GADGETS AND GIZMOS!
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3, January 2021 Crazy Inventions
THIS MONTH Happy January! Let’s explore • Cloverbud Fun! the zany world of gadgets and ○ Tall Tower page 2 gizmos. ○ Rain Sticks page 5 ○ Catapults page 7 Alexander Graham Bell • 4-H Fun! famously said, “Watson, come ○ Feed the Birds page here. I need you.” Bell had 10 spilled acid on his clothes, and ○ Vortex Cannon uttered those words. They were page 17 transmitted over his telegraph to ○ Japanese Mini-Kites his assistant, Thomas Watson. page 22 That began telephones. then be removed without ○ Hot Air Balloons damaging the book. Viola! page 26 Velcro was modeled after • 4-H Teens! burdock seeds caught on My favorite accidental invention: ○ LASER Light Show George de Mestral’s socks. the chocolate chip cookie, 1930. Gizmo page 30 Ruth Graves Wakefield was • Cogitation Expedition Silly putty was an accidental preparing chocolate cookies for page 37 discovery. James Gilbert E. her guests at Toll House Inn. Wright was looking for a rubber She was out of baker’s POWER WORDS replacement. chocolate. She thought Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chopped • gadget: a small Can you imagine a world before into bits would melt into and mechanical or electronic Post-It-Notes? This was spread throughout the dough as device or tool, another accidental discover. the cookie baked. Life is just especially an ingenious Spencer Silver wanted to find a better with chocolate chip or novel one strong adhesive when he cookies! • gizmo: gadget, discovered one that lightly stuck especially one whose to a surface, not bond tightly. This issue is chockful whacky name is not known That discovery was shelved for gizmos and fun gadgets. Who • zany: whimsically decades until Art Fry thought knows? Maybe it will inspire you comical; clownish about a bookmark that would to find your own accidental lightly adhere to a page, and invention!
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION 4-H PROGRAMS ARE AVAILABLE TO ALL WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION
CLOVERBUD FUN! — Tall Tower 2
The first modern skyscraper, The tallest building in Denver is POWER WORDS Republic Plaza, 717 feet Home Insurance Building, was • demolish: pull or knock built in 1885 in Chicago, IL. It (219 m) and 56 stories. It was down (a building) completed in 1984. It stands as stood 180 feet with 12 stories, • diameter: a straight line but was demolished in 1931. the 137th-tallest building in the passing from side to United States. side through the center The 1,454 foot Empire State of a circle or sphere Building (sketch below) broke How can skyscrapers stand in ground that same year, and it high winds? What is the tallest remained the tallest building in tower you can build that will the world until 1970 with 102 resist a strong wind (a fan on stories. high). There is a secret - can you discover the shape that increases the strength of a building?
Directions: GENERAL RULES: • You may only use the same size and shape cups, regular tumbles, measure from the base to the tip of your and/or jumbo craft sticks, and same size blocks in your tower, and record. tower. You may use as • You can build your tower many or as few of these as many times to improve items as you choose. on your design. • These materials may not be altered (e.g. cutting the cup). CHALLENGE ONE: • You will be given four • Build the tallest tower. challenges. After you have How can you increase the built your tower, before it height? You could spend time looking at tall buildings around the world to see what is common about these buildings. Can you add them to your design? • When you are satisfied with your tower, measure from the base to tip of your tower. • Record the height, the
MATERIALS • cups (all the same • blocks (e.g. cube shaped shape, for example a 9 building blocks all the ounce Solo cup 3” tall, same size) These buildings are dwarfed by 3.5” diameter) • tape measure the current tallest building. Burj • craft sticks (can use • print page 4 Khalifa in Dubai soars 2,716 into regular or jumbo craft • pencil the sky! sticks, or a combination • fan of the two) • Optional: camera
CLOVERBUD FUN! — Tall Tower 3
number of blocks, number of until your tower remains cups, and number of craft standing with the fan on high. POWER WORDS sticks in your design. • design: plan or drawing produced to show the • Optional: take a picture of CHALLENGE THREE: look and function or your tower. • How tall can you build your tower if you only use a single workings of a building, CHALLENGE TWO: block as the base? garment, or other object before it is built or made • Place your fan 12” from your • It may take many tries to tower. build your tower. • redesign: design (something) again or in • Turn the fan on low. Record • Record the height, the on your datasheet if your number of blocks, number of a different way tower remains standing. cups, and number of craft • unique: being the only one of its kind; unlike • Turn the fan on medium. sticks in your design. anything else Record on your datasheet if • Optional: take a picture of your tower remains standing. your tower. • wacky: funny or amusing in a slightly • Turn the fan on high. Record on your datasheet if your CHALLENGE FOUR: odd or peculiar way
• Wacky tower! Can you build a unique design? For example, can you add a floor that is not directly over the floor below?
CAN YOU IMPROVE YOUR DESIGN?
tower remains standing. • If your tower tumbled, redesign and rebuild your tower for wind. • Again, record the height, the number of blocks, number of cups, and number of craft sticks in your design. • Optional: take a picture of your tower. • Place your fan 12” from your tower. • Turn the fan on low. Does your tower remain standing? • Turn the fan on medium. Does your tower remain standing? • Turn the fan on high. Does your tower remain standing? • If your tower tumbled, redesign and rebuild your tower for wind. • Do you need to redesign your tower? Repeat this step
CLOVERBUD FUN! — Tall Tower Datasheet 4
Challenge Tower Number Number Number Fan Low Fan Medium Fan High (1, 2, 3, or 4) Height Cups Craft Sticks Blocks Still Stands? Still Stands? Still Stands?
