Apr 1, 2008

Wind Power

Posted in Science at 10:45 am by David Bradley -- 3 Comments; add yours

 

Wind Power

This experiment is closely related to the potato-powered mp3 player but not the lemon battery, so if you try this at home…well…

Anyway, the set up involves a lighted candle, a couple of screws, a glass jar and lid, various crocodiles clips and wires, and a small motor with a fan. Put them altogether, break wind into the jar, and power up the electric motor. It’s a slow burner …

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Mar 10, 2008

Lemon Battery

Posted in Science at 1:00 pm by David Bradley -- 8 Comments; add yours

 

Lemon BatteryThe lemon battery, it’s a perennial kids science favourite and perfect for a rainy Saturday morning (if it’s not raining why aren’t you kids outside playing instead of surfing the Pipes on the InterWebs, huh?) Anyway, with a single lemon, a few bits of wire, a copper penny, and a zinc-galvanized nail you can generate electricity (just over one volt).

However, one lemon is not enough to light an LED …

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Jan 8, 2008

Plasticine, Salt, and Melting Snow

Posted in Chemistry at 1:00 pm by David Bradley -- 7 Comments; add yours

 

Salt water ice freezing

Why do they grit the roads with rock salt in winter? What does the salt do to the water to reduce ice on the roads? Is this somehow related to how salt affects the boiling point of water? Keywords to search for: colligative properties, boiling, freezing, ions, solutions, solvent, Raoult’s law

Meanwhile, I’ll let Plasticine models from Ithaca and cheesy music explain:…

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