Mechanics Archives - ResearchParent.com

Super Easy Bottle Rocket

Michelle — Wed, 29 May 2019 06:00:49 +0000

This has to be one of the most fun science activities I’ve done with my kids in a long time. It is super simple, inexpensive, and quick. It took us a few tries experimenting with how to add the baking soda to the bottle, but I think we got it down. We were able to make this super easy bottle rocket launch higher than our 2 story house four times in a row.

This experiment was inspired by our astronomy curriculum from Pandia Press (NOT an affiliate link, but a great curriculum). The primary change that we made between the instructions in that curriculum and our final version was to use a Kleenex instead of a paper towel. Also, as we were inserting the baking soda-filled tissue into the bottle, we ripped off the end of the tissue as described below to cause the mixing to occur more quickly.

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $3 in used supplies

Materials:

2 liter bottle
baking soda
vinegar
#4 rubber stopper
measuring cup
tablespoon
3 pencils
packing or duct tape
Kleenex or other tissue
funnel (not pictured)

Instructions:

Place rubber stopper into empty 2-liter bottle.
Put a piece of packing or duct tape near end of unsharpened pencil opposite eraser.
Stand 2-liter bottle on rubber stopper and tape pencil to bottle so that it touches the ground.
Repeat previous steps by taping a second pencil to 2-liter bottle.
Repeat previous steps again to tape a third pencil to bottle. Adjust pencils if necessary to make sure all 3 erasers are touching the ground and bottle is more or less vertical.
Measure 2 cups of vinegar.
Use a funnel to pour 2 cups of vinegar into bottle.
Use a measuring spoon to place 2 tablespoons of baking soda onto a facial tissue.
Fold tissue in half to get baking soda to gather along the center crease.
Fold bottom of tissue paper up as shown to hold in baking soda.
Fold side of tissue over as shown.
Roll up the tissue as shown into a tube that will fit into the opening of the 2-liter bottle.
Start inserting the baking soda packet into the opening of the 2-liter bottle.
Continue pushing tissue packet into bottle being careful not to let it fall in.
When packet is almost completely into the bottle and the remaining part outside the bottle contains no baking soda, use the stopper to hold the packet in place. Rip off the remaining tissue that does not contain baking soda and let the packet fall into the bottle.
Give the bottle a quick shake and turn it over so that stopper is at the ground.
Wait patiently. This never took more than 60 seconds for us.
Watch the rocket launch!

Have fun being a rocket scientist!

Homemade Propeller Car

Michelle — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 13:00:43 +0000

My kids love when we make little homemade “robots” that move and wiggle around. I’ve been wanting to make something more car or rover-like with wheels for awhile, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to connect the motor to the wheels. This little propeller car kind of feels like cheating, since the spinning of the motor is not directly connected to the spinning wheels, but it still works. Most important, my kids thought it was cool.

This little car makes a great first electronics project for kids since they get to put together a simple circuit. Fortunately, it’s not very expensive, since we mostly used free, recycled parts like our deli meat container and bottle caps. Next I want to try to make something powered by solar panels from the 99 cent store instead of batteries. (Sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date.)

You can watch a video of our car in action below. Note that the way I hooked up the circuit, the fan pulled the car instead of pushed it. To get the car to move the opposite direction, you would just need to switch the leads on the motor. (Or you could make the car even more awesome by using a DPDT (double pole double throw) switch instead of the simple ON/OFF switch that we used. That would allow you to toggle the direction the car moved depending on which way you flipped the switch.)

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School (younger kids will need adult supervision and assistance since this project uses hot glue)Time Required: ~30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Around $10 in used supplies (The propeller is the most expensive component. I bought 4 of the one listed below for $16 total though the price fluctuates. It was $3.10 per propeller plus around $3 shipping and handling for all 4, so there is definitely a benefit to buying in bulk. A different, less expensive propeller could be used as long as it has a 2 mm shaft hole diameter.)

Materials:

Lightweight car body (we used a deli meat container, but you could also use a block of foam)
4 bottle lids for wheels
2 straws
2 skewers
1 popsicle stick (for mounting motor, not needed if you used a block of foam or something flat)
propeller
2 AAA battery holder
2 AAA batteries
1.5-3 V DC Motor
switch

(If the one I used is out of stock, these should work as well.)

Short piece of wire (I used 22 gauge, but it’s not really important)

Supplies & Tools:

Scissors
Wire cutters
Wire strippers
Needle nose pliers
Hot glue gun

Instructions:

First, cut the two straws so that you can attach the wheels to the bottom of the container. The length should be a little bit more than the length of the bottom of the container plus the width of the 2 wheels as shown. If you cut the straws too short, then the wheels might hit the container, which is not a major problem.

Hot glue the straws onto the bottom of the container.

Cut the skewers so that that they are slightly longer than the straws.

Hot glue a “wheel” onto one end of each skewer.

Thread the wheel plus skewer through the straws.

Hot glue the other wheel onto each skewer.

If needed, glue a popsicle stick or something flat onto the lid of the container to create a flat surface on which to mount the motor.

Next attach a lead from the battery pack to the switch. Ideally, the lead would be soldered to make a more permanent connection, but since I don’t want my kids around soldering irons at the moment, we just used needle-nosed pliers to wrap the wire around the post on the switch.

Attach the other lead from the battery pack to the motor.

Next, you need to make a little jumper wire to connect the switch to the motor and complete the circuit. Cut a piece of wire from your spool and strip off the ends using the wire strippers as shown. Depending on what type of wire strippers you have, you might need to adjust the screw on your wire strippers so that when they are closed, the hole is about the size of the internal wire.

Connect the short wire to the motor and switch making a triangle with your 3 components (battery, switch, motor).

Next push the propeller onto the motor shaft. Mine press fit snugly together, but if not, you can add a little hot glue. Just make sure not to get glue near where the shaft connect to the motor.
Glue the motor onto the top of the car, making sure not to cover any vents on the motor. You can also glue the switch and battery pack down, but it’s not really necessary.

Now all you have to do is insert batteries if you haven’t already and flip the switch to start the car. Note that if you used a toggle switch, you’ll be able to get the car to move forwards and backwards. If you didn’t use a toggle switch, which direction the car moves will depend on what direction the motor is spinning. My car moves toward the propeller. If I wanted it to move in the other direction instead, I would just need to switch the battery pack leads. However, I’m lazy and my kids didn’t seem to mind, so we left it as is.

ENJOY!

Click here for more Electrical Engineering activities for kids.

Anti-Gravity Ping-Pong Ball

Michelle — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 14:00:13 +0000

I’m so honored to have my third guest post on 123Homeschool4Me. While this activity does not ACTUALLY defy the laws of gravity, this “anti-gravity” Ping-Pong ball experiment is SUPER easy and impressive. Even my husband and I were surprised by the result at first and we have PhDs in engineering. Science can be so counter-intuitive!

This experiment is really 3 experiments in one and only requires 5 items (a Ping-Pong ball, hair dryer, funnel, Duct tape, and toilet paper roll). With these supplies you can demonstrate the amazing Bernoulli’s principle and show how air flow is related to air pressure.

Head on over to 123Homeschool4Me to check out this Anti-Gravity Ping-Pong Ball Experiment.

Prepare to be amazed!

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Super Easy Bottle Rocket

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