penny
Watery Lenses
Tweet How to Make a Water Drop Magnifier You Will Need Styrofoam or polystyrene plate Cling Film Tape Scissors Eye dropper (optional) Bowl or container Small objects: blades of grass, flowers, coins, stamps, beetle, ant, fly etc Water Instructions Cut a hole out of the middle of the plate – about the size of [...]
Magic Jumping Coin
Tweet This is a ‘magic’ Heat-Science Experiment! What happens to air when you heat it up? You will need: Bowl of cold water Coin (bigger than the bottle opening) Glass Coke Bottle (with a small opening/mouth) Instructions 1. Fill a bowl with some cold water. 2. Place the bottle neck and coin in the [...]
The “Magic” Coin
Tweet Refraction and the Reappearing Coin Here’s a “magic trick” that goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks. The Greeks were big fans of light. They especially liked mirrors. Archimedes, a famous Greek mathematician, may even have used light and mirrors to win a battle! Roman ships attacked his city of Syracuse, Greece [...]
Catch The Penny
Tweet You Will Need Five pennies Small paper cup or rinsed-out yogurt pot A table where you and a friend can sit What To Do…. Put a cup in front of your partner. It should be about 2 feet away from them. Ask your partner to close one eye. Hold one of the pennies [...]
Forceful Coins
Tweet What you’ll need: 3 similar coins Instructions Lay the 3 coins on a table making sure that they are in a straight line. Only 2 of the coins should be touching, with a little gap between the second and third coin. Press down hard on the middle coin with your finger and then with [...]
The Impossible Bridge
Tweet What you’ll need: 3 plastic cups/glasses (make sure these are a heavy plastic for the best result!) A sheet of paper (I usually use paper from the printer) Instructions Place 2 of the cups about 6 inches (15cm) apart and lay the sheet of paper across them to form a flat bridge. Put [...]
Penny’s High Dive
Tweet You will need a penny; a piece of card or stiff paper; a film canister, baby food jar or other similar size container with a mouth slightly larger than a penny; pencil or pen; scissors. Cut the card or paper into a long strip about .75 inches (2 cm) wide and form it into [...]