How to Plan Your Own Event How to Plan Your Own

WIRED GeekDad is taking over Father’s Day on June 17, and it’s time for a celebration. Gather your family or invite your favorite geeky dads, moms, and event kids to a nerd extravaganza. All you need is a theme, the right food, and some engaging projects that everyone can work on together. Here’s how.

Choose a Theme Invite Your Guests Having a special theme can Since the day’s activities will be There are lots of options for Be sure your invitation clearly inspire you and help guide do-it-yourself, be sure to invite invitations. If you want to go states your theme and lets guests decisions about putting the party parents and kids who like getting the printed route, you can use know what to expect when they together. Pick something your their hands dirty. You don’t want the Zazzle website to design arrive. The basics: crew loves—and won’t get tired of anyone throwing a wrench in the your invites, keeping your theme ••Date, start and end times, seeing. The options are limitless: fun, sitting on the sideline while in mind. For the more digitally party location science, robots, space, DIY, even everybody else is busy building. inclined, there’s always Evite, ••Planned activities and a list Hollywood (science fiction, Also, make sure your guest list which lets you monitor RSVPs by of any tools or supplies they superheroes, zombies, fantasy, isn’t so large that the projects are iPhone or Android app. You might should bring vampires). Or mix and match difficult to manage and the cost of also check out alternatives like ••A note about National themes for a party that’s all yours. supplies becomes prohibitive. Of Punchbowl, Anyvite, Crusher, or GeekDad Day so they know (Zombie makers from space, course, you can always provide a PurpleTrail (which has digital and they’re getting in on an event anyone?) Remember: Your theme shopping list and tell them to bring print options) and see which one that stretches coast to coast should find its way into every part their own tools and materials! best meets your needs. of the event.

Decorate! Feed the People Set the Mood Etsy.com is a great place It’s not a party without party Every good party needs music, so crank up the volume on to get started with party food, and there’s no better way to your favorite streaming radio service to create a playlist that paraphernalia. Just type make your guests remember your fits your theme. Make it something you can set and forget— “party” into their search GeekDad Day than with geeky you don’t want to fiddle with the radio in the middle of the engine and you’ll be eats. Skip the sit-down meal and fun. In fact, we’ve already curated an hour of music for you. presented with unique go with snacky dishes that can Just hop over to Spotify and queue up the National GeekDad banners, flags, decorations, be eaten with your hands. Make Day Hiptrax Playlist. and trinkets. “Robot party” sure there are choices for kids, returns homemade robot- then throw in an adult optiona or shaped chocolates, banners, two. For some cool, nerd-themed decoration kits, invitations, food solutions, visit ThinkGeek. stickers, bottle labels, and The site has astronaut ice cream, Geek Out! a clip-art set. Want to amp bacon in a tube, Angry Birds pork Once the party’s in full swing and everybody is enjoying up the DIY factor and make rinds, Ninja cookie cutters, brain- their hafnium (Hf) element cupcakes, gather the troops decorations on your own? shaped jello molds (perfect for and get them busy making, building, and tinkering. We’ve Craft Magazine is the digital zombies), lightsaber ice pops, and put together a list of projects excerpted from the books of sister publication of Make a lot more. Also check out the the original GeekDad himself, Ken Denmead as well as 14 Magazine. Craft has a website science-inspired cookie ideas (like projects from the June issue guaranteed to make you the filled with ideas for do-it- a periodic table of cupcakes!) at coolest Dad on the planet. Bonus: Many of these projects yourself party crafts. Plus, Not So Humble Pie. will let you send your guests home with toys and crafts their designs trend toward the they’ve made themselves. nerdy side of life. The WIRED guide to being the coolest father* on the planet.

14 projects to jump-start a lifelong love of science, technology, and making your own fun.

Photograph by Dan Forbes * or Mother or uncle or grandparent by

Ken Denmead

cl train layout. ev cu an awesome HO- I played Dungeons &

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But at ti at l il s l the i cale ched als. l an g d e n’ ek t build a better future. build do and to your part geek values, about them have educate them, with fun you to inspire will that here thing some find you’ll expertise, technical dren’s age, your whatever level of your Whatever chil projects. family Busters awesome Adam dad Savage (of We’veKids. and asked also übergeek Geek into turn your to help offspring projects and tricks, of a tips, bunch pages we’ve on culled following the Scientists Mad for Book Aspiring alert!— including—plug of in books, of a a them series bunch We’ve families. their published with can do moms!) (and dads ects that haveproj blog up with coming been means building a better world. even if it means voiding warranties. It It means encouraging them to tinker, tion, which makes anything possible. cally and solve them with imagina them to approach problems techni it, you don’t own it!” It means getting echoing in their ears: “If you can’t open ing them with the maker call to arms the world to their will. It means rais tion, and trial and error, they can bend that with a little research, determina showing them how things work and an empowering worldview. It means and Maul. It means teaching them the difference between Darths Vader ing geeks goes beyond teaching them Jedi robe. (It’s very comfy!) But rais still recoil in horror when I wear my cool fiction. science I when was in young existed only which devices, for their IT manager now me let myplayAnd skills tech comics shops for the source material. the multiplex, just as I frequented the race to the latest superhero movies at pen-and-paper D&D campaigns. They game video of role-playing the last detail every for passion exploring My sons’ even that stream mythem. share kids main the into far enough seeped myhave casts. obsessions Indeed, out make: social Geeks are no longer For five weyears, at GeekDad the Yes, my kids actually think I’m a a few What decades difference . Well, about some things. They Skyrim fame) to share some of his some to share fame) mimics my own love for The Geek The Dad Myth . . And ------

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Opening spread: Prop Styling by Jesse Nemeth; (Trebuchet) Prop Building by John Duncan/FONCO Creative; Prop Styling by Shannon Amos; illustrations: joel kimmel Opening spread: Prop Styling by Jesse Nemeth; (Trebuchet) Prop Building by John Duncan/FONCO Creative; Prop Styling by Shannon Amos; illustrations: joel kimmel Build a Trebuchet Attach one end of the sling to a hook that it could slide off of. We made a of. We made off slide could it that a to hook sling the of end one Attach how? But of arc. top its the reached arm as the free to had come end other the while arm swing the to attached be to had sling the of end one that I figured projectile. the to hold a into cradle We of leather a cut piece on swung a pivot. nice bearings, ball with an hour. about Its weighted arm, in the structure main my son put together from my workshop), fiberboard son that we should just get and building, we’d figure it out together. and my son to do a little problem solving. I decided not to look it up. for I me told opportunity a my unique provided And that how a works. sling learned … Except I’dI outward. realized never something an and slings arm around school science proj science school Drawing ideas at the whiteboard, my son had the same hunch I did: did: I hunch same the had son my whiteboard, the at ideas Drawing Trupan inch-thick (and him gave teacher his drawings from Working P ect. It turned into It ect. turned h a case a of and case trial My My son had to build o a trebuchet for a a trebuchet error—and error. error—and t o graph by graph

