ExploratoRio Science Snackbook

by Dean Baird

The items listed below were inspired by The Exploratorium Science Snackbook. Many of these "Rio Recipes" involve equipment I happen to have access to. Some of that equipment is common in a high school physics classroom. I use them in conjunction with recipes from the original Snackbook and the more recent Square Wheels to mount an annual exhibition called "ExploratoRio" at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California.

I've posted the Recipes as PDFs and in their native Canvas format (CVX). Try the PDF. The CVX will be handy for anyone eager to edit the documents, assuming they also use Mac OS X and ACD's Canvas X.

Notes to the Future are annotations and comments from students who built and showed the respective exhibit during ExploratoRio. Good advice from experienced exhibitors!

NOTE: If a link doesn't work, the file is not yet available. This pertains to the Notes to the Future until my students generate those documents.

Title and Description	Resources
Antigravity Bowling Use a box to cover a high-gauss "radar magnet." Paperclips set on the outer surface of the box will stand in alignment with the magnetic field lines. Very engaging!	Recipe: PDF Recipe: Canvas Notes to the Future - Notes 2 Photo - Video
Dancing Drops Based on The Exploratorium's Strobe Fountain. Use a variable strobe light to "stop" a stream of water droplets. Making the dripper is the hard part. Watch the video of Nate True's Time Fountain to see the magic of an extremely well-engineered version of this concept. High school students will not be constructing this version. But it might serve well as inspiration!	Recipe: PDF Recipe: Canvas Notes to the Future - Notes 2 "Time Fountain" (Amazing!)
Fireclap Clap the giant (2-inch diameter) ball bearings together with a piece of paper between them. The energy of the collision will burn a hole in the paper; you can smell the smoke! Experiment with other materials between the clappers.	Recipe: PDF Recipe: Canvas Notes to the Future - Notes 2 Photo
Purple Gaze A "black light" is used to illuminate fluorescent inks and other objects. Switch between incandescent and fluorescent illumination to reveal significant differences. See transparent sunscreen gel become opaque under UV. See the fluorescent dyes ("whiteners") added to laundry detergent. Or just "write with light" using fluorescent highlighters on dark post-its.	Recipe: PDF Recipe: Canvas Notes to the Future - Notes 2 Photo
Show Stopper Deploy a strobe light and a rotator (or electric drill) to stop motion and show some tricky animation illusions. All items are available commercially. And the show never fails to thrill exhibit attendees.	Recipe: PDF Recipe: Canvas Notes to the Future - Notes 2 Photo
Voice Viewer If you have an oscilloscope, break it out and hook up a mic. For the rest of us, computers to the rescue! The point here is to speak into the microphone and see the oscilloscope trace. I use Pasco's Waveport software (the Sound Capture feature). For the benefit of shy attendees, have some sound sources handy. Carl Sagan never forgot his amazement at "seeing sound."	Recipe: PDF Recipe: Canvas Notes to the Future: PDF Photos
Vortex Bowling Knock down soda-pop cans from afar using a toriodal vortex of air. And an amusing use of the AirZooka!	Recipe: PDF Recipe: Canvas Notes to the Future - Notes 2 Photo
Walk This Way Connect a motion sensor to a computer and project the video on a screen. Run an application such as Pasco's EZ-screen with its "Match Graph" feature. Attendees must walk to match the motion graph shown. Very kinesthetic with instant feedback. Very popular among those with a bit of competitive spirit. "I bet you can't beat my score!"	Recipe: PDF Recipe: Canvas Notes to the Future: PDF Photo

Dean's Phyz Website	ExploratoRio Rescources	The Exploratorium Science Snackbook Online
The Blog of Phyz	The Exploratorium Science Museum	Information on Square Wheels (new exhibit recipes)

April 2009