CLOVERBUD FUN! — Rain Stick 5
A rain stick is a percussion • With your marker, make dots POWER WORDS musical instrument. The origin on the seam half an inch (½”) • diameter: a straight line is not known. There are several passing from side to hypotheses to its invention. side through the center of a circle or sphere It was made from different • helix: spiral; a three- plants, including cactus. When dimensional object like the cactus was dried in the sun, that of a wire wound the center (filled mostly with uniformly in a single water) would become hollow. layer around a cylinder, The cactus spines were as in a corkscrew or removed. The spines were spiral staircase helically nailed into the cactus. apart. • hypothesis: position or Pebbles and seeds were poured • To determine how long and proposed explanation into the cactus tube. The ends how many nails you need made on the basis of were sealed. depends on the tube you use. limited evidence as a • Measure the diameter of your starting point for further Rain sticks are found around the tube. Many paper towel and investigation world. They are made from gift wrap tubes are 1½”. Most • invert: put upside down bamboo or plaited reed strips. mailing tubes have bigger or in the opposite diameters. position or order Inverting the rain stick, the Your nails need • percussion: musical pebbles and seeds bounce off to be slightly instruments played by the spines into the tube, making shorter than the 1½” striking or shaking with a soft sound like rain falling. It diameter of your the hand e.g. drums was used to call rainstorms. tube. You want the nail to reach continued on page 6 Similar instruments were made most of the way POWER WORDS in Southeast Asia, Australia, and through your tube without Africa. Instead of using cactus, piercing the far side. The these instruments were made example (above) the 1½” tube need to use gloves. Your with bamboo. can use nails that are 1” to 1¼” finger can get sore, and the long. Directions: • To determine how many nails • If you cannot locate a long count the number of dots you tube, you can save up two or made along the spiral seam of three paper towel tubes and your tube. tape them together end to end. • Poke the nail at each marker Paper tubes have a spiral dot, and push the nail all the seam. Be sure to line the way into the tube. You may spiral seams. MATERIALS popcorn, or tiny pebbles • sturdy long tube (mailing • wax paper tube or paper towel tube) • paint (acrylic or tempera) • permanent marker • paint brushes • ruler • yarn or twine • flat-head nails (directions • rubber bands for size and how many) • masking tape • masking tape • beads, feathers, etc. • brown paper bag • scissors • dried rice, beans,
CLOVERBUD FUN! — Rain Stick 6
• Seal the other end of your continued from page 5 tube. • plait: a single length of • Paint your tube. Do you want hair or other flexible material made up of three or more interlaced strands; a braid • region: an area or division, especially part of a country or the world having definable characteristics but not always fixed boundaries
your rain stick to look natural or colorful. This is up to you. • Allow your tube to dry completely. • Cut two circles from the brown paper bag larger than the diameter of the tube. • Crumple the paper bag circles.
gloves will help. • Secure the nails in place with the masking tape. • If you are using a mailing tube, cover one end with the cap. If you do not have caps, you need to seal the top of your tube. Cut a piece of wax paper about 4” square (larger cut the edges of your that the tube diameter) and paper bags to make it look cover one end of your tube. This will make them look more like fringe. Secure with a rubber band. natural (like a piece of leather). • Cover the rubber bands on • Pour about 1/4 cup of beans, • Place one of the paper bag both ends of your rain tube peas, popcorn, rice, or small circles over and around the with yarn or twine. Tie pebbles into the tube. Smaller edge of the tube opening until securely. objects will sound like a gentle it cover the end. Secure with a • Tie on feathers, beads, or rubber band. You may want to charms on the yarn/twine. FASCINATING FACTS • South American Natives people from Southern Chili and Argentina may have been the first people to invent a rain stick. This area is the driest place on Earth. • West Africa had tubular rattles pierced with nails. These people were kidnapped as slaves for the Americas. In 1619, the slaves in Lima Peru were 50% of the population. The indigenous South American people’s invention of the rain stick may have been adapted from the West African rain. Larger objects will sound slaves’ rattles. like a downpour.
CLOVERBUD FUN! — Catapults 7
When you think about a catapult is the ability to take POWER WORDS catapult, a flashback to King potential energy and, through • accurate: capable of or Arthur and his knights defending use of a lever and fulcrum, successful in reaching Camelot’s walls from weapons transform the potential or elastic the intended target. of war might cross your mind. energy of the machine into • catapult: a mechanical But catapults have been around kinetic energy - movement! device worked by a since long before wars were lever and ropes for fought on the plains of England. Catapults are still widely used hurling large objects, today in many forms, from a like stones The first catapults were built handheld toy such as a sling • elastic energy: approximately 400 B.C. in potential energy that is Greece. These first catapults stored when a body is more closely resembled a deformed (as in a coiled crossbow, called a ballista. spring, or rubber band) Over the years, catapult designs • fulcrum: the pivot or were improved upon. Their supporting point of a capacity and range were greatly lever. increased. From the ballista • kinetic energy: energy (giant crossbows image below), in a moving object to mangonel (designed to throw US Navy image of the catapult • lever: simple machine structure on a aircraft carrier. consisting of a rigid bar and a fulcrum providing mechanical advantage; shot, to launching aircraft from lift, load, and fulcrum giant battleships. continued on page 8 POWER WORDS Activity: Let’s catapult right in continued from page 7 for STEM fun! Check out the heavy projectiles from a bowl- basic material list below and shaped bucket at the end of its gather the necessary supplies to build your own spoon arm), to the most recognized catapult. form, the trebuchet. The trebuchet was the most powerful We will go over the basic catapult employed in the Middle steps of how to make a Ages using many different forms simple catapult (lever) with of projectiles to cause massive a fulcrum and payload. destruction on its target. With a little effort, you will be flinging payloads at your Designs were changed and target for hours! Then, can improved upon for several reasons. Designers were concerned about being able to MATERIALS increase the range a projectile • popsicle sticks could cover in order to cause • rubber bands damage to its intended target, • plastic spoon the consistency of hitting the • payload (cotton balls, marshmallows, pennies, etc.) target, and the amount of time it • markers took to reload the war machine • paper before the next payload. • tape The popularity behind the • ruler or measuring tape
CLOVERBUD FUN! — Catapults 8
you modify your design to • payload: the projectile develop the ultimate gizmo that that is shot from a could launch your garbage can catapult (i.e. arrows, into space? stones, wooden spears, hot oil, etc.) Directions: • potential energy: • Pick out 6 popsicle sticks. stored energy that For fun, use the markers to depends upon the relative position of various parts of a system • Rubber band the 4 stacked • range: the popsicle sticks at both ends. horizontal distance to Use only 1 rubber band at which a projectile can each end and wrap until tight be propelled at both ends. • splay: thrust or spread • Flinger: Take two remaining (things, especially limbs popsicle sticks, and rubber or fingers) out and apart
color your sticks and make your catapult unique to you! Be sure to decorate both sides of your sticks. • Base: Take 4 of your • Wedge the base in the middle so they splay apart. You can change the lever length of your catapult by moving your base to different band them at one end. positions.
decorated popsicle sticks and stack them on top of each other.
CATAPULT CHALLENGE! • You don’t have to be the only one having fun! Challenge your whole family to build their own catapults, make different sized targets, and have a war! • Place your targets all over the house or yard at different angles and distances and see who will be crowned the catapult King or Queen of the family! Will you share with your family the secrets of harnessing potential energy into kinetic force?
