How to Build a Hovercraft: Air Cannons, Magnetic Motors, and 25 Other Amazing DIY Science Projects

335 Pages·2013·12.35 MB·English

by  Stephen Voltz

Text copyright © 2013 by Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe.
Photographs copyright © 2013 by Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe
Barbershop pole on page 26, magnetic field on page 99, and funnel cloud on
page 110 © Shutterstock.com
Mushroom cloud photograph on page 111 © Corbis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without
written permission from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-4521-3199-3
The Library of Congress has cataloged the previous edition as follows:
ISBN: 978-1-4521-0952-7
Designed by Alissa Faden
Illustrations by Stephen Voltz and Hillary Caudle.
Torus schematic on page 110 by Yassine Mrabet.
DISCLAIMER:
As with any project, it is important that all instructions are followed carefully; failure to do so could result
in injury. Every effort has been made to present the information in this book in a clear, complete, and
accurate manner; however, not every situation can be anticipated and there is no substitute for your own
common sense. Wear eye protection when advised. Use caution when handling dangerous objects. Be
careful when using power tools or manipulating projectiles. Before beginning any project, ask yourself what
could go wrong, and plan for that contingency. The authors and Chronicle Books disclaim any and all
liability resulting from injuries or damage caused during the production or use of the projects discussed in
this book.
“Eepybird,” “Eepybird.com,” and the cross-eyed Eepybird cartoon character are trade and service marks of
Eepybird, LLC, Buckfield, Maine.
Coke®, Diet Coke®, and Coke Zero® are all registered trademarks of The Coca-Cola
Company. All rights reserved.
Mentos® is a registered trademark of Perfetti Van Melle Corporation.
All rights reserved.
Post-it® is a registered trademark of 3M. All rights reserved.
The Coca-Cola Company, Perfetti Van Melle Corporation, and 3M were not involved in the creation of this
book and inclusion of their products does not constitute endorsement.
Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com
Contents
Introduction: The Coolest Science Experiments of All Time—That
You Can Do at Home 006
LEVEL I QUICK AND AMAZING
The Face that Follows and the Camera that Watches 010
The Growing Head Illusion 020
The Needle Through the Balloon 028
The Self-Crushing Can 034
The Ivory Volcano 040
Yanking Tablecloths and Other Near Disasters 044
The Airplane that Flies Forever 056
The Spiderweb Illusion 062
LEVEL II TAKING IT UP A NOTCH
A Word About Tools and Safety 068
Coke and Mentos Geysers 070
Fire Wire 084
The Magnet Motor Chimes 092
Air Vortex Guns and Cannons 100
Sticky-Note Waterfalls and Stairwalkers 112
Paper Airplane Squadrons and Sharpshooters 122
LEVEL III THE BIG STUFF
The Leaf-Blower Hovercraft and its Little Cousins 138
The Pendulum Wave Machine 150
The Coke-and-Mentos-Powered Minirocket Car 160
Shoot the Monkey 168
The Mechanical Water Xylophone 180
Acknowledgments 191
Index 192
INTRODUCTION
THE COOLEST SCIENCE
EXPERIMENTS OF ALL TIME—THAT
YOU CAN DO AT HOME
hen a friend of ours first told us about what happens when
W
you drop Mentos into Coke, we had to try it right away. We
took a bottle outside, dropped in some Mentos, and were
astounded—and inspired.
The next night we put together a ten-bottle geyser
performance for The Early Evening Show at the late, great
Oddfellow Theater in Buckfield, Maine. The audience’s response
was so enthusiastic that we knew we had to take it further. So
over the next several months, we worked nights and weekends
developing what turned out to be a 101-bottle Coke-and-Mentos-
geyser extravaganza. When the video of that went online, it went
viral literally overnight. As we write this, we estimate that the
video has been seen over 100 million times.
Making that video inspired our next quest: to find the coolest
science experiments of all time—that could be done with ordinary
everyday objects. We didn’t want anything that involved unusual
chemicals or special equipment. We wanted amazing things that
anyone could do using materials that could be found at home or
bought at a neighborhood hardware, office supply, or grocery
store.
And we wanted experiments that were FUN. In fact, our
ultimate test was whether or not an experiment was entertaining
enough to be the centerpiece for a vaudeville-style number at the
Oddfellow Theater.
The result is this book.
Then we wanted to add one more thing: science.
When we were working on creating our 101-bottle Coke and
Mentos spectacular, we spent a lot of time learning the science
behind why it works. We tried every soda we could find. We
tested every candy on store shelves. We scoured the Internet for
information on what made it all explode so gloriously.
Why? We weren’t that interested in learning about the science
for its own sake, we just wanted to know how to make our
geysers go higher! But a strange thing happened as we went
through this process. We discovered that understanding why
these things work is almost as much fun as doing them. So in this
book we try to explain the science behind all the cool stunts as
thoroughly as we can.
All our lives we’ve been the kind of people who collect books
like this one. We have a lot of them on our own shelves. And
almost all of them have either 1) a collection of really great tricks
with only a passing nod to the science of how they work, or 2)
really thorough scientific explanations for a bunch of rather ho-
hum experiments. We wanted a book that included the best of
both. So that’s what we have tried to write: a book that combines
the fun of creating truly cool stunts with the fun of understanding
what makes them tick. After all, knowing the science is the best
way for you to find ways to take these experiments further,
making them bigger, better, even cooler still. It’s how you make
your geysers go higher.
So roll up your sleeves and get ready to make your own
hovercraft. Set off a Coke and Mentos dragster. Make
breathtaking steel wool fireworks. Turn soap into a growing mass
of lava. And then use the science to figure out your own book’s
worth of variations. We can’t wait to read it.
BUT WAIT—THERE’S MORE!
You can visit our website, EepyBird.com to find additional
resources, share your own ideas, watch videos of our
experiments, and find even more things that you can try at home.
There, you’ll find things like our videos of a quarter million sticky
notes turned into waterfalls and a Coke-and-Mentos-powered