Kinetic Contraptions: Build a Hovercraft, Airboat, and More with a Hobby Motor - Softcover

Gabrielson, Curt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1556529570 ISBN 13: 9781556529573

Publisher: Chicago Review Press, 2010

Synopsis

Hobby motors—every workbench warrior has a few that have been pulled out of broken toys or rescued from old electronics kits. They’re cheap, available, and with Kinetic Contraptions, essential to build some ingenious moving creations. The two dozen contraptions found in this handy resource are assembled primarily from low-cost or recycled materials, batteries, and a single motor.  You’ll learn how to build vehicles that move across the land, over the sea, and through the air. Construct a hovercraft out of a Styrofoam plate, two corks, and binder clips. Build a double paddle-wheeler out of paint stirrers, plastic bottles, and disposable knives. Kinetic Contraptions even has “bizarro” devices, such as a waterless snow globe, a tornado in a bottle, and a mechanical bubble maker—no blowing required!  Each project is clearly explained through materials and tools lists, stepby- step instructions with photographs, and scientific background on the concepts being explored. Budding engineers will get experience working with tools, testing simple circuits, modifying and improving their designs, and building unique contraptions of their own with the skills they’ve developed.

About this title

About the Author:

Curt Gabrielson is the director of the Watsonville Environmental Science Workshop and author of Stomp Rockets, Catapults, and Kaleidoscopes.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up—Gear heads, physics buffs, and model builders are the potential audience for this book that's reminiscent of Popular Science magazine, but with small, poor-quality black-and-white photos depicting the steps to create various vehicles. Projects, including the creation of land, air, water, spinning, and "bizarro" machines, follow detailed opening chapters focusing on safety, materials, and basic circuitry. They also describe how to make switches, and how to wire batteries in serial and parallel configurations to construct a "roach" or a motor with a battery pack and a switch that will be used in projects throughout the book. The models are crafted out of materials such as Styrofoam, wood, film canister lids, wires, and brass fasteners, and, of course, magnets, batteries, tape, and hot glue. Boxed insets in each chapter explain the science behind the machines; trouble-shooting suggestions anticipate problems and suggest solutions. The author peppers the dense text with witty comments and asides, but it's clear this is a book for dedicated enthusiasts. The help of a knowledgeable adult will be necessary for most projects. An appendix of supply sources completes the package.—Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library
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About this edition

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1556529570
• ISBN 13: 9781556529573
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192