CLOVERBUD FUN! — Catapults 9
• Use two rubber bands to Take your catapult and load FASCINATING FACTS make an "X" around the it with your desired projectile. • There were 3 variations entire flinger and base. • Stand at the closest distance of catapults: Leave it loose enough so (2 ft), put pressure on the top 1. Ballista, also called a that you can change the part of the spoon (the V bolt thrower, was lever length when you want. shaped open part of your similar to a crossbow catapult), aim, and release! but much larger. • Repeat the process at each Two wooden arms distance. were attached to a rope. It was very Outcome: accurate. It first So what have you discovered. appeared in Ancient Does your catapult hit your Greece, around 400 target every time from every B.C. invented by distance? What about the Dionysius of payload? If you change the Syracues. type of weight of the payload, 2. Trebuchet was a does it make your catapult powerful catapult • Use one rubber band to more accurate or less? with maximum force. attach the spoon at the top of It first appeared in the craft stick. Attach the Re–Design and Re-Test: China 300 B.C. The bottom of the spoon using Now it’s your turn to engineer! catapult incorporated the X already made to Try redesigning your catapult a counterbalance connect the base and flinger. into a more effective flinging (heavy weight) to • Take the paper and markers machine. Think about these swing the arm. and create yourself at least improvements: continued below one large target. Create as How can I increase the FASCINATING FACTS many targets as you want. range my projectile travels? Later on, you may wish to How can I make my catapult test your catapult designs more consistent at hitting the and re-designs at different target on bullseye? distances or at more precise What if I use a heavier ranges. payload? Will my catapult • Tape your target/s to a still be accurate? location where you can What other materials could I practice with your catapult. use to increase the size and Make sure there is floor abilities of my catapult? space to run distance tests. Think like an engineer. How can Test your Machine: you modify, alter, or change Now it’s time to test your your design to make your catapult creation. catapult design even better! • Take your ruler or measuring tape and measure out 2 ft, 4ft, and 6 ft distances away continued from your taped target. The long arm would fling projectiles extremely • You can mark each distance long distances. with your tape and write on 3. Mangonel is Latin meaning engine of war. The Romans the tape with the markers the invented this device around 400 B.C. It consisted of a distance. long wooden arm with a bucket and rope attached to it. • Now you are ready to fling!
4-H FUN! — Feed the Birds 10
National Audubon Society is an POWER WORDS amazing organization. The • birder: a bird-watcher Audubon’s bird guide website is: • metabolism: the https://www.audubon.org/bird- chemical processes that guide occur within a living organism in order to Birders use their ears. Good maintain life birders can identify birds calls, • overwinter: spend the songs, and whistles (example, winter; (of an insect, check out all the calls of the Red plant, etc.) live through -Winged Blackbird on Audubon’s the winter website https://www.audubon. • Screw on the chick feeder continued on page 11 org/field-guide/bird/red-winged- base. blackbird). They can identify what species of birds and how toward the bottom of the many birds are present. Spring jar (which is the top of the and summer are prime times for bird feeder). Leave about birding by ear. 12” of the wire at the top. • Unscrew the jar and fill This is a two-part activity. The your jar with the bird first part is attracting birds to seed. During the winter, your backyard. The second part birds need high calorie is identify what birds visit your food with a high fat feeder. content. Black sunflower
Directions: Make a hanging feeder
• Wrap the wire around the mouth of the jar. Make sure that the wire catches the lip of the jar, so it will easily remain suspended when hanging. Hold the jar by the wire to check. • Continue to wrap the wire around the jar, moving MATERIALS for Hanging and Ground Feeders • 2 chick feeder bases (for 1-quart mason jar; farm supply store) • 2 one-quart mason jar or plastic jar with same regular • Gather your materials. You mouth opening can use either a 1-quart • 3 feet 8-gauge copper or galvanized steel wire (home mason jar or plastic jar with a improvement store—copper is easier to use) mouth opening the same • pliers to help bend the wire for the hanging feeder size as the mason jar. • bird seed—black sunflower seeds are primo!
4-H FUN! — Feed the Birds 11
seeds are great! Screw it keep it inverted until you POWER WORDS back on. place it outside for the birds. continued from page 10 • Finish the feeder by twisting a hook to the top of the wire. • plumage: the feathers of a bird • resident: a bird, butterfly, or other animal of a species that does not migrate • seasonal: relating to or characteristic of a particular season of the year for migrating birds • solidify: make or become hard or solid Check it several times to • survive: continue to live make sure it is correctly or exist, especially in balanced. continue to make spite of danger or adjustments. The copper Make a suet feeder hardship wire is easier to use, but the • Suet is high quality food, steel wire will work with especially for little birds like some effort. chickadees or woodpeckers. Make a ground feeder • Gather your materials. You can use either a regular mouth 1-quart mason jar or • Gather sticks to act as plastic jar with a opening the perches for your suet same size as the mason jar. feeder. They should be about 4” more than the length of your mug. If the mug is 4”, find sticks longer than 8” and trim them with scissors. You can use suet, but the Sturdier sticks work recipe from Audubon uses better. I accidently broke shortening. Easier to find my perch, and had to and not as stinky! replace it with a skewer. • Be sure to get your adult’s • Mix: permission to use old coffee ○ ½ cup corn meal. mugs. ○ 1 cup quick oats
MATERIALS for suet feeder • Fill your jar with the bird • old coffee cups about 4 • nut butter (no palm oils) seed. During the winter, • sticks (find outside) • wild bird seed birds need high calorie food • carabiners or twine • rolled oats (quick best) with a high fat content. Black • 2 large microwavable • corn meal sunflower seeds are great! mixing bowls • Keep the jar upside down • spoon Suet recipe from National and screw on the chick • shortening (no palm oils) Audubon Society feeder base. It is easier to
4-H FUN! — Feed the Birds 12
NOTE: you can use RESOURCES beef suet instead of • Learning bird basics, shortening The Cornell Lab All ○ ¾ cup nut butter (any About Birds has great kind, like peanut butter or steps. Check out their almond butter) website: https:// • Heat the shortening / nut www.birds.cornell.edu/ butter in the microwave 30 k12/teaching-bird-id/ seconds at a time. Stir each • National Audubon Society also has a great website to learn: https:// ○ 3½ cups bird seed www.audubon.org/ • In the other mixing bowl, birding/how-to-start- birding • There are bird apps to help you identify birds. The Cornell Lab All About Birds lists five birding apps: https:// www.birds.cornell.edu/ 30 seconds, until melted. k12/best-apps-for- • Pour melted ingredients into birding-with-kids/ the dry ingredients and mix until combined. add: • Spoon into your coffee mugs. This recipe will fill 4 average size mugs.
