This is the simplest form of camera – no film, no batteries, and no moving parts that can break. The biggest problem with this camera is that the inlet hole is so tiny that it lets in such a small amount of light and makes a faint image. If you make the hole larger, you get a brighter image, but it’s much less focused. The more light rays coming through, the more they spread out the image out more and create a fuzzier picture. You’ll need to play with the size of the hole to get the best image.

While you can go crazy and take actual photos with this camera by sticking on a piece of undeveloped black and white film (use a moderately fast ASA rating), I recommend using tracing paper and a set of eyeballs to view your images. Here’s what you need to do:

Materials:

• box
• tracing paper
• razor or scissors
• tape
• tack

In this lab, we are going to make an eyeball model using a balloon. This experiment should give you a better idea of how your eyes work. The way your brain actually sees things is still a mystery, but using the balloon we can get a good working model of how light gets to your brain.

Are you curious about pulleys? This set of experiments will give you a good taste of what pulleys are, how to thread them up, and how you can use them to lift heavy things.

We’ll also learn how to take data with our setup and set the stage for doing the ultra-cool Pulley Lift experiments.

Are you ready?
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We’re going to use everyday objects to build a simple machine and learn how to take data. Sadly, most college students have trouble with these simple steps, so we’re getting you a head start here. The most complex science experiments all have these same steps that we’re about to do… just on a grander (and more expensive) scale. We’re going to break each piece down so you can really wrap your head around each step. Are you ready to put your new ideas to the test?

This experiment is for Advanced Students.

Levers are classified into three types: first class, second class, or third class. Their class is identified by the location of the load, the force moving the load, and the fulcrum. In this activity, you will learn about the types of levers and then use your body to make each type.

When you drop a ball, it falls 16 feet the first second you release it. If you throw the ball horizontally, it will also fall 16 feet in the first second, even though it is moving horizontally… it moves both away from you and down toward the ground. Think about a bullet shot horizontally. It travels a lot faster than you can throw (about 2,000 feet each second). But it will still fall 16 feet during that first second. Gravity pulls on all objects (like the ball and the bullet) the same way, no matter how fast they go.

What if you shoot the bullet faster and faster? Gravity will still pull it down 16 feet during the first second, but remember that the surface of the Earth is round. Can you imagine how fast we’d need to shoot the bullet so that when the bullet falls 16 feet in one second, the Earth curves away from the bullet at the same rate of 16 feet each second?

Answer: that bullet needs to travel nearly 5 miles per second. (This is also how satellites stay in orbit – going just fast enough to keep from falling inward and not too fast that they fly out of orbit.)

Catapults are a nifty way to fire things both vertically and horizontally, so you can get a better feel for how objects fly through the air. Notice when you launch how the balls always fall at the same rate – about 16 feet in the first second.  What about the energy involved?

When you fire a ball through the air, it moves both vertically and horizontally (up and out). When you toss it upwards, you store the (moving) kinetic energy as potential energy, which transfers back to kinetic when it comes whizzing back down. If you throw it only outwards, the energy is completely lost due to friction.

The higher you pitch a ball upwards, the more energy you store in it. Instead of breaking our arms trying to toss balls into the air, let’s make a simple machine that will do it for us. This catapult uses elastic kinetic energy stored in the rubber band to launch the ball skyward.

This is a very simple yet powerful demonstration that shows how potential energy and kinetic energy transfer from one to the other and back again, over and over.  Once you wrap your head around this concept, you’ll be well on your way to designing world-class roller coasters.

For these experiments, find your materials:

• some string
• a bit of tape
• a washer or a weight of some kind
• set of magnets (at least 6, but more is better)

Note: Do the pendulum experiment first, and when you’re done with the heavy nut from that activity, just use it in this experiment.

You can easily create one of these mystery toys out of an old baking powder can, a heavy rock, two paper clips, and a rubber band (at least 3″ x 1/4″).  It will keep small kids and cats busy for hours.

This is a nit-picky experiment that focuses on the energy transfer of rolling cars.  You’ll be placing objects and moving them about to gather information about the potential and kinetic energy.

We’ll also be taking data and recording the results as well as doing a few math calculations, so if math isn’t your thing, feel free to skip it.

Here’s what you need:

Bobsleds use the low-friction surface of ice to coast downhill at ridiculous speeds. You start at the top of a high hill (with loads of potential energy) then slide down a icy hill til you transform all that potential energy into kinetic energy.  It’s one of the most efficient ways of energy transformation on planet Earth. Ready to give it a try?

This is one of those quick-yet-highly-satisfying activities which utilizes ordinary materials and turns it into something highly unusual… for example, taking aluminum foil and marbles and making it into a racecar.

While you can make a tube out of gift wrap tubes, it’s much more fun to use clear plastic tubes (such as the ones that protect the long overhead fluorescent lights). Find the longest ones you can at your local hardware store. In a pinch, you can slit the gift wrap tubes in half lengthwise and tape either the lengths together for a longer run or side-by-side for multiple tracks for races. (Poke a skewer through the rolls horizontally to make a quick-release gate.)

Here’s what you need:

• aluminum foil
• marbles (at least four the same size)
• long tube (gift wrapping tube or the clear protective tube that covers fluorescent lighting is great)

We’re going to build monster roller coasters in your house using just a couple of simple materials. You might have heard how energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be transferred or transformed (if you haven’t that’s okay – you’ll pick it up while doing this activity).

Roller coasters are a prime example of energy transfer: You start at the top of a big hill at low speeds (high gravitational potential energy), then race down a slope at break-neck speed (potential transforming into kinetic) until you bottom out and enter a loop (highest kinetic energy, lowest potential energy). At the top of the loop, your speed slows (increasing your potential energy), but then you speed up again and you zoom near the bottom exit of the loop (increasing your kinetic energy), and you’re off again!

Here’s what you need:

This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!

We’re going to cover energy and motion by building roller coasters and catapults! Kids build a working catapult while they learn about the physics of projectile motion and storing elastic potential energy. Let’s discover the mysterious forces at work behind the thrill ride of the world’s most monstrous roller coasters, as we twist, turn, loop and corkscrew our way through g-forces, velocity, acceleration, and believe it or not, move through orbital mechanics, like satellites. We’ll also learn how to throw objects across the room in the name of science… called projectile motion. Are you ready for a fast and furious physics class?