David Clugston David -

weapon. Basically, a weight swings swings weight a Basically, projectile weapon. medieval simple tively rela a is trebuchet A dark. the in I like totally was it But wasn’t either. happened it how sure not I’m know, I know, I trebuchet. a built actually never I’d seem, may it as Amazing - ( Making Fun With Fun Making N the projectile. We set it up, lifted the weight, and … and SUCCESS! weight, the We it up, set lifted projectile. the launching arc, the of peak the at off slip will loop the and it on sling the of end looped the Hang arm. swing of the end the from out jutting stick little a a at but just hook all, wasn’t hook proper moment—the the same exactly to us occurred at solution The right early. But somewhere. we were getting … and weight, the lifted sling, the we loaded to Again 45. 90 degrees from hook the of angle the gentled we with suggestion, at my So son’s and force. of a lot awesome—loud, was It dent. little a Made table. the onto down … and it, released arm, swing of the end weighted the lifted sling, the into bearing ball a We 1-inch put test-fire: to to and we the arm, a Time tied end in to loop the the hook. other go around it hook and wooden to attached small the arm. One end of the got sling tied Adam Adam Savage D etw ad and h and ad Again, failure. Instead of smacking the table, the sling released too too released sling the table, the smacking of Instead failure. Again, straight sucker that whipped neatly sling The failure. hilarious Total, o rk’s rk’s o Mythbusters st st of

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make a buckminster fuller blanket fort In 1975 Buckminster Make Fuller first defined the Twine taut term tensegrity, a port- loops. manteau of “tensional 1 2 integrity.” It refers to structural systems that derive their sta- bility from various ele- ments acting against Hang third each other with equal Broomsticks handle force, like the surface should not halfway up tension of a bubble. touch. structure, Tensegrity lies at the parallel heart of giant projects to floor. like the Georgia Dome. But you can apply it to build the ultimate blanket fort, supported by finely balanced brooms that never touch one another.

You’ll need: • 3 brooms with holes at the end of the handle Drape sheet (tip: Swiffer mops with and the heads removed play. work perfectly) • 1 ball of twine 3 4 • 1 queen-size bed- sheet

As told to Patrick Di Justo by the Buckminster Fuller Institute

Entrance Secure crossbeam to brooms.

A Secret Page for Parents: Just Crack the Code Visit wired.com/geekdad/????????. (The eight missing letters are somewhere in this package.)

It’s one of the great pleasures So let’s make this easy. If ervices

of parenthood: strapping your you have only one kid, go for a S How to kid to a bike and going for a ride. front-mounted seat. You don’t Park

There are lots of ways to do it. want a trailer, which puts your l a Bike Tons, in fact. Too many, actu- kid 3 to 4 feet behind you, leav- n ally. Rear-mounted seats, front- ing them bored; you’ll only know With mounted seats, trailers, cargo you’re engaged in a parent-child bikes, trailer bikes, duct tape— activity by the extra drag. Rear- cLeod; Natio

Your each with its own trade-offs and mounted seats are slightly bet- M advantages. It’s enough to send ter; the tyke sits right behind Garry Kids you back inside for the car keys. you, but it’s still tough to inter- robots: mitsu overstreet

130 WIRED JuN 2012 illustrations by Joel Kimmel *That’s right, no Phantom Menace.

1 2 3 4 5* Plan a Trip Family vacations can be great— as long as they don’t involve endless lines at a brain-dead amusement park. Good thing there are plenty of less crowded, more enriching alternatives. —Corrina Lawson

Hoover Dam, border of arizona and nevada The famous exterior is striking, but this dam’s insides are where the real magic happens. Check out the 30-foot-diameter pipes that carry 90,000 gallons of water a second

8 3 to the hydroelectric power plant, 6 8 3 6 then watch 17 generators turn all 8 3 6 that rushing water into electricity.

Thomas Edison National Historical Park, West When it comes time to show your kids the Orange, New Jersey Star Wars movies (start at 6 years old), Screw Menlo Park! Edison’s West Orange lab contains the stuff of watch you will face an existential conundrum: In legends, including a tour intimate what order should they be viewed? If you enough to put you within inches show them in the sequence they came out, of the great man’s chair. Don’t miss the Black Maria, a replica of the star they see the defeat of the Empire in Return first movie studio. of the Jedi … and then wade through all the prequel crap. Or should they absorb them Ford Rouge Factory, Dearborn, Michigan wthea rightr wasy in episode order, in which case they lose the US manufacturing may be strug- reveal that Darth Vader is Luke’s father? A gling, but the Ford assembly line still difficult problem, this is. How do you spot- pumps out 350,000 trucks a year. The factory tour will show kids what light the stuff that makes Star Wars great an industrial-size Erector set can do. while dodging narrative Sarlacc pits like Jar Jar Binks, the galaxy’s most alienating alien? One option would be to hunt down fan remixes like The Phantom Edit, which streamlines The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago The Phantom Menace, reducing Jar Jar to a puff of pixels, or The Editor Strikes Back, an Travel back to the golden age of 85-minute cut of all three prequels created by the actor Topher Grace. But let’s say you want archaeology (i.e., before countries to stick to the actual movies. We support the Machete Order, named for the blog that first in the Middle East clamped down on such plundering). Treasures include proposed it: A New Hope (IV), The Empire Strikes Back (V), Attack of the Clones (II), Revenge of a clay tablet from Mesopotamia and the Sith (III), Return of the Jedi (VI). Drop Phantom Menace (I) altogether: Every character in parchment from the Book of the it vanishes, dies (Darth Maul, we hardly knew either half of ye), or is transformed in Attack Dead. (Pro tip: Don’t read it out loud. There are mummies nearby.) of the Clones. The Vader reveal is preserved, his turn to the Dark Side becomes a flashback, and the series climax is still full of yub-nubby goodness. To ensure complete assimilation, Launch Control Center parallel-track genuinely good extended-universe matter like Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone at Delta-01, South Dakota Take an elevator 31 feet below the Wars cartoon. It’s how Obi-Wan would have wanted it. —Adam Rogers surface to an original launch control center where Air Force offi- cers worked 24-hour shifts, ready to launch 10 Minuteman missiles. This relic of the Cold War (below) is run by the National Park Service. (Don’t touch the red button.)

act. With a front-mounted seat— allows you to strap kids into an is both smooth and stable. Plus ervices

S like the WeeRide Kangaroo open box in front of the handle- you can upgrade—infant seats ($90)—the kid is almost sitting bars, but that will run you $3,000 when they’re small, footrests and Park

l on your lap, taking in the oncom- or more. Our recommendation: handlebars when they get older. a n ing world. You can tell jokes, sing an Xtracycle, the breed of elon- You can buy an entire bike for a songs, or kiss them on the head. gated cargo bike that lets you little over $1,000, or an $825 kit For two or more kids, things mount multiple seats on a long, to extend your current ride. In get tricky. You could add front- flat, stable platform in the rear. no time you’ll be flying down the cLeod; Natio