○ 1½ cups shortening (be • Insert the stick into the cup on the opposite side of the stick touches the bottom handle. Be sure that the of the cup. • Place your suet bird
MATERIALS to meet your feathered friends • print 14-16 • 3 page protectors • pencil • computer with internet access • optional: camera sure that the shortening does not have any palm oil)
4-H FUN! — Feed the Birds 13
feeder in the refrigerator metabolically expensive. GETTING STARTED overnight, or until the suet You can bring out water each • There are four basic day (or even better, several keys identifying birds: times a day). You can also ○ size and shape— provide a heated bird bath. compare to known Do it yourself (find directions birds, like the online) or buy a heated dog American Robin) water bowl. Add a couple of and silhouette (duck rocks to make islands for or song bird) small birds to perch. ○ color pattern— • Shelter: Birds seek out overall light or dark, shelter especially during markings bold or winter storms. Conifer trees faint, bold colors has solidified. are great places for birds to ○ behavior—posture, • To hang the suet feeder, you roost. Build a brush pile. movement, flight can use a carabiner, wire, or Locate your brush pile in a pattern, feeding twine for hanging. sheltered area. style, and flocking Attracting Winter Birds ○ habitat—can they be Winter is a very tough time for Identifying the Birds in your backyard? • Now comes the fun part— Use the Audubon's meeting feathered friends! range maps to • Place your feeders where narrow down the you can see them from a species that could window. It may take several be in your backyard, days to several weeks for the if they are seasonal birds to find your feeders. or resident. • Read through your bird information, pages 14-16, and check out the National those unknown feathered Audubon Society website. friends. the birds who overwinter in • Take a picture of the birds at • Colorado has 511 Colorado. What do these your feeders. Match them to species of birds. Your animals need to survive? You your pictures (pages 14-16) backyard will not get all know the answer! and record the date, time, 511 (phew!), and there • Food: high energy foods like and how many you see on are fewer birds her during black sunflower seeds and the back of the sheet . the winter. suet supply birds with plenty • Keep the images of birds you • Don’t be surprised if you of calories for keeping warm. can’t identify right now. find birding fascinating! • Water: birds can get their • The green box above will get Birding is a life-long water from snow, but that is you started on how to identify passion for many!
GREAT BIRDING WEBSITES (control click to load site) • National Audubon Society: https://www.audubon.org/ Audubon Bird Guide: https://www.audubon.org/bird-guide • Audubon Rockies Regional Office of National Audubon Society, serving Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah: https:// rockies.audubon.org/ • The Cornell Lab, All About Birds: https:// www.birds.cornell.edu/home Black-Capped Chickadee © Steve Frye. Photo taken Learning Birds: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/k12/teaching-bird- on the Boulder Flying Circus Birders Walk on 1/ 4/20 id/
Ten Common Birds of 4-H FUN! — Feed the Birds 14 Colorado Information from National Audubon Society Images from Flickr (Permission given by photographers)
Example: Lark Bunting—Colorado State Bird Designated as the Colorado state bird in 1931, it is only found on the Eastern Slope of Colorado. It has a wonderful courtship dance and melodious song. Lark buntings are members of the sparrow family (5-7 inches). They feeds on insects on the ground, or chase them in short flight. They also feeds on seeds. Only a summer resident, you can spot the males fluttering above the grasses in flight song. https://www.audubon.org/ Image by: AmericanChris 2 Lark Buntings from field-guide/bird/lark-bunting Pawnee Grasslands in Colorado. 7/19/14 All Seasons - Common Explore the Lark Bunting All Seasons - Uncommon webpage on Audubon.org. Verify that the bird is found Breeding - Common in your location during the Breeding - Uncommon specific season (e.g. the Lark Bunting does not Winter - Common winter in Colorado). Winter - Uncommon
NOTE: images of these Migration - Common birds are in winter Migration - Uncommon plumage. The National Audubon Society will have images of these birds in both winter and breeding (summer) plumage.
1. American Goldfinch These active birds (4.3—5.1 inches) forage in flocks, except during breeding season, in weeds, shrubs, and trees. They dine on mostly seeds (and some insects). The males are striking yellow and black during the summer, and muted colors like the females during the winter. If there is a good food supply, these birds will winter in Colorado. Image by: Nicole Archambault, Quebec, Canada https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/american- 1/12/20 goldfinch#
2. Black-Billed Magpie Black and white with blue in their wings and long tails (18—24 inches), these social birds can often be found in groups feeding on carrion or, more pleasantly, eating fruit, grain, insects or other things in your yard. You can find them throughout most of the West in groups atop fences and utility poles, often squawking in what sounds like anger. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/black-billed- magpie Black-Billed Magpie © Steve Frye. Photo taken on Ten Common Birds of Colorado the Boulder Flying Circus Birders Walk on 1/18/20
4-H FUN! — Feed the Birds 15
3. Black-Capped Chickadee Found in the northern half of the continent, this small (4—6 inches) round bird has the shape of an egg with wings. As the name suggests, they have black heads, and a call that sounds like “chick-a-dee.” They’re extremely curious and are not shy about visiting feeders. They have an affinity for suet, sunflower and peanuts. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/black-capped- chickadee Black-Capped Chickadee © Steve Frye. Photo taken 4. Cedar Waxwing on the Boulder Flying Circus Birders Walk on 1/ 4/20 One of the few birds in North America with a crest, this mid-sized songbird (6.1 inches) has a distinctive mask; small red markings on wings and yellow on tip of tail, and lemon yellow belly. Waxwings are not as active as other songbirds. The flocks move through trees searching for fruits and berries. You can hear them before your see them with their peeping while foraging. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/cedar-waxwing
5. Downy Woodpecker Cedar Waxwing © Steve Frye. Photo taken on the Black, white and found nearly all over the country, this Boulder Flying Circus Birders Walk on 1/26/2019 small woodpecker (5.7—6.7 inches) is as comfortable pecking away at a tree as eating from a backyard feeder, which is rare for a woodpecker. You’ll have the most luck with suet, sunflower seeds, millet, peanuts and peanut butter. You’ll most likely find woodpeckers in areas with large, established trees. It’s smaller than its look-alike cousin, the hairy woodpecker, which has a much longer bill. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/downy- woodpecker
6. House Finch Small (5.5 inches) and musical, house finches are found throughout the city, often in noisy groups. They are slow and have a bouncy flight, and are known for their cheerful, twittering song. Natives of the West that do as well in Downy Woodpecker © Steve Frye. 11/ 21/120 grasslands as in city parks and neighborhoods, they’re now found throughout the country. They have large beaks and long, flat heads. Males have red breasts while females are gray. Finches take well to bird feeders. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/house-finch
Ten Common Birds of Colorado
7. Mourning Dove If you hear a solemn, almost lamenting song from House Finch © Steve Frye. Photo taken on the Boulder Flying Circus Birders Walk on 1/18/20
4-H FUN! — Feed the Birds 16 overhead power lines, it’s probably a mourning dove. Gray and rotund bird (8.9—14 inches), they are common throughout the country and will often nest on power lines or in scrub oak. They do most of their feeding on the ground, so scattering millet seeds may attract them. Just don’t let any house cats out, as ground-feeders are particularly vulnerable. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/mourning-dove
8. Northern Flicker This type of woodpecker (12-14 inches) is found across House Finch © Steve Frye. Photo taken on the the country, pecking not on trees but the ground, in search Boulder Flying Circus Birders Walk on 3/26/16 of ants and other insects. Spotted and striped with a spot of red on the head, they’re handsome birds, most commonly found in lawns near trees and parks and in mountain forests as high as timberline. They probably won’t come to a feeder but may stop by for a bath. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northern-flicker
