Science Projects And Inventions

YOU NEED:

• A cardboard tube
• A rubber band
• A piece of tissue paper
• Grains of uncooked rice

  This is one riddle you need to take a look at, The question is why doesn't the tissue paper break even you press down on it? Take the square of tissue paper and attach it to one end of a cardboard tube using a rubber band. Now hold the tube vertically, so that the mouth of the tube is towards the top. Now fill the tube with uncooked rice. You would think that by pressing down as hard as you can with your index finger on top of the rice, you will be successful in breaking the tissue paper at the bottom. The fact is you can't. HOW DOES IT WORK?       Rice grains are hard and when bunched together to slip around each other. Now when more...

YOU NEED:

• Two books of similar size and number of pages
• A table

Are you aware that books can be turned into very strong magnets. Perform this experiment. The books can be either hard covers or paperbacks. Take the two books and place them on a table with their front edges touching each other. Think of the books as if they are two halves of a deck of cards that has to be shuffled together. Let your thumb to run along the pages slowly, allowing them to interlace thoroughly. Once you have shuffled the pages, bring the books as close to each other as possible. Dare somebody to hold the spines of the books and pull them apart. He will fail to do it.    HOW DOES IT WORK? Some friction is produced between any two pages if they are in opposite books. The effect more...

YOU NEED:

• A match box
• A coin
• A pencil or a pen

  Position an empty match box vertically and push in a coin between its cover and box which holds the match sticks as in the illustration. Catch the box in you left hand. With a pencil or the pen, hit lightly on the top end of the box. The pencil must simultaneously tap the two corners indicated by arrows. The coin will rise slowly through the box until emerges at the top of the box even as you continue hitting the box.

YOU NEED

• A ruler

  It is well known fact that if you rest a ruler one on each end of your extended forefingers, and if you move them towards each other they will perforce meet at the centre of the ruler. The explanation is simple. Should one finger travel ahead of the other, the weight on that particular finger increases. Therefore, it raises the friction between the ruler and the finger. This in turn lowers the friction on the other finger allowing it to travel ahead. Now the question is: In a situation where both fingers are at the centre of the ruler, what is likely to happen should you move them back to the ends of the ruler. Trying guessing the answer before you  try the experiment. You are likely to be surprised.  HOW DOES IT WORK?  When one finger begins to move, its friction more...

YOU NEED:

• Two pencils
• A file and a pin
• A rectangular piece of cardboard

   Cut notches along the edge of a pencil. Stick a pin through the centre of the cardboard and attach it to the pencil's  eraser as in the top illustration. The hole in the "propeller"' must be a bit larger than the pin, in order to cut down on friction. In your left hand, hold the end of the pencil. With your right hand, rub the second pencil back and forth across the notches as in the second illustration. If the tip of your first finger slides along the right side of the notches, the cardboard "propeller" will rotate rapidly  towards the left. If the pencil being rubbed is moved a trifle forward so that the tip of your thumb now slides along the left side of the notches, the "propeller" will stop and start turning towards the right! The more...

YOU NEED:

• A matchbox
• A paper match
• A cylindrical cork

 Three impossible feats can be pulled off if you can be a little sneaky. It is fun and a great source of entertainment for your friends. Consider these three feats: Drop a matchbox from a height of six inches (15 centimeters) over a table top so that it lands on its end and remains upright. 2.   Drop a paper match so that it lands and stays on its edge. 3.    Drop a cylindrical cork so that lands on one end. The way to go about it: For1: Push the matchbox drawer about an inch upward holding the box vertically. You can conceal the protruding top with your hand. When you drop it over the table top, the match box will not bounce.   HOW DOES IT WORK?   For 1:     Once the matchbox hits the table more...

YOU NEED:

• A pencil
• A square of paper 6” x 6”
• A tape & rubber band
• A ball point pen with cap (as the illustration)

  A pen can be made to jump back into its cap as though pulled by a invisible hand, a magnet or a rubber band. Take the pencil and roll a square of paper around it like a tube about six inches (15cm) long. Tape it. Now tape the end of a rubber band to one end of the empty tube, as shown in the illustration and then push the rubber band into a tube. Procure a ballpoint pen with a cap shaped as in the illustration. Point first Insert the pen into the tube. Go through the motion of trying to hook its pointed end on the rubber band. Take  the pen some way out of the tube. It zooms back into the tube as if jerked by more...

YOU NEED:

• Two dice
• A glass

  This is  one experiment that you can baffle your friends with. Take the two dice and hold it against the side of the glass as in the illustration. The tricky part is to throw the dice into the air, one at a time and ensure that it drops in to the glass. It is easy to toss and drop the first dice in the glass. But if the same thing is  tried with the second dice, the first one tends to fly out of the glass. Allow your friends to try and do it. They won't be able to do it either. Here is how you can catch both the dice in the glass.   HOW DOES IT WORK? The secret is not to toss the second dice. The idea is to let the dice drop and then lower the glass fast more...

YOU NEED :

• A sheet of newspaper

Hold a sheet of newspaper in your left hand and let the sheet hang down as shown in the illustration. Now can you poke your index finger through the paper? While it seems unlikely, it can be done. Jab your finger as rapidly as you can at the centre of the paper. You need to be fast and then only will your finger go through the sheet    HOW DOES IT WORK?  When you jab your finger into the newspaper the air pressure behind the newspaper maintains a rigidity in the paper which is also reinforced by the newspapers inertia, this is what causes it to tear.  

YOU NEED:

• Two kitchen towel rolls
• A large cylindrical can 

Gingerly place one toilet paper roll on top of the other as shown in the top illustration. Rotate the top roll with your fingers along the table top.  As you would expect, the bottom roll rotates in the opposite direction and the two rolls travel together merrily. This  time around change the top roll with a cylindrical can as in the illustration. Should you rotate the can, do you think the cardboard tube will move smoothly with the can or will it travel faster or slower than the can? The surprising thing is that the two companions travel as  if they were sized buddies.   HOW DOES IT WORK? Simply the point of contact between the can and the tube travel on the same speed and cover the same distance. This has nothing to do with the sizes more...