M and rear-mounted seats, but The downside: Your kids are once street amid shrieks of delight—at you risk toppling. You can get again stuck looking at your butt. least until your offspring ask you Garry robots: mitsu overstreet a high-end cargo bike, which But they’re close, and the ride to be quiet. —Robert Capps

JAN 2012 WIRED 2 the geekdad toolbox must-have hardware

1. Lego bricks Buy lots of bricks 2. LEDs and watch batteries 3. Hobby wheels Combine large- 4. 3-V motor and gears Add a at garage sales, toss them in a mesh Make anything light up with a bag of diameter hobby wheels with Legos motor to your Lego car and watch bag, and run them through the dish- cheap LEDs and some CR2032 3-V and LEDs and you’ve got a cool grav- it zoom. Swap the gears to teach washer. Use them to build model car lithium batteries. Just tape the leads ity racer or the base of a rolling robot. kids the relationship between bodies and robots. Secure master- of the LED to the battery (the short speed and torque. pieces with superglue. lead connects to the negative side) and attach to your model car or kite. Or add a neodymium magnet for an “LED throwie” that sticks to any metal surface.

7. Plastic molding material Make custom parts using moldable plas- tics. Sugru starts like Play-Doh and 8. Key to a hackerspace For $50 cures into a tough rubber. ShapeLock to $100 a month you can get a mem- 6. Rotary cutting tool A cord- comes as pellets that get moldable bership to a community-run maker less Dremel turns you into a cyborg in hot water. Super Sculpey is like shop with laser cutters, 3-D print- capable of slicing, grinding, deburr- clay that hardens when you bake it. ers, CNC shop equipment, and more. ing, or carving any wood or metal in Cured ShapeLock and Sculpey can be Bonus: You’ll get access to experts. your path. drilled, carved, or sanded. —Mark Frauenfelder Science in the Bath 5. 8X illuminated magnifying Experiments make a bath fun (and messy). Plus, says Shar Levine, author of Bathtub Science, glass. Shed some light on the qual- your kids “won’t be terrified” in Chem 101 later on. Start with this lab work.—Rachel Zurer - ity of your solder joints and read part mos rown/ A numbers on small components. Colored Concoctions and listen again. The sound will Flotation Device B isney; (ses

Fill plastic cups with water and be much louder the second time. Place a sheet of foil on the water. D ) ryan- annon food coloring. Then give your Explanation: Sound waves are Note the float. Now ball it up. B Sh

kid empty containers and start good at swimming through water Sinker! What’s going on: When arc by M MUPPETS g mixing it up. Be sure to or wiggling through air, but not at the foil is flat, its weight is spread ) mention: We see the colors moving from one medium to the across a lot of water molecules, tylin S we do because our eyes have other. So it’s hard to hear a noise which team up to hold it up. When COUNT es; (

special sensors to detect them. that starts underwater when your it’s in a ball, all the weight’s in one rop

8 g 3 P uppet Quiz: ( 6

Some animals see more colors; ears are in the air. spot and it breaks through. 8 3 M 6 ma 8 I 3 others see no color at all. 6 orbis; reative; C Underwater Sounds C

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underwater. Have your little

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5 uildin (ages 6–9) B Muppets Puzzle 6 ollection; (G rop C By 6, kids can associate pictures with words. (They may need help with instruc- P )

7 T tions, though.) Using these pictures, put the Muppet names in their numbered F

blanks. The highlighted column will spell out the name of another Muppet. verett

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 OVERCRA 9

10 non-commissioned credits tk Getty; (H ame street) (tools) joel kimmel; (robots) mitsu overstreet; ( 11

132 WIRED SOLUTION: wired.com/magazine/category/key 12

13 (tools) joel kimmel; (robots) mitsu overstreet; (BUBBLES) Corbis; Muppet Quiz: (MUPPETS) Disney; (ses- ame street) Everett Collection; (GROVER) NICHOLAS KAMM/Getty Images; (COUNT) Marc Bryan-Brown/ Getty; (HOVERCRAFT) Prop Building by John Duncan/FONCO Creative; Prop Styling by Shannon Amos

non-commissioned credits tk Build a Hovercraft Ph • • • • • • an is issue) not quality find; can you cheapest the (get Mater • i llustrat Assorted screws Assorted insulation pipe Foam curtain shower 1 heavy-duty or electric) (gas blower 1 leaf 1 sheet of 1 sheet 1 lid from a gallon paint can paint 1 a from lid gallon tape of 2 duct rolls oto air air and for When Jamie Hyneman I built hovercrafts i g al i vehicles were easy to vehicles and make, not fun. too So expensive, I built one with my kids. on rap 3 ⁄ s 4

-inch plywood plywood -inch by :

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l David Clugston David as t na me photo tain. Cut a ring of six 2-inch holes in the curtain, all a the from all escaping air The lid. curtain, the from the inches in of couple holes 2-inch six of ring a Cut tain. cur shower the down hold to center the in lid can paint skimp. Don’t Make it tape. duct airtight. with way around, the all edge, the seal and curtain excess the off Cut cle. a gun staple to it secure of all the the along cir perimeter use and of plywood the edges the up around and curtain shower the on Fold top. circle plywood the place and flat tightly. fit will it so match to a hole cut and nozzle the around circle—trace the on up ends nozzle the where out figure and in center the blower leaf your Put plywood. the from circle a Cut 4-foot-diameter On the underside of the plywood circle, nail a gallon gallon a nail circle, plywood the of underside the On down curtain shower your Lay skirt. the make Next g raph by f ir s t l as t na me Making Fun With Fun Making Adam Adam Savage Mythbusters - - , , I that these realized legs if the leaf blower needs more clearance. (That’ll (That’ll use.) chair—you blower—and clearance. leaf the on more depend needs blower leaf the if legs the under risers wooden using seating, for disc the onto bystanders. innocent hovercraft—and our the around edge of to the own protect plywood adhesive, and seal it up. has which its We also pipe stuck insulation, in it hold to tape duct Use cut. you hole the to nozzle its craft. in your hover the puts that cushion the be will “pillow” curtain shower under you quite fast. fast. quite you under from out slip can— hovercaft the you make can as friction of low lack the as gravity of center your keep case, Now you’re ready to fire it up. You can screw a chair chair a screw can You up. it fire to ready you’re Now connect and screws with blower leaf the secure Next, I know this from experience. from this know JAN 2012 JAN floating-on- WIRED I n any n any 2 Nothing impresses a kid like brandishing a knife and saying, “Let’s cut that open and see what’s inside.” Here are three household objects that dissect it are fun to slice apart. And one you really shouldn’t. —Judy Dutton Baseball Light Stick Is it safe to open? Yup. Is it safe to open? Sure—if you’re smart about it. Technique: Put it in a vise, then go at it with a hacksaw. technique: Cut with scissors near the end and pour the liquid into What your kids will learn: That the material inside affects the a glass jar. Remove the inner glass vial and put it in another container. ball’s behavior. Cores used to be made of rubber but were changed to What your kids will learn: That two fluids (typically hydrogen cork in 1910. This made the ball more bouncy, ushering in the “live ball” era peroxide and phenyl oxalate ester) rearrange themselves into phenol that allowed Babe Ruth to become a legend. But home runs shouldn’t be and peroxyacid ester when combined; the chemical reaction gives off too easy, which is why the outer layers consist of yarn, deadening the ball. energy in the form of light called chemiluminescence. tsu overstreet i ne; (robots) m i s i st cu i ehuta/modern L ssa i el M ) ES I