9. White-Breasted Nuthatch These active little birds (5—6 inches) are known for jamming nuts and acorns into the bark of a tree and then hitting it with their bill to hatch the seed. They’ll also be happy to enjoy nuts, sunflower seeds or peanuts from a bird Northern Flicker – Boulder, Colorado ©Steve Frye. Photo taken on the Wild Bird Company Saturday feeder. Bird Walk on 11/28/15 Like woodpeckers, the more trees around your neighborhood, the more nuthatches. Look for the smaller and more animated pygmy nuthatch in the higher elevation ponderosa pine forests of Colorado. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/white-breasted -nuthatch
10. Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay These bright blue birds (11—12 inches), often inhabiting dry shrub lands and lower-elevation pinyon-juniper forests, are no strangers to backyards. They may come to sunflower seeds or peanuts at a feeder. White-Breasted Nuthatch © Steve Frye. Photo taken They nest in shrubs or small trees and can be on the Boulder Flying Circus Birders Walk on recognized with a sharp series of screeches. 3/16/19 https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/woodhouses- scrub-jay
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay © Steve Frye. Photo taken on the Boulder Flying Circus Birders Walk on 4/6/19
4-H FUN! — Vortex Cannon 17
Can you answer this riddle: liquid, and gas. Air is in the POWER WORDS gas phase. • aerodynamics: study of What is everywhere properties of moving air Air also has weight. The closer and interaction between but never seen? to sea level, the more air pushes air and solid bodies down. At sea level, air pressure moving through it Have you figured out what it is? is 14.7 pounds per inch. That • atom: the basic building means every square inch of your block of all matter Think again! You can do it! skin has almost 15 pounds • compound: a pushing on it! Well, in Colorado, substance formed from What is everywhere but never we are much higher in altitude, two or more elements seen? The answer is air. so there isn’t as much air chemically united in pressing down. Here, we only fixed proportions Air can move as a gentle have about 12.5 pounds pushing • cyclone: circular storm breeze, or bring devastation, down. You don’t feel that • gas: matter in a state in destruction and death in because you have air in your which it will expand tornados, typhoons, cyclones, lungs and stomach pressing out freely to fill the whole of and hurricanes. at the same pressure. Cool! a container, having no fixed shape (unlike a We feel the air molecules move solid) and no fixed as the wind. Air moves because volume (unlike a liquid) there are differences in air • hurricane: a storm with pressure. It always moves from circular violent winds in areas of high to low air pressure. the Atlantic Ocean Differences in air pressure can, for example, be caused by continued on page 18 temperature differences. POWER WORDS continued from page 17 You can also physically move air and create areas of high and low • molecule: group of Air is something, but what is it? air pressure by “pushing” or atoms bonded together, Atoms are the building blocks of manipulating the air around you. all matter. Atoms bond in Investigation of how and why air different combinations to flows is called aerodynamics. there are some particles in compounds and molecules. the air such as steam or One fascinating airflow smoke, The air is made from primarily phenomenon is a toroidal which two different molecules, vortex, which looks like a make the nitrogen (78%) and oxygen doughnut-shaped ring of air. vortex ring (21%). There are many other You rarely notice these unless visible. molecules, but combined, they only make up 1% of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, MATERIALS the primary component needed • plastic cup • tape by plants for photosynthesis, is • large balloon • data sheet only 0.04% of the total volume. • rubber band • box cutter (and adult) If you had $100.00 (10,000 • scissors cents), 0.04% is only 4¢! • 15 cotton balls Tornado image from National Oceanic • cloth or steel measuring and Atmospheric Administration, National Severe Storm Laboratory: Matter exists in different tape https://www.nssl.noaa. phases. The most common • tissue or toilet paper gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/types/ phases on Earth are solid,
4-H FUN! — Vortex Cannon 18
completely, with excess representing the Directions: balloon overlapping all sides smallest fundamental • Ask a parent to put a slit in of the lip of the cup. unit of a chemical the bottom of your cup with a • Wrap the rubber band compound box cutter. Once they have around the mouth of the cup • phase: physical form of cut a slit into the bottom of to secure the balloon matter (i.e. a particular the cup, insert a scissors beneath the lip of the cup. solid, liquid, or gas) blade into the slit. Cut a hole separated by its surface that is smaller than the from other forms bottom of the cup with your • shape: the external scissors. form, contours, or outline of someone or something • solid: firm and stable in shape; not liquid or fluid • tornado: a storm with circular violent winds over land • To work your vortex cannon, hold the cup in one hand with continued on page 19 the hole facing away from you and pinch the center of POWER WORDS • Use scissors to cut off neck the stretched balloon with the continued from page 18 of the balloon. You want to other hand. Pull the balloon make your cut so that you back gently and release. • typhoon: a storm with have a large section of the Practice pointing your air circular violent winds in balloon remaining. vortex cannon at some the Pacific Ocean cotton balls. What • volume : the amount of happens? • Hang up a strip of tissue with tape in a doorframe. hanging tissue paper • Lay the measuring tape on (image page 18). the floor with the 0” under the • Stand directly in front of the tissue paper and fire tissue paper hanging in doorway
• Stretch the balloon carefully over the lip of the cup to cover the opening
steel tape measure FASCINATING FACTS on the floor • The air that shoots out of the cannon is a vortex of air similar to smoke rings. • Air does not hold a shape of its own so it gets difficult to apply a consistent force on air molecules at a time to push.
4-H FUN! — Vortex Cannon 19
your cannon at the tissue space that a substance paper (the tissue paper or object occupies, or should move). Record at 0” that is enclosed within a and check “yes” column. container, especially • Stand at 6” from of the when great tissue paper and fire your • vortex: a mass of cannon several times at the whirling fluid or air, tissue paper. If the tissue especially a whirlpool or paper moves, check “yes” whirlwind column at 6” row. Check “no” if the tissue does not move. • Repeat at 12”, 18”, 24”, until of your new air cannon the tissue paper stops design. Test your improved moving. That is the air cannon to see how far maximum distance the air your new design is able to from your air cannon can shoot, and record on your travel while still exerting datasheet. enough force to move the • Which changes improved tissue paper. how far your air vortex cannon shoots air Going farther: • Design your final improved • Experiment with your vortex vortex cannon. cannon design. You can • How far does air travel? make an air vortex cannon out of any container and stretchy plastic material. What changes can you make to this air cannon design so that it shoots air farther? As you plan changes to your design, think about how force is applied to the air molecules inside of the chamber to form a jet. • Change a single feature at a time, testing each change to see how it affects the maximum distance that your cannon can shoot air. Record your data to determine the maximum firing distance. Try changing your vortex cannon’s: NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) ○ volume states: ○ shape • A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column (a vortex) of ○ shape or size of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. Because the opening wind is invisible, it is hard to see a tornado unless it forms a ○ chamber cover condensation funnel made up of water droplets, dust and ○ position of the opening debris. Tornadoes can be among the most violent • Sketch and build a prototype phenomena of all atmospheric storms we experience.
