Building the Hover Craft
Today my 8 yr old found a science experiment he wanted to do. It was an easy one and we had all the neccesary materials. But as he read me the directions and what the experiment was supposed to "show", I knew it wasn't going to live up to his expectations.
The project was to build a hover craft using a 12" diameter circle of cardboard, a soda bottle cap, and a balloon. You poke a hole through the center of the bottle cap, poke another hole through the center of the carboard circle, and glue the bottle cap onto the cardboard so that the holes are aligned. After the glue dries you blow up the balloon and put it on the bottle cap. Then you are supposed to gently push the cardboard across the floor, where the force of the air will make the cardboard "hover" over the ground. Think a very low tech air hockey table.
Well it worked the way it was supposed to, which is not that great by an 8yr olds standard. He thought it would actually hover off the ground enough for us to see daylight underneath it. Of course I had explained to him before we did the experiment what it would probably be like, but he still had high expectations. Doesn't he just look thrilled in the photo?
Luckily most of the experiments he choses to do work out better for him than this one. It was still fun though.
Oh and it is never a good thing to hear your 3yr old in the other room, talking outloud to himself, say, "This is why little kids are not allowed to use glue."
The project was to build a hover craft using a 12" diameter circle of cardboard, a soda bottle cap, and a balloon. You poke a hole through the center of the bottle cap, poke another hole through the center of the carboard circle, and glue the bottle cap onto the cardboard so that the holes are aligned. After the glue dries you blow up the balloon and put it on the bottle cap. Then you are supposed to gently push the cardboard across the floor, where the force of the air will make the cardboard "hover" over the ground. Think a very low tech air hockey table.
Well it worked the way it was supposed to, which is not that great by an 8yr olds standard. He thought it would actually hover off the ground enough for us to see daylight underneath it. Of course I had explained to him before we did the experiment what it would probably be like, but he still had high expectations. Doesn't he just look thrilled in the photo?
Luckily most of the experiments he choses to do work out better for him than this one. It was still fun though.
Oh and it is never a good thing to hear your 3yr old in the other room, talking outloud to himself, say, "This is why little kids are not allowed to use glue."
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