Battery Speaker GUMM

Is it safe to open? Absolutely not. Is it safe to open? If it’s not hooked up. mos; ( technique: Find a professional with a lab and a saw. technique: Use a utility knife to slice around the cone. A What your kids will learn: That when the battery is inserted into What your kids will learn: How electricity is turned into sound.

a flashlight or other device, a circuit connects the positive cathode and When the audio signal courses through the wire coil, the coil turns into hannon S negative anode, sparking an electrochemical reaction between them. The an electromagnet that subtly moves the paper cone, pushing air molecules ng by

anode starts spitting out electrons, which flow through a wire toward the in and out of the speaker. And since all sound is essentially the movement i cathode, producing an electric current. of air, this is how a speaker reproduces the strains of Taylor Swift. tyl S rop P 8 3 6 8 3 6 8 3 6 When my dad was young, he loved a cartoon called The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show. It lugston,

Keep was about a kid who spoke in sound effects. Or something. I don’t know, because I C d was born in 1974, and my father couldn’t just pull an episode up on YouTube. My son i av

YouTube to enjoys no such freedom. At any minute, I can call up some dimly remembered jewel D from my youth. “C is for Cookie.” Zoom. The opening credits from the short-lived Yourself Pac-Man cartoon. Small. Freaking. Wonder! I can, but I don’t. And neither should you. Your children are not some excuse to relive your own misbegotten youth. They have to explore the world for themselves, and they have access to everything from Yo Gabba Gabba to some dude’s home video hotographs by

of his safari vacation. Don’t squander that by force-feeding your kids old G.I. Joe PSAs.—Jason Tanz P

1134 WIRED JuN 2012 cool science

8 3 6 kits 8 3 6 Ah, the wonders of old-school chem- 8 3 istry sets: a little explosive powder 6 here, some radioactive material there, and acids strong enough to dissolve a corpse. Then came the lawsuits. Today’s kits can’t really compare, but a hand- ful do pack the proper equipment to get kids started. —Dave Mosher Milestones in Science ($80) Most scientists stand on the shoulders of giants. With this kit, kids can walk in their shoes. Mile- Cook Up stones re-creates 100 experiments, from the camera obscura to Principia Mathematica. (Ages 10+) Some Snap Circuits Extreme ($134) This kit packs enough parts for budding circuit monkeys to build a voice recorder, an FM Glow radio, a lie detector, and 750 other gizmos. You can make extra-creepy candy (Ages 8+) crawlies by swapping a secret Worms ingredient—tonic water—into a Sciencewiz chemistry plus ($20) gummy worm recipe. This one is Don’t look for the colorful flasks or beakers adapted from Modernist Cuisine, shown on the box. Still, it provides the right You’ll need: and the quinine in the tonic causes the sweets to glow stuff to test for pH level, change the color of • Fishing lure molds under a black light. Your kids (and your dentist) will flames with salts, and even generate a bit • Immersion blender totally freak out. —Christina Bonnington of hydrogen gas. (Ages 8+) • Food processor 1 Bloom the gelatin by combining it with 3 Tbsp. of water • Black light (a 390-nm LED and sealing it in an airtight plastic container. Soak the con- CHEM C3000 ($250) UV flashlight won’t work; tainer in a hot (140° F) bath for about half an hour. Short on gimmicks and high on versatility, you need something that’s 2 Combine the isomalt, honey, glucose syrup, and gum with 75 well-picked parts, including an alcohol around 365 nm) arabic with ½ cup of tonic water in a pot. Bring the mix- burner, electrochemistry supplies, and flam • Tonic water ture to a boil, then cut the heat. Stir in vanilla bean seeds mable and toxic chemicals. (Ages 12+) • 9 sheets 200-bloom gelatin and essential oil. • ⅔ cup isomalt 3 Whisk in the bloomed gelatin. Use an immersion blender • ⅛ cup clear honey to fully emulsify the mixture. • 1 Tbsp. glucose syrup 4 Pour the warm mixture into the molds. Let them cool to • 3 Tbsp. gum arabic room temperature, then refrigerate for at least four hours 1 • ⁄4 tsp. vanilla bean seeds to set. • Dash of thyme oil (or orange, 5 The worms must be grimy and dirty. So remove the filling rose, or any other flavor) from the Oreos, and toss the cookies in the food processor. • Several Oreos Pulse until you’ve got a dark-brown, soil-like consistency. (Makes about 1 pound; try Spread the crumbs on a plate. the Modernist Pantry or the 6 Remove the worms from their mold, arrange them in the Baker’s Kitchen websites “dirt,” and click on your black light. Behold the luminescence for the more unusual items.) of your chewy snack!

4 (ages 10–12) 5 Star Wars Puzzle 6 By 10, kids can associate clues with answers. However, they may still be flummoxed by alternate possibilities, so clues must be carefully written to eliminate them. Fill the num- 7 bered blanks with the Star Wars characters described below. Reading down the high- 8 lighted column will be another character from the series. 1 Princess of Alderaan 2 Little green guy 3 Queen of Naboo 4 Anakin’s Jedi teacher 5 Red-faced 9 Sith lord 6 Evil emperor 7 Swashbuckling mercenary 8 Owner of Cloud City 9 Furry Wookiee 10 Jedi from Tatooine 11 Green-armored bounty hunter 12 Anakin, later 13 Droid pal of C-3PO 10

SOLUTION: wired.com/magazine/category/key 12 WIRED 135 13 princess- free stories Geeks come in all shapes, sizes, and gen- ders. So why do publishers assume that girls are just princesses-in-training? Here are a few books that can teach your daughter—or son—that girls can geek out too. —Rachel Swaby

8 Violet the Pilot 3 6 8 3 6 Who needs a starter kit when you’ve got a 8 3 6 family-owned junkyard? Violet engineers DIY flying machines using cast-off parts. Can an Arduino obsession be far behind?