4-H FUN! — Vortex Cannon Datasheet 20
No No No
Yes Yes Yes
Original Air Cannon Air Original
Redesign #2 Air Cannon Air Redesign #2 Redesign #1 Air Cannon Air Redesign #1
0” 6” 0” 6” 0” 6” 12” 18” 24” 30” 12” 18” 24” 30” 12” 18” 24” 30” Distance Distance Distance
.
Air Cannon Datasheet: Cannon Air
include how farinclude how
– 30” he last row is for over herow last How far can your air cannon air? shoot Howcan far your testthen improvements, label cannon Sketchair design: table new the on inresults your the design, recording right. T
4-H FUN! — Vortex Cannon Datasheet 21
No No No
Yes Yes Yes
Redesign #5 Air Cannon Air Redesign #5 Redesign #3 Air Cannon Air Redesign #3 Cannon Air Redesign #4
0” 6” 0” 6” 0” 6” 12” 18” 24” 30” 12” 18” 24” 30” 12” 18” 24” 30” Distance Distance Distance
.
include how farinclude how
– Air Cannon Datasheet (continued): Datasheet Cannon Air 30” he last row is for over herow last How far can your air cannon air? shoot Howcan far your testthen improvements, label cannon Sketchair design: table new the on inresults your the design, recording right. T
22
4-H FUN! — Mini-Kite Designs POWER WORDS • airfoil: streamlined Japan has many kite Some kites even take the shape surface designed in festivals. The Ikazaki Kite of flowers or animals. such a way that air Festival, for example, is 400 flowing around it years old. It is held on children's Directions: produces useful motion; day (May 5th). A child born the Design The cross section of an previous year has his/her name • On page 25, there is a NASA airplane wing is printed on a kite wishing drawing of five different kit an airfoil prosperity and happiness. styles. Examine the designs. • asymmetry: opposite of Look for the airfoil on each symmetry; not balanced One of the biggest is the of the kites. Wanwan kite. It has a 10m • To start this activity, use the diameter (32 feet). It’s origin is diamond or Rokkaku kite ancient, and thought to have first (these are easier to build). been built in 1692. The largest Page 25 has websites with Wanwan kite to fly had a 20m directions for making several diameter (65 feet). Because of designs, including the the size and weight of the kite, Rokkaku kite. The images in many people and a strong wind the directions are a simple are needed to fly it successfully. Rokkaku kite that are included in the websites on page 25. patterns of self-similarity • Read the side green box on • center of gravity: the page 24 for anatomy of a kite single point in any terms. The directions below object (symmetrical or use those terms. asymmetrical) which • The spine and spar are everything can be bamboo skewers. Measure balanced the length you need and snip • millimeter: a unit of with sharp scissors. length equal to one • The sail material is tissue thousandth of a meter The smallest kites can be a few and equivalent to millimeters (about the length of 0.03937 inch or inch a grain of rice)! These tiny kites has 25.4 millimeters fly above the rising heat of woks. • plumb: test an upright surface to determine the vertical
continued on page 23 POWER WORDS continued from page 23
Regardless of whether they are gigantic or dinky, each particular kite is beautifully decorated. MATERIALS • optional—iron and ironing • tissue paper (in the board wrapping paper section) • plastic shopping bag As you explore the world of • bamboo skewers mini-kites, you may need • straws other materials for really tiny • thread kits, like paint brush bristles • tape for the spine and spar. • scissors
4-H FUN! — Mini-Kite Designs 23
paper or a plastic shopping ○ Symmetry in cover (sail) • symmetry: precise and bag. HINT: iron the tissue shape: The shape of the well-defined concept of paper before making the kite. sail on the right side patterned self-similarity exactly mirrors the shape ○ Reflection symmetry of the sail on the left. To - the mirror image get a symmetrical sail, ○ Rotational symmetry fold the paper in half and - the image turned cut your sail design. on its axis When you open the paper, you will have a symmetric sail.
• Use the thread to string your kite and make the bridle. ○ Translational your kite line is either heavy symmetry - the duty or regular thread. images are offset
○ Symmetry in cover (sail) billow: This means how taut or baggy the sail is on the frame. If one side is baggy and the other • Test your kite with a fan. Try taut, the force applied by using different speeds of the the wind will not be fan. uniform. Hint, taut is better than baggy. ○ Center of gravity: The point at which the entire weight of an object (for example, our kite) is concentrated so that if supported at this point the entire object remains in
FASCINATING FACTS The forces for flight: Redesign • lift - the force that holds an airplane in the air • Reexamine the different styles of kites on page 25. • gravity - the force that pulls on a object • The following concepts will • thrust - a force that moves an aircraft in the direction of the improve your design, and motion help you make all six of the • drag - the force that acts opposite to the direction of motion kite designs: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
4-H FUN! — Mini-Kite Designs 24
ANATOMY OF A KITE • bridle: string attached spar to the frame • cover (sail): plastic, paper, or fabric to catch cover reel the wind • kite line: string from bridle to the person bridle flying kite • reel: the spool you wind the kite line around. spine • sail: another term for cover • spar: cross-piece, often curved or bowed • spine: vertical stick, usually wood or plastic tail • tail: long ribbon or string with knotted bits of material that helps to balance the kite balance. It is at this point to find center of gravity to that you want to place help you design and build your bridle. your kite! ○ Symmetry and center of gravity are the keys! Both sides need to be odd shape equally weighted. object ○ Weight: Make your kite as
light as possible.
• Build several different kites. Compare and contrast the
designs. Were are the
airfoils?
Test It Plumb line • Measure 25 feet. Walk your
course holding the kite line at least 30cm (10 inches) from the bridle. traced • Turn your fan on low. Hold FINDING CENTER OF GRAVITY for odd shapes your kite line at least 30cm • Center of gravity is the balancing point for any object. (10 inches) from the bridle to • Dangle a plumb (string with a heavy weight called the test for 10 seconds. plumb bob). The sting will hang vertically. Trace on • Repeat with the fan at the object along the string line (grey lines above). medium, and again with high. • Rotate the object, and dangle to plumb at a different point on the object. Trace the string line. Challenges! • Repeat one more time at a different location. • Try building an asymmetrical • Where the three string tracing lines cross, that is the mini-kite. See below for how center of gravity. The kite brindle is located here.
