside the telephone at the other end. Modern mobile phones use radio waves (part of the electromagnetic spectrum that includes microwaves, infrared, visible light, X-rays and others) to communicate with base stations located throughout telephone networks. Phones have come a long way since Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first electric telephone patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office back in 1876. Today’s cell phones are a marvel of modern technology, featuring not only the ability to make phone calls but to also surf the web, play music, view documents and much more.