Akiko and the Missing Misp This sixth grader uses her formidable skill set—creating manga, piloting spaceships, solving puzzles—to defend the planet Smoo. Page Turners for Amulet Emily’s gadget attachment goes well beyond iPhone worship; she’s physically tied to a powerful amulet around her neck. It’s super- Younglings helpful in a bind, but data charges are severe. Despite what pop culture (and screaming tweens on Facebook) might have you think, there are tons of great kid-lit series beyond The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and Twilight. Start one Secrets, Lies, and Algebra with the kids tonight to get in on the next megafranchise before it hits the multiplex. —Erin Biba Math may get confusing, but it’s nothing compared to the routine humiliations of eighth Captain Warriors by Ship Breaker The 39 Clues grade. Tess uses her algebraic mastery to help Underpants Erin Hunter and The by various her navigate some tougher-than-average pre- by Dav Pilkey Target age: 8–12 Drowned Cit- authors teen problems. Target Age: 7–10 Gist: Clans of ies by Paolo Target age: 8–12 Gist: The eight- thoroughly undo- Bacigalupi Gist: When their Breadcrumbs book series follows mesticated cats Target age: 14+ grandmother dies, Being a sci-fi geek has its benefits. When two fourth graders, stalk, scratch, and Gist: Set in a post a brother and sister Hazel finds herself in a modern-day version George and Harold, bite to defend their apocalyptic future, learn that she has of The Snow Queen, she relies on her detailed who hypnotize their territory and hunt these books tell given them a choice: knowledge of The Golden Compass’s Lyra school principal for prey. The books the stories of chil- Inherit $1 million Belacqua and A Wrinkle in Time’s Meg Murry. and turn him into (and there are lots) dren trying to elude each or compete a superhero called have an elaborately rulers who would against other family Captain Underpants. constructed uni- turn them into kill- members in a great The Captain then verse including ing machines. Ship hunt. With just five does battle with dia- a clan of strays, a Breaker follows minutes to decide, bolical villains like clan of spirit cats, Nailer, a teen who the kids choose FONCO Wedgie Woman and a lengthy origin scavenges wiring the hunt (naturally). uncan/

Bionic Booger Boy. story, and inevi- from wrecked oil They end up chas- D DreamWorks pur- table attempts to tankers. Cities ing clues that take chased the rights to avoid contact with chronicles kids them around the y John b humans. world in 11 books.

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• Foam tape minals—you’ll tuck the ends of the motor’s wires under the rubber band g ollins; Garry • Low-voltage DC motor later. Make sure everything is secure. 5. Push a cork onto the rotating C er tylin (4 inches of wire on contacts) shaft of the motor. Off-center weight makes the bot shake, so hot-glue p S

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6. H • Wide rubber band bot’s legs, tape at least three markers around the rim of the cup, points • Electrical tape down. 7. Add googly eyes, pipe cleaners, bells—whatever pleases your • Hot-glue gun small person. 8. Place your robot on its canvas, put the wire ends under reative; Pro cholastic; non-commissioned credits tk C • 3 or more thin washable markers the rubber band, and watch a masterpiece unfold. —Kathy Ceceri S

as seen in Robotics: Discover the Science and Technology of the Future, from Nomad Press 1 WIRED JAN 2012 Scholastic; Harper Collins; Garry McLeod; (plaster) Prop Building by John Duncan/FONCO Creative; Prop Styling by Shannon Amos

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David Clugston David n ame Making Fun With Fun Making Adam Adam Savage ph o t o g r aph by first last n ame Dino Fossil • • • • • • of plywood piece • M 1-pint mixing cup mixing 1-pint Clay a like surface, Work Plaster of paris Plaster R at olling pin olling e rial s: Mold a P made a fish. the other remote”; sons made a “space ward. One of my down upside and back You have to think is a good exercise: casts plaster Making or painting it—is up to you. it—is or painting raw it piece—leaving plaster the finish you How castings. three or two get sometimes can you retaining wall, another make to ing about an hour. in set It’ll mold. your into it pour (it’ll be thinner than you think) and thoroughly mix then of flexibility), lot a have (you plaster more bit tiny a just Add ratio. ideal the to close very you’re island, the up soak can’t water the where point the to get you When up. it soak will of water the water. At the first a until going Keep mix.) nice a you gives water to powder (Adding pow it der, the letting in sifting Start water. with way the of quarter a about cup mixing the Fill store. supply art- an from this, like a for project perfect that’s or, amount small a for store hardware the at it get of perimeter your workpiece. the along it press then and flat, it roll cylinder, a into clay of piece long a shape to is approach best around the edge of your piece. The wall a half-inch-tall build and clay the for mold version: Take positive-space a more into it make to time it’s complete, is project your like into shells, the clay. something, press want—or you what carve Then square. a make to edges the off cut smooth, it’s about three- of thickness, and even roughly square inches 8 about Super-Sculpey— polymer-based R oll out a piece of clay—I like like clay—I of piece a out oll little island forms on forms the surface island little ro Note: If you’re careful and will and careful you’re If Note: can You plaster. the mix Next, O nce the negative space of of space negative the nce ce quarters of an inch. inch. an of quarters dur settle to the bottom. to bottom. the settle e: e: JAN 2012 JAN WIRED O nce nce - - - 2

Toys for Brainy Tots It’s way too easy to build up a bunch of junk in your kid’s toy trunk. But if you invest in the right stuff, your youngsters will enjoy playthings that they can grow up with, not out of. —Daniel Dumas 1) The Perplexus Cooler-looking and more addictive than an Xbox, the Per- plexus is a colorful 3-D maze encased in a clear plastic sphere. The mission? Rotate that sphere to move a small metal ball through a series of obstacles (picking up some serious spatial and problem-solving skills along the way). Best part? No red ring of death. $25 fatbraintoys.com

2) Mr. RootBeer Home Brewing Kit Home-brewing beer? Awesome. Giving junior a taste? Illegal! That’s where Mr. Rootbeer comes in. Using ingredients com- mon to domestic beer barons (yep, yeast is included), it’s a great toy to help jump-start an appreciation for hand-crafted microbrews. $27 mrrootbeer.com

3) Fuel cell 10 car and experiment kit This build-it-yourself fuel-cell car will prepare your children for the day when pitch-hearted oil Once-lers suck the last drop of crude from the earth. It runs on water— electrolysis provides the gas that pushes this buggy along. howmake electric play-dohto $170 thamesandkosmos.com Want to introduce your kids to electronics? Ditch the circuit boards and 4) Gordian’s Knot go with that sticky staple of early childhood: Play-Doh. The off-the-shelf Alexander the Great “solved” the original knot with a swipe variety isn’t conductive enough, but adding the right amount of salt of his xiphos. But as tykes untangle this puzzle, they’ll be and cream of tartar to your homemade version lets you create circuits, stimulating the abstract-thought and pattern-recognition illuminate LEDs, and even make motors spin! —Christina Bonnington portions of their brains. Don’t worry—a solution manual is included, so no cutting necessary. $12 thinkfun.com 1. Make the 2. Cook the con- 3. Complete the insulating ductive dough circuit 1 2 dough Mix 1½ cups flour, ¼ cup Sandwich a piece Mix 1½ cups flour, ½ cup salt, 1 Tbsp. vegetable of insulating dough sugar, 3 Tbsp. vege oil, 1 cup tap water, food between two balls table oil, ½ cup distilled dye, and 3 Tbsp. cream of conductive dough. water, and food dye in of tartar in a pot over Insert the terminals of a medium-size bowl. Stir medium heat. Stir con- a DC power supply (one until doughy. Turn out stantly until the dough that takes two AAs or onto a flour-coated sur- thickens. Lay out on a four AAAs, available at face and knead. floured surface to cool. electronics shops) into (Keep small fingers each conductive piece away—it’ll be hot.) and join them with an LED. Let there be light! 3 4 Refrigerate the dough in plastic bags for future experiments. 8 3 Developed at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering 6 8 3 6 8 3 6