4-H FUN! — Mini-Kite Types 25
The NASA image above captured from: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/kite1.html The following websites are places to help you build different designs of kites. If you are struggling with the how to, they may help you past those problems. • My Best Kite is a website with directions for making mini-kits. https://www.my-best-kite.com/how- to-make-a-kite.html. The patterns and directions are located under the sub-heading 1-Skewer Series. It includes Sled, Diamond, Barn Door, Rokkaku, Sode, Delta, Roller, and Dopero. Scroll down to find the box mini-kite design (labeled The 1-Skewer Box Kit). • Instructable is only for the diamond design kite, but has clear directions. https:// www.instructables.com/Mini-Kite/ • Public Lab has great tips and the mini-Rokkaku kite design. https://publiclab.org/wiki/mini-kites. The demonstration kite build for this lesson was a mini-Rokkaku kite. • For really miniature kite designs (as small as 1”), check out this site. http:// www.miniaturekiteguild.org/main/techniques/87-how-to-make-really-small-kites-that-really-fly. It will help you with ideas for materials (like nylon paintbrush bristles for the spars). Very cool! • Beautiful mini Kites! Check these out! http://www.kiteman.co.uk/MiniKites.html
4-H FUN! — Hot Air Balloons 26
Hot air rises and cold air sinks. paper. POWER WORDS Why? • Your jars need to be the • align: place or arrange same size. You can use (things) in a straight line Air is comprised of primarily baby food jars, pint mason • aloft: up in or into the nitrogen, oxygen, and xenon in jars, or other jars that can be air; overhead the gas state of matter heated and cooled without • dense: closely (phase). breaking. compacted in substance • Add 10 drops of blue food • fluid: substance with no As the gas warms, the color into two jars. You will fixed shape and yields molecules move faster. They add cold tap water into these to external pressure; a strike each other, moving further two jars. Blue = cold. gas or a liquid apart. Fewer molecules are • Fill the two jars to the very • interface: point where lighter, and they begin to rise. top with cold tap water. two systems (e.g. card/ As they rise, they cool down. As Place in the cookie sheet. water and mason jar/ they cool, they slow down, and • Add 10 drops of red food water), meet and can move closer together. More color into the other two jars. interact molecules together are heavier, Add hot tap water into these • invert: put upside down and they begin to sink. That two jars. Red = hot. or in the opposite warm air can lift hot air balloons, • Turn on the hot water tap, position or order glider planes, and vultures. and heat the water. Use pot holders. If you are using continued on page 27 Directions: cloth pot holders, put each Experiment on Hot Fluids inside a plastic bag. If they get wet, they will still protect your hands. • Fill the two red food color with this next step. jars with water to the very top • Place the playing card on with hot water, and place in top of a red jar. the cookie sheet. • Hold the card against the • Grab a parent to help you red jar mouth and invert the jar. Be sure to do this over the sink or cookie sheet. • Carefully remove your • This is a quick experiment on hand from the card. The rising hot and sinking cold card will remain in place. fluids. Liquid and gases act • Place the inverted red jar in a similar manner. In this on top of a blue jar. With experiment, we will use the help from your parent, water to help us see this align the two jar mouths, concept in action. • This can be a messy experiment. If you conduct MATERIALS • glue stick this experiment on the cookie • 4 wide mouth mason jars • yard stick or ruler sheet in your kitchen, it can • red food color • pencil help contain any spills. • blue food color • scissors • The two playing cards need • two playing cards • hot air popcorn popper to be larger than the mouth • cookie sheet • optional: tin can with of your jars. If you can’t find • tissue paper (wrapping both ends removed a card large enough, you can paper aisle) • large space (to make the use wax coated piece of • construction paper hot air balloon)
4-H FUN! — Hot Air Balloons 27
with the card in between the the card between the two jar two jars. mouths. What happens? POWER WORDS • The red jar is on top, and the • See the bottom green box on continued from page 26 blue jar is on the bottom. page 29 for an explanation of how this works. • state of matter: One of the four principal Explanation: conditions in which • Hot fluids rise, and cold fluids matter exists-solid, sink. With the red hot water liquid, gas, and plasma on top and the blue cold (see page 29 right water on the bottom, there is green box for plasma very little mixing. The blue water is more dense than information) the red water. • trapezoid: • With the blue cold water on flat shape with two Predict what will happen to top and red hot water on the opposite lines parallel, the warm red water and the bottom, the hot water will the other two lines do cold blue water can mix. rise, and the blue water will not have to be parallel • With your parent still holding sink. The water in these two • troubleshoot: trace the top jar, carefully remove jars mix. and correct faults in a the card between the two jar • This is what will happen mechanical or electronic mouths. What happens? when we fill our hot air system • Hold the card against the balloon with hot air. It will blue jar mouth and invert rise in the cooler air the jar. Be sure to do this atmosphere. over the sink or cookie sheet. • Carefully remove your hand Build the Balloon: from the card. The card will You will need a large space to remain in place. do this activity. • Place the inverted blue jar • Your tissue paper will come on top of a red jar. With the in sheets 20” x 26”. If the help from your parent, align measurement is different, the two jar mouths, with the you will need to make some card in between the two jars. adjustments. The 20” in • The blue jar is on top, and these directions are to match the red jar is on the bottom. the width of the tissue paper. Predict what will happen to • Cut four trapezoids (top) 20” the warm red water and the x (bottom) 6” x (sides) 15”. cold blue water can mix. • NOTE: Use plenty of glue don’t want any gaps in • With your parent still holding stick to glue together. You the seams between the the top jar, carefully remove FASCINATING FACTS • The Chinese were the first to invent the hot air balloon in the 3rd century BC. They used the balloons to send messages. • The first hot air balloon passengers were a duck, rooster, and sheep in 1754! • Jean-Francois Pilâtre De Rozier and Francois Laurent d’Arlandes were the first humans to experience sustained flight (20 minutes) in a hot air balloon.
