Cosmic Science: Over 40 Gravity-Defying, Earth-Orbiting, Space-Cruising Activities for Kids

by Jim Wiese

Overview

Experience the force of liftoff
* Create your own constellations
* Write a postcard from another planet
* Make a club-soda comet, and more!

From rocketing out of Earth's gravity and orbiting our planet toprobing other planets and walking on the Moon, Cosmic Science makesexploring space a blast! More than 40 easy, safe—andfun—activities show how rockets work, why the shape of the Moonseems to change, just how much power the Sun has, what it's like tolive and work in space, and much more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780471158523
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	04/24/1997
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.97(w) x 9.98(h) x 0.33(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

JIM WIESE (British Columbia, Canada) is a science teacher and an educational adviser who has won Teacher of the Year awards in both the United States and Canada. He is the author of the popular kids' science-activity books Roller Coaster Science, Rocket Science, Detective Science, and Spy Science, all published by Wiley.

Table of Contents

Before You Go: Understanding Our Solar System.

Blast Off!: Rocketing Out of Earth's Gravity.

Up There!: Orbiting Earth.

"Look, Ma, I'm Floating": Living and Working in Space.

Places We've Gone: Walking on the Moon.

Places We'd Like to Go: Probing the Planets.

Even Farther: Seeing the Stars and More.

Glossary.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3-5These demonstrations and activities won't propel young scientists off the planet, but they do, simply and often artfully, explore our universe's structure and underlying physical principles, as well as some of the challenges facing space travelers. Using such materials as toothpicks, rubber bands, and drinking straws, Wiese puts gravity, Newton's first law (inertia), the gyroscopic effect, the Doppler effect, and other phenomena through their paces. He explores the effects of zero-g on astronauts' bones and eating habits and provides directions for making a balloon rocket, a cardboard robot arm, a vinegar-and-baking-soda launcher, and even a very small comet, all with helpful line drawings and, where appropriate, boldface cautionary advice. Some projects, such as one that involves growing seedlings on a revolving turntable for three weeks, do veer toward the impractical, or, like "Postcards from Another Planet," are more spin than substance, but they are balanced by a fair number of winners: unroll an entire roll of toilet tissue, call each square a tenth of an astronomical unit, place markers where each planet would go, and voil "Toilet Paper Planets." A low-tech companion to books like David McKay's Space Science Projects for Young Scientists (Watts, 1986).John Peters, New York Public Library

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