Store up an electric charge, then make sparks. Tired of electrostatic experiments that just won’t work? This experiment will produce a spark that you can feel, see, and hear. Rub a foam plate with ...

Make a simple mini-motor. A coil of wire becomes an electromagnet when current passes through it. The electromagnet interacts with a permanent magnet, causing the coil to spin. Voilà! You’ve created ...

A colored object may look different against different-colored backgrounds. In this investigation, you'll discover how colors seem to change when you place them against different-colored backgrounds.

Make a truth teller for light. Turn an old CD into a spectroscope to analyze light—you may be surprised by what you see. Try pointing your CD spectroscope at the fluorescent light in your room, sunlit ...

Create your own personal sound system with a coat hanger and string. Create your own personal sound system with a coat hanger and a string, producing musical sounds that only you can hear Cut two ...

You’ve probably seen an ice skater spinning on the tip of one skate suddenly start to spin dramatically faster. A diver or gymnast may also suddenly flip or twist much faster. This speeded-up rotation ...

Suspend an object in the air by blowing down on it. The Bernoulli principle explains how atomizers work and why windows are sometimes sucked out of their frames as two trains rush past each other.

When we think about objects that respond to magnets, fruit usually doesn't come to mind. Watch a rare-earth magnet repel a grape and discover different kinds of magnetism. A note on magnets: Only ...

The pneumatic tire and the chain drive, followed by the development of gears, revolutionized bicycling in the later 1800s. In the last fifteen years, there has been a revolution of sorts in the ...

You need to enable JavaScript to run the "Ron H: Age on Other Worlds" app.

It might seem obvious to say that earthquakes do most of their damage by shaking the ground. But groundshaking is actually a complex phenomenon. Engineering the seismic safety of a structure involves ...

Ned Kahn is an environmental artist and sculptor whose work mimics the usually invisible forces of nature and makes it visible to audiences. His main interests include fluid dynamics, optics, ...