4 5 Comic Book Puzzle (ages 13–17) 6 By 13, kids are able to handle anagramming, make logical inferences, and adapt when 7 they receive conflicting information. Unscramble the words below to fill the numbered blanks with the names of comic book superheroes. The scrambled words are in random 8 order, so you’ll need to figure out where they go. The highlighted column will contain the 9 name of another comics character. WEEKHAY BRONI DREAMSPIN INMANOR WINELOVER KHLU GILTBAR MAQUANA

10 PUNMARES ROTH MATNAB SPYCLOC NAMEWORDNOW non-commissioned credits tk

1 WIRED JAN 201212 SOLUTION: wired.com/magazine/category/key

13 non-commissioned credits tk David Clugston, Prop Styling by Shannon Amos; Garry McLeod; (robots) mitsu overstreet illustration b D GeekDad Celebrate y f ir s t las t nam ay e photograph b y f ir s t las It’s official: We’re taking over On June 17, grab your safety glasses—and your kids—and join us for t nam activities, projects, and experiments.

3 8

3 6 6 wired F ather’s Day. -curated GeekDad GeekDad Day website. project. See the kit at the Dad Day, In honor of National Geek Kit the Get others. even share activities with arific good time. ects for creating a geek tips, and awesome proj provides a slew of ideas, Own GeekDad Event.” It guide, “How to Make check out our planning go to the website and event with our help. Just Host your own GeekDad Organize geekdadday website: the National GeekDad Day For a Houston, and many more. in Chicago, Space Center of Science and Industry Francisco, the Museum emy of Sciences in San include the California Acad GeekDad events. These across the country hosting one of several Get in on the fun by visit Participate a a special step guide for creating There’s even a step-by- pressure sensor (below). ing doorbell and a light-up gizmos, including a buzz ner of blinking and pulsing that let you build all man of 10 electronic modules kit. For $89 you get a pack the littleBits electronics complete list, go to wired.com/ wired wired . museums museums is offering -designed -designed Y JAN 2012 JAN ou can Y our - -

ing - - - - WIRED

2 2.Never-Ending Demolition Derby (From Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share )

The demolition derby holds a special place in our culture. Not unlike ultimate fighting, the premise is simple: Two cars enter, one car leaves. Problem is, once someone wins, someone else has to go looking for a new car. Actually, even the winner often has to look for a new car. Kind of a waste of materials, really.

1.W indup-Toy So why not make your own Lego demolition derby with R/C cars covered Finger Painting in breakaway components, which can be reattached or easily replaced (From Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky after each match? Now the competition is a matter of the strategic ablation Projects and Activities for Dads and (knocking pieces off) of your opponent’s vehicle, rather than a simple Kids to Share ) smash-and-bash. On a creative scale, this projects sits Age range: 4 and up (fun for all ages!) somewhere on the line between classic finger painting and Spirograph. The simple idea is to use whatever Materials windup toys you have as the brushes for your painting. ••2 (or more) R/C cars (controllers must be on separate frequencies) ••Lego bricks and plates Age range: 2–8 ••Peel-and-stick Velcro or foam tape or a hot-glue gun ••Foam pieces (optional, as needed) Materials ••Butcher paper Paint •• Instructions ••Cups or saucers Bumpers (such as rulers or carpenter’s levels) •• Step 1: Prep Your Cars Self-powered toys •• Using R/C cars that have flat surfaces so the Legos will attach easily, select a sticky option above and glue Lego plates to the roof, hood, trunk, and sides. The goal is to cover as much of the exterior surface as possible. Instructions Select Velcro or foam tape if you want the flexibility to remove and reaffix the plates mid-derby. Step 1: Prep Your Canvas The setup is easy. Butcher paper, available at your local craft Step 2: Customize Your Game store, is the easiest canvas. Lay it out on a floor or table to the size Once the pre-plated cars are dry and ready to go, they can each be you want for your final artwork. customized for maximum smashing. Give everyone their own car and some Lego bricks to build scoops, armor, battering rams, or any weapon they think Step 2: Rein It In will inflict maximum damage. First, and this is key for this project, you need bumpers. Set up barriers to constrain the toys so they don’t go wandering off Step 3: The Arena the canvas while they’re working. Carpenter’s levels, rulers, and To add to the derby sensibility, you can build an arena for all this model lumber will all work, depending on the required size. carnage. If you have some spare 2-by-4s, lay them out in a useful shape and use duct tape and a staple gun to temporarily connect the ends. Step 3: Select Your Toys For an easier and potentially cheaper approach, use pool noodles as the Toy choice is important. There are quite a lot of windup toys in borders of your arena, and try duct tape and rubber bands to loosely tie fast food kids’ meals these days, so you probably have some of the ends together. those lying around. But if you want to make this more of a techie project, consider looking for the various mini toy robots that have Step 4: Fight! simple sensors on them so they can “see” and avoid walls. These Once your arena and wicked-looking combat cars are assembled, it’s will give you maximum painting bang for the buck. time to smash! But there’s more you can do besides just bashing into each other. Why not turn it into a game? Decide what kind of game you want Step 4: Unleash the Painting Fury! your demolition derby to be and build brick structures on the base plates Unless you’re worried about the work of art lasting for all eternity, accordingly. Here are some ideas: pick up the cheapest paints you can find at your art store in a •Each player gets a certain number of bricks to plug on their car. Hold variety of bright colors. Pour a bit of each color into low cups or • a timed battle (say, two minutes), and the car with the most remaining saucers and dip the feet or treads of one of the toys into it. Wind bricks at the end wins the round. Hold multiple rounds with multiple it up, then set it down on the paper to start doing its stuff. Repeat challengers to create a tournament. with different toys and different colors. Hilarity will ensue. ••Each player has a group of specifically colored bricks that he plugs into the outside of his car. Build up structures around them to protect the special bricks. Then hold a timed battle. Each colored brick that’s knocked off earns the opponent a point. Score points to win games, win games to win a set, win sets to take the match! ••Each player has a minifigure “driver.” The driver is attached on the roof, and then structures are built on the sides and around the minifig to protect it. Hold a battle, and the last minifig still attached wins. Illustrations by Bradley L. Hill 3.Nerf Dart Blowgun (From The Geek Dad’s Guide to Weekend Fun )

