Home Lab: Exciting Experiments for Budding Scientists

162 Pages·2016·35.449 MB·English

by  Jack Challoner, Robert Winston

HOM E
LAB
E X C I T I N G E X P E R I M E N T S
F O R B U D D I N G S C I E N T I S T S
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Project art editor Laura Gardner
Project editor Ashwin Khurana
Designer Nicola Erdpresser
Design assistant Sean Ross
Editor Ann Baggaley
Managing editor Lisa Gillespie
Managing art editor Owen Peyton Jones
Producer, pre-production Gillian Reid
Producer Mary Slater
Jacket design development manager Sophia MTT
Managing jackets editor Saloni Singh
Jacket editor Claire Gell
Senior jacket designer Mark Cavanagh
Jacket designer Suhita Dharamjit
Picture researcher Myriam Megharbi
Publisher Andrew Macintyre
Associate publishing director Liz Wheeler
Art director Karen Self
Design director Phil Ormerod
Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf
Writer and consultant Jack Challoner
Photographer Dave King
First published in Great Britain in 2016
by Dorling Kindersley Limited
80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL
Copyright © 2016 Dorling Kindersley Limited
A Penguin Random House Company
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
001–282970–July/2016
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced
into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without
the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-2412-2844-9
Printed in China
A WORLD OF IDEAS:
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
www.dk.com
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R O B E R T W I N S T O N
HOM E
LAB
E X C I T I N G E X P E R I M E N T S
F O R B U D D I N G S C I E N T I S T S
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CONTENTS
6 Foreword
8 FOOD FOR THOUGHT 38 AROUND THE HOME
10 Sticky slime 40 DNA model
14 Invisible ink 44 Paper planes
18 Baked Alaska 52 Sensational speakers
24 Monster marshmallows 56 Rubber band planets
28 Sugar crystal lollipops 62 Dazzling kaleidoscope
34 Lemon battery 66 Balloon rocket car
74 Sturdy bridge
80 Dancing snake
86 Breathing machine
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92 WATER WORLD 128 THE GREAT OUTDOORS
94 Density tower 130 Jungle in a bottle
98 Waterwheel 134 Fantastic fossils
104 Soap-powered boat 138 Shoebox plant
108 Fabulous filter 144 Beautiful Sun prints
114 Stunning stalactite 148 Erupting volcano
118 Fizzing bath bombs 154 Wind catcher
124 Icy orbs
158 Glossary
160 Index
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FOREWORD
I am often asked what made me want to be to see whether I could get my planes to go further
a scientist. I was about seven or eight years by altering their wings in different ways. You can
old when I realized that science was fascinating, try this for yourself – or perhaps go the extra
and what most interested me was doing my own mile and figure out how to get your plane to do
experiments. I clearly remember the excitement a loop-the-loop!
I felt when I realized that I could write secret
messages using juice as an invisible ink. Seeing my All of the experiments in this book are a lot of fun,
words appear when I heated paper was something but it is also important to play it safe. None of the
I still find slightly weird and a bit of a thrill. projects is dangerous, but some of them will
require an adult's help. For example, you'll use an
Making your own invisible ink is just one of the oven when cooking a baked Alaska, and hot water
28 amazing experiments in Home Lab. You will also is needed to make sugar crystal lollipops. It is
learn how to make different types of paper plane also important to keep your workplace clean
and find out why an object that's heavier than air and to wash your hands before and after some
doesn't just fall to the ground. As a child, I liked experiments, especially if they include food.
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Science depends on experimentation – from afraid to make little changes, as that's how science
coders working on Internet security to medical advances. If you have any setbacks, don't see
breakthroughs in cancer research. So it may seem these as failures. They're opportunities to look at
surprising that most scientists two thousand years the experiment again, using a fresh approach.
ago preferred to just sit around and discuss their
theories. In fact, it is really only in the last four I hope you really enjoy this book. And remember,
hundred years or so that scientists began to when you try out these experiments you will be
conduct experiments. The pioneering astronomer exploring some of the very things that made
Galileo Galilei used a telescope to study Jupiter, me want to become a scientist.
to count its moons, and record their movements.
In the same way, when you try any of the projects
in Home Lab, not only will you learn about the
world around you, you'll also embark on a scientific
ROBERT WINSTON
journey, just like Galileo – and me! And don't be
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