Simple Science Experiments presentation from the USA Science and Engineering Festival.

1. Simple Science Experiments
Try This at Home
Lance Rougeux

2. Vortex
Generator

3. What do you see inside?

4. What shape does the air
make when it comes out of
the bucket?

5. Air Cannon Vortex Generator

6. pumpkin
lever

10. Sandwich bag
dartboards

11. Sandwich bag dart boards
• Materials
– Pint or quart-size
plastic bags
– Several sharpened
pencils
– Water
– Sink, pan or bucket

12. What is happening?
• Most plastics are made
of very long molecules
called polymers.
• Sandwich bags are
made of polyethylene
which consists of many
polymers forming a
web of molecules.
• The molecular web,
with all its connections,
resists being torn.

13. salt
engineering

14. Salt engineering
• Materials
– Ruler
– Cardboard tube
– Tissue paper or
wax paper
– Rubber bands or
masking tape
– Table salt
– Broomstick

15. What is happening?
• The tiny salt crystals
transfer most of the force
we apply toward the walls
of the cardboard cylinder
instead of straight down.
• Trusses and beams
made for bridges and tall
building use similar
designs to spread or
change the direction of
forces and loads.

16. Take a
stab at it

17. Take a stab at it!
• Materials
– Potato
– Straw

18. What is happening?
• The air trapped inside the
straw gives the straw
enough strength to
penetrate the skin of the
potato.
• As the straw enters the
potato, the potato plug
compresses the air inside
the straw, increasing the
air pressure, and
strengthening the straw.

19. Alka seltzer
rockets

20. Alka Seltzer Rockets
• Materials
– Film canister with a
snap-on lid
– Water
– Alka-Seltzer tablet

21. What is happening?
• A chemical reaction
occurs between the
water and the Alka-
Seltzer tablet creating
carbon dioxide
bubbles.
• The CO2 gas builds up
pressure inside the
film canister until the
force is so great that it
has to escape.

22. Non-newtonian
fluids

23. Non-Newtonian fluids

24. Non-Newtonian fluids
• Materials
– Corn starch
– Water
– Pan

25. Simple Science Experiments
Try This at Home
Lance Rougeux