If you take a Nerf blaster apart, you’ll learn that its propulsion system is based on Step 3: Build a Better Blowgun a mechanical force applied to the dart, One thing to understand about fittings: The inside dimension usually by a spring-loaded firing pin. A dart of a fitting is just larger than the outside dimension of the is loaded, the pin is cocked, trigger pulled, pipe—meaning the pipe is meant to slip inside the fitting, but and the pin hits the dart and launches it fittings won’t slide into each other. down a barrel. This works pretty well. But it ••If you want to attach a series of fittings together, cut can work better. small pieces of pipe, about 1 inch in length or slightly more, to use as connectors between the fittings. Aside from mechanical force, another good way to propel something If you’re using fittings, you’ll need to secure them so they down a tube is by pneumatics. Indeed, if you think about it, that’s •• how real guns work: The explosion of gunpowder causes rapidly don’t flop around. A clear silicone caulk (the kind you expanding gases to launch the bullet down a rifled barrel at high might use to seal around bath or kitchen fixtures) will velocity. This project creates a blowgun that actually works better keep the pieces connected and pretty airtight. Just run with Nerf darts than the mechanical version. a little bead of caulk around the end of the pipe, slip it into the fitting, and let it dry. (Drying can take a couple Age range: 5+ of hours—check the instructions on the product). If you want to take your creation apart again, it’s not that hard Materials to break the seal. ••1/2-inch copper pipe in 20- to 24-inch sections ••Because of the versatility of the fittings, you can ••Various copper pipe fittings such as T-connectors, 90-degree put together a series of pipe constructs that are elbows, and reducers interchangeable, depending upon need. Maybe you’ll have •Silicone caulk • a mouthpiece and short pipe section that can be used as a ••Nerf darts simple single-shot device but also carry an elbow attached to another short length, which your Nerf warriors can slip on Instructions the end for an emergency corner shot. Step 1: The Basic Blowgun The simplest part of this project involves very little work: Go to your Step 4: Blowgun War! local hardware store and pick up a 20- to 24-inch section of 1/2-inch After you’ve built your arsenal, it’s time to play. Try some copper pipe—the kind that’s commonly used for water in domestic target practice and see what the accurate range of the plumbing. It’ll cost about a dollar. Take a Nerf dart and insert it into blowguns is compared with traditional Nerf blasters. Or just one end of the pipe, with the “business” end of the dart pointing up go have a backyard firefight and see how well the custom the length of the pipe. Hold the pipe up to your face and aim it at blowgun stacks up. an unsuspecting target. Put your mouth on the pipe, take a deep breath, and blow out with a short, sharp puff. Without much practice, this design can hit targets more than 60 feet away.

Step 2: Choose Your Customization Options While you’re at the hardware store, browse through the fittings that go with the 1/2-inch copper pipe. You’ll find 90-degree elbows, 45-degree turns, T-connectors, and reducers. Use these extra parts to make your blowgun even cooler: ••Reducer: This is a fitting that’s used to connect one pipe size to another. A 3/4-to-1/2-inch reducer works nicely as a mouthpiece for the blowgun, allowing you to purse your lips and blow into the gun like a trumpet rather than wrapping your lips around the end of the pipe. It’s more sanitary and lets you build up air pressure more easily for a nice burst. ••Elbow: Taking a shot from cover can’t be any easier if you can literally shoot around corners! Link two lengths of pipe with an elbow, load a dart into the end tube, stand at a corner with the end tube directed around the corner, and shoot! ••T-connector: This allows you to branch off several barrels from one blowpipe, so you can rain down destruction with a multishot blowgun. Just keep in mind that lung capacity will be the ultimate arbiter of how many darts you can shoot and how far you can shoot them.

Illustrations by Bradley L. Hill 4.Measure the Speed of Instructions Light With Chocolate (From The Geek Dad’s Guide to Weekend Step 1: Arrange the Chocolates Fun, adapted from an idea by Kathy Ceceri) Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe dish. If you’re using bonbons or truffles, arrange them in a tight grid so there’s no space It sounds crazy, but you can indeed verify between them. Or lay two chocolate bars side by side to create a the speed of light by briefly heating some square. chocolate in a microwave. Now, there are many other materials that would work just as well, but chocolate makes an appropriate medium Step 2: Bombard Them With Electromagnetic Radiation because the heating property of microwaves was first discovered by Remove the turntable from the microwave. (The turntable is there a scientist whose candy bar melted in his pocket when he got too to keep your food moving so it cooks evenly, but we want the close to the microwave device he was testing for use in radar. Plus, chocolate to remain stationary.) You may need to put an upside- you can eat the results. down plate over the center pillar that rotates the turntable, and then you can place your dish of chocolate on top. Close the door and The experiment works because microwave ovens produce standing heat the chocolate on high for 20 seconds. waves—waves that move “up” and “down” in place instead of rolling forward like waves in the ocean. Microwave radiation falls into the Step 3: Inspect the Irradiated Candy radio section of the electromagnetic spectrum. Most microwave Open the door, and using a flashlight to increase glare, look for hot ovens produce waves with a frequency of 2,450 megahertz (millions spots. Depending on the candy you use, you may have to feel the of cycles per second). The oven is designed to be just the right size candy to see where it has softened. With liquid-filled cordials you to cause the microwaves to reflect off the walls so the peaks and may see several shiny spots and even spots where the chocolate valleys line up perfectly, creating “hot spots” (actual lines of heat). shell melted through, releasing the sweet syrup inside. Chocolate bars may just show a series of small shiny dots. If you see none of When you put the chocolate in a microwave for a short time, these, close the door and run for another 10 seconds. Check and the peaks and valleys of the microwave will form hot spots on repeat if needed until you see the spots. Take the pan out of the the chocolate, which will then cause localized melting. First, microwave. find the hot spots and measure the distance between them. From that information, you can determine the wavelength of the Step 4: Measure and Calculate electromagnetic waves. We already know the frequency (the 2,450 Using your ruler, measure the distance between two adjacent spots MHz mentioned earlier—though you may want to check the sticker (geeks like to use metric, so that’s what we’ll do here). The space inside your microwave to make sure), and when you multiply the between two spots should be the distance between the peak and wavelength by the frequency, you get the speed! the valley (crest and trough) of the wave. Since the wavelength is the distance between two crests, multiply by 2. Finally, multiply Age range: 8+ that result by the frequency expressed in hertz—i.e., 2,450,000,000 (2.45 x 109 for those learning scientific notation). Remember: If your Materials microwave uses a different frequency, use that instead. ••Chocolate (truffles, liquid-filled bonbons, or bars of solid ••If you want to use some proper scientific protocol, you can chocolate—darker is better; you need enough to cover an area perform a series of tests and do some simple statistics to at least 8 inches square) refine the answer by establishing your standard deviation and ••Microwave-safe pan determining your results within a specific degree of certainty. ••Microwave oven This will require you to eat quite a lot of chocolate so it doesn’t ••Ruler go to waste after each test. The things we do in the name of science!

