Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly, and 27 Other Saturday Science Projects

by Neil A. Downie

Overview

How do you crack nuts with a piece of string? Reverse gravity? Cobble together a clock out of a coffee cup, a soda bottle, and some water? Use a vacuum cleaner and nineteenth-century railroad technology to fashion a makeshift bazooka that can launch paper projectiles? Create a rainbow in a block of Jello? This is a one-volume romp through a whole array of counterintuitive science experiments that require little more than common household items and a sense of curiosity. Prepare to have your surprise sensors on overload as Neil Downie stretches math, physics, and chemistry to do what they have never done before.


This book describes twenty-nine unusual but practical experiments, detailing how they are done and the math and physics behind them. It will delight both casual and inveterate tinkerers. Of varying levels of complexity, the experiments are grouped in sections covering a wide field of physics and the borders of chemistry, ranging from dynamic mechanics (''Kinetic Curiosities'') to electricity (''Antediluvian Electronics'') and combustion (''Infernal Inventions''). The chapters are titillatingly titled, from ''Twisted Sinews'' and ''Mole Radio'' to ''A Symphony of Siphons'' and ''Tornado Transistor.'' More-detailed explanations, along with simple mathematical models using high-school level math, are given in boxes accompanying each experiment.


Armchair scientists will welcome this edifying and entertaining alternative to idleness, not least for the buoyant prose, enriched by historical and literary anecdotes introducing each topic. With this book in hand, tinkerers, whether dabblers in science or devotees, students or teachers, need never again wonder how to impress friends, the judges at the science fair, and, not least, themselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691188577
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	45 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Neil A. Downie has worked on a variety of engineering projects for the British Ministry of Defence and private industries in the UK. He is currently a scientist with Air Products and Chemicals at their labs in Blasingstoke near London.

Table of Contents

Translator's Introduction:The Complete Holist xiCHAPTER 1 The Phenomena of Mind 1
CHAPTER 2 Two Sciences? 30
CHAPTER 3 The Anthropological Investigation of the Mind 47
CHAPTER 4 The New Mental Philosophy 66
CHAPTER 5 The Doctrines of Psychical Materialism 84
CHAPTER 6 The Psychology of Computers 108
CHAPTER 7 The Inside and the Outside 135
CHAPTER 8 Mechanical Mind 164
CHAPTER 9 Cerebroscopic Exercises 189
CHAPTER 10 The Metaphysics of Mental States 200
CHAPTER 11 The Detachment of the Mind 212
CHAPTER 12 The Historical Conditions of Meaning 224
Notes 249
Works Cited 273
Index 279

What People are Saying About This

Florin Diacu

The most important aspect of this book is that it allows the reader to come up with non-intuitive practical results. Why make a toy that does something predictable? Why invest time in something that everybody else expects? But if you learn how to do something that will impress your friends, then you will do it.
— Florin Diacu, University of Victoria

Nahin

Downie writes well—with clear, crisp prose, and with a sense of humor I find delightful.
— Paul J. Nahin, University of New Hampshire

From the Publisher

"Definitely a significant contribution to the field. There are few books that contain both interesting experiments and their physical explanations—most leave them somewhat mysterious, with no logical solutions. Being among those special few, this book will be of interest to general readers with inquiring minds."—Ronald D. Edge, University of South Carolina

"Downie writes well—with clear, crisp prose, and with a sense of humor I find delightful."—Paul J. Nahin, University of New Hampshire

"The most important aspect of this book is that it allows the reader to come up with non-intuitive practical results. Why make a toy that does something predictable? Why invest time in something that everybody else expects? But if you learn how to do something that will impress your friends, then you will do it."—Florin Diacu, University of Victoria

Edge

Definitely a significant contribution to the field. There are few books that contain both interesting experiments and their physical explanations—most leave them somewhat mysterious, with no logical solutions. Being among those special few, this book will be of interest to general readers with inquiring minds.
— Ronald D. Edge, University of South Carolina

Editorial Reviews

If building a duohelicon or vibrocraft is your idea of something that can be accomplished in a Saturday, this is a grand title to introduce to a younger scientist who wants to follow in your footsteps.
— National Post

Tracy Picha

"A fascinating new book. . . . The style is eclectic and interesting. . . . It brings together practical, accessible physics with a gentle amount of theory in an entertaining and educational manner. There is much here that will both stimulate a curiosity about physics and help with good—if not inspirational—physics teaching."

Physics World

"A fertile and funny idea-book for the Erector set crowd."

Booklist

"This is great interactive stuff, amusingly written by a British scientist who honed his skills conducting a Saturday activity center for kids. . . . As well as the fun there is science too, equations and all."—-Douglas Palmer, New Scientist

From the Publisher

"A fertile and funny idea-book for the Erector set crowd."

Booklist

This is great interactive stuff, amusingly written by a British scientist who honed his skills conducting a Saturday activity center for kids. . . . As well as the fun there is science too, equations and all.

New Scientist - Douglas Palmer

This is great interactive stuff, amusingly written by a British scientist who honed his skills conducting a Saturday activity center for kids. . . . As well as the fun there is science too, equations and all.
— Douglas Palmer

New Scientist