Illustrations by Bradley L. Hill 5.Exploring Fluid Dynamics: The Magic of Mentos and Soda (From The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists, based on an Step 2: Make a Spigot original idea from Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe of Eepybird.com) Cut yourself a 2-inch length of PVC pipe. Take the cap from a soda bottle and drill a 3/4-inch hole dead-center in the top. This may be Soda is an interesting material. Most sodas the most challenging part. You might want to make a starter hole are basically flavored water that has been with a smaller bit and then finish it with the larger one. carbonated. What does that mean? Well, you know what carbon dioxide is, right? It’s the gas Using Gorilla Glue or a similar adhesive, attach the top of the soda we exhale when we breathe out. It also happens bottle cap to one end of your PVC. Prepare the pieces per the to be soluble in water (though not very soluble). instructions, apply the glue, and use a clamp to keep the pieces attached for the recommended drying time. You need a good seal that will hold up under pressure. When CO2 is dissolved in water under pressure, it forms a very tenuous relationship with the H O. 2 Take a 3/4-inch PVC end cap and drill a hole in the end. Glue it to It doesn’t take much encouragement for the CO2 to go from being dissolved back to being a gas again. Letting an open soda sit and the other end of your PVC using standard PVC glue or a silicone adhesive (Gorilla Glue will not be quite right for this). About 1/4 get warm will do the trick. Eventually, most of the CO2 just turns into little bubbles of gas, floats to the top, and makes its escape into the inch up from the soda cap, drill a 1/16-inch-diameter hole directly German countryside on a stolen army motorcycle. Or it just blows through one side of the PVC and out the other. Straighten out a large away. Same difference. paperclip, then put a little loop in one end and tie some string to it so you can trigger the candy drop from a safe distance. Certain candies and sodas interact in almost explosive ways. This project will explore what you can learn by playing with the variables in Step 3: Basic Procedure for a Soda Fountain the reaction, including the materials and the release mechanism. Hold your spigot upside down and put three to five Mentos candies inside the tube. Insert the paperclip through the tiny hole on one side Age range: 6+ (an adult may want to do the gluing) and back out the other, so it keeps the candy in place. Open a 2-liter bottle of diet soda (Coke, Pepsi, RC Cola, or Materials otherwise) and replace the cap with your spigot, tightening it ••2-liter bottle of diet soda (you can also experiment with other varieties) enough to make sure there will be no leakage, but not so much that you break the seal between the spigot cap and the PVC. Set the ••Mentos (and maybe some other candy) bottle carefully on the ground. Take the string from the trigger and ••PVC irrigation pipe and fittings (schedule 40 pipe, 3/4-inch diameter) walk back as far as you can. ••Glue (Gorilla Glue or a strong silicone sealant) Give the countdown, and pull. You should hear and see the candy ••Large paperclips or heavy wire fall in. There will be a brief pause, then the soda will erupt in a ••Power drill geyser up to 20 feet high. ••String

Instructions

Step 1: Select Your Materials Diet cola and Mentos are the classic choices for this project, but it’s fun to experiment with different materials. Like a real scientist, you can set up hypotheses and then test them to see what works and what doesn’t. ••What type of soda will provide the strongest reaction? Diet or sugared? Do colas work better, or can fruit-flavored varieties spout just as well? If you have a home carbonation system like Soda Stream, you can also set up a control using distilled water. ••How does the amount of soda affect the reaction? Will a 12-ounce bottle spout just as high as a 2-liter bottle? (Since they both have the same standard mouth size, you can use the same spigot, which we’ll build below.) ••Why do Mentos work well? Try experimenting with other candies and see if you can figure out the properties necessary to set off a really big geyser. ••Is there an optimal number of Mentos to drop in? Does altering the candies in some way (breaking into pieces, grinding into powder, roughing up the outer surface) strengthen or weaken the reaction? ••Since we can make our own spigot, why not try varying the diameter of the release hole and see if there’s an optimal size for generating the maximum vertical spout?

Illustrations by Bradley L. Hill 6.Homemade Steam Engine (From The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists, adapted from an idea by Natania Barron) Step 4: Combine! The steam engine has been around for Punch a hole in either side of your can about halfway from the top, hundreds of years. It works by heating allowing enough space so that the coil of tubing sits above the candle water until it turns to vapor and expands— where it crosses the inside of the can. (When lit, the flame will heat creating pressure that, when released, can be the coil.) You may be able to use a paper hole-punch for this, as the transformed into mechanical energy. In this aluminum is not very thick. Slip each end of the copper tubing through project, you’ll build your own steam engine, one of the holes, from inside to out, pointing each of them downward. which you can use to test some properties of Make sure there’s enough copper pipe poking through on each side to steam power. hang below the bottom of the can by at least an inch.

As projects involving fire go, this one is pretty tame, but please Step 5: Create the Jets use caution. Older kids should be fine with adult supervision. And Bend the extra tubing to a 90-degree angle tangent to the can, but in remember, even the most careful geek parents can get singed by opposite directions. (Picture in your mind that jets of water are coming steam as well. out of these tubes; if you hung the whole construct by a string tied through the coil, the jets would cause it to spin—which is exactly what Age range: 11+ (with adult supervision) it’s going to do!) The bent jets need to be at the bottom of the can or lower, to ensure that they’re completely submerged when the can is Materials floated in water. ••2 feet of 1/8-inch copper tubing (available at Amazon—get some extra to practice with) Step 6: Make It Float ••1 tea light candle Water time! Fill up your basin or bowl. And prime your pump. What ••1 aluminum beverage can does this mean? Well, you need to get water into the copper tube. ••Sturdy scissors There are a few ways to do this. You could hold one end under a ••Hole punch (optional) faucet until water comes out the other, then quickly cover both ••Aluminum tape (optional) ends and float the can to keep the water in. Or you could use an ••Long-stemmed matches or a candle lighter eyedropper. The important thing is to get the water in the coil, and ••Basin or bucket of water (6+ inches deep) the can into the basin with the jet ends submerged, so the priming ••Protective gloves water doesn’t escape.

Step 7: Ignite Instructions Light the candle (this can be tricky, what with it sitting in water and all) using long matches or a long candle lighter. Make sure the flame is Step 1: Prep the Can directly under the copper coil. Use the scissors to cut a soda can horizontally about 1/3 of the way up, then fold down the cut edge. Careful: That edge is sharp. You might Step 8: Wait and Watch want to wear gloves. You can also put some aluminum tape over the You’ll notice a few bubbles at first, which is a good sign. As the edge for added protection. copper heats up, the water inside will get warmer and warmer. As it turns into steam it will expand violently, eventually popping and Step 2: Secure the Candle sending the little vessel in circles. Melt some candle wax in the center of the bottom of the can. While the wax is still warm, press a tea light down on top of it, anchoring it in place. Make sure it’s well centered, as balance is important for the engine.

Step 3: Bend the Tubing Measure out about 1 foot of copper tubing and bend it in the middle into two small circles, leaving the extra on either side. Try to keep the ends as even as possible. (It should look a little like those hand exercisers you can buy to strengthen your grip, which use a V-shaped spring.) This takes some finesse—the tubing is prone to crimping and breaking. Try warming it a bit in your hands before starting. Rolling it around a hard surface like the neck of a wine bottle will help get the shape right. The faster you work, the less likely it is to break. Trim any excess using needle-nose pliers, or simply bend it off (making sure not to crimp too much).

Illustrations by Bradley L. Hill