4-H FUN! — Hot Air Balloons 28
two sheets. it. This will taper the mouth TROUBLESHOOT popper • Glue the 20” top of the of your hot air balloon. • The most common trapezoid to the 20” bottom • Glue the square to the problem with the popper of the sheet of tissue paper. panels to form the top of your is the element is • Glue one trapezoid to one hot air balloon. recessed, and it is sheet of tissue paper. • Cut a strip of construction difficult to get the mouth • Glue the four panels together paper 26” x 1”. You may of your hot air balloon on the length side of the full need to glue several strips over it. The tin can tissue paper sheet. together until it is 26” long. usually works. Only • Cut one square 20” x • Glue the construction paper rest the can on the 20” (the width of your tissue to the bottom of the popper. • The other common issue with the hot air popcorn popper is the wattage is lower than 1400 watts. • A hair dryer will not work. It blows hot hair, and you can’t keep your balloon stable while you try to heat the air.
paper). This will be the top of your hot air balloon. • Glue the square top to one of balloon. the panels. trapezoids to reinforce the How to launch tapered end of your hot air • You can launch on a day with no breeze or wind. Alternatively, if you are in school, you can use the gym. • Remove the hot air popcorn popper lid to expose the bottom of the • Glue the left and right sides popper. of your panels together to • Depending on the style of form your body of the hot air the popcorn popper, you balloon. • Glue the sides of each trapezoid to TROUBLESHOOT balloon the trapezoid next to • Usually the balloon that doesn’t float aloft has a gap in one of the seams. Check all the seams, and seal them with your glue stick. • The second most common reason is a tear in the tissue. Simple use your glue stick on one side of the tear, and overlap the other side on top of the tear. You can also use a tissue paper patch, and glue on top over the tear.
4-H FUN! — Hot Air Balloons 29
can use a clean tin can (both • What is the smallest hot air PLASMA ends removed) to be a balloon you can make? Will • Plasma is the most nozzle to connect the popper it stay aloft longer or shorter common known state of to your hot air balloon. than the one you made first? matter in our universe. • Can you design the shape to All the stars are in the look more like the traditional plasma state. hot air balloon? • States of matter depend on how much energy is in the system. Increasing in energy: ○ Solid (low energy) ○ Liquid ○ Gas ○ Plasma (high energy) • There is so much energy, the electrons are freed from atoms. • Solids keep their shape. • Place the opening of your • Liquids keep the bottom balloon over the popper shape of a container. nozzle. Turn the popper on • Gases fill a container. and hold your balloon on the • Plasma has no fixed popper. shape or volume. They • Your balloon will fill with hot • How high can you send your are charged electrons air and start to lift off the hot air balloon aloft? and protons. popper. You can let go, or • What happens if you change continue to hold and add the size of the opening to the more hot air into your balloon? balloon. National Balloon Museum in Iowa has information about the history of hot air balloons: https://www. nationalballoonmuseum.com/ about/history-of-ballooning/
WHY THE CARD “STICKS” • Why? Cohesion, adhesion, and air pressure! Challenges: • Water is cohesive (sticks to itself). It also is adhesive • How long can you keep your (sticks to other objects). Water form a seal around hot air balloon aloft? interface of the card and the cup. • What is the largest hot air • Air pressure pushes in all directions. Remember that the balloon you can make? Will air presser at sea lever pushes 14.7 pounds per square it stay aloft longer or shorter inch. (In Montrose, CO, it pushes 11.9 pounds per square than the one you made first? inch. The air pressure keeps the card in place.
4-H TEENS! — LASER Light Show Gizmo 30
Visible light is part of the POWER WORDS electromagnetic spectrum. • acronym: an This form of energy travels in abbreviation formed wavelengths of ROY G BIV from the initial letters of (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green other words and Blue, Indigo, Violet). When pronounced as a word incoherent, it appears as white e.g. NASA (National light. When sunlight shines Aeronautics and Space though raindrops, it separates Administration) the wavelengths of ROY G BIV, • electromagnetic and we see a rainbow. spectrum: the entire can. Plastic is very difficult range of wavelengths or The word LASER is an to remove the bottom to frequencies of acronym: make an open tube. radiation extending L—Light • You need to add one extra from the most intense A—Amplification by step if you are using a can. gamma rays to the S—Stimulated • Remove the bottom lid of lowest energy radio E—Emitted your empty, clean can with waves (including visible R—Radiation the can opener, so both ends light) are open. • incoherent: wavelength Dr. Albert Einstein deduced that of light travelling in light could exist as stimulated different directions emission in 1916. This is a way • radiation: energy for light to emit more waves of light. This laid the foundation for LASERs!
• There will be a sharp tab on the can (see black arrow). • Place the can on a cutting board. With a hammer, tap the tab flush with the can rim.
Here’s an activity for an at-home MATERIALS • clothes pin version of LASER show that you • metal can or cardboard • double sided tape tube mailer • scissors can build yourself. 2 2 • can opener • 1cm (0.75” ) mirror Directions: • ruler • LASER (dollar store) • Gather your materials. Your • hammer • paper plate LASER Light Show Gizmo • cutting board • optional: art supplies to works best if you use a • duct or electric tape decorate LASER Light cardboard mailing tube or • large balloon Show gizmo
4-H TEENS! — LASER Light Show Gizmo 31
Cover that spot with a piece balloon (white arrow on FASCINATING FACTS of duct or electrical tape. image left bottom). Stretch • Depending on the • Remove both of the caps if the balloon as tightly as material being lased, possible, and shift the you can get different balloon dimple to the edge of colored LASERs. your cylinder. • A MASER, (Microwave • Secure the balloon to the by Stimulated Emission cylinder with a rubber band. of Radiation) was the Your cylinder should look like first LASER. It works a drum. like a LASER but light given off is microwave radiation. Townes, Basov, and Prochorov won the Nobel Prize for using a mailing tube. this discovery in 1964. • Cut the neck off a balloon at • HeNe LASERs are red. the point the neck ends and The HeNe stands for the body - neck transition. helium and neon, the • Stretch the bottom portion of two materials lased. the balloon over one end of • Secure a wood ruler or paint • Green LASERs are the can or mailing tube stick to the cylinder with infrared (just beyond cylinder. three rubber bands. The visible light range), but cylinder should attach to 3-4” pass through a of the end of the ruler. The frequency doubler, open end of the cylinder turning it into green points away from the ruler. light. The balloon points towards the ruler as imaged below. • With two rubber bands, attach the LASER to the clothes pin, with the LASER light toward the opening side of the clothes pin, and the back
• Notice the drip point on the FASCINATING FACTS • Sound vibrates air molecules in our atmosphere. These vibrations are compression waves. • There is no sound in space. Since there are no air molecules to vibrate, the sound cannot be transmitted. • The loudest sound on Earth is caused by erupting volcanos. Krakatoa (in Indonesia) erupted in 1883. It is classified as one of the most destructive and deadliest volcanic events in recorded history. It’s explosions were heard over 1900 miles away!
4-H TEENS! — LASER Light Show Gizmo 32
side of the LASER light on • Turn on the LASER. It will FASCINATING FACTS the pinching end of the point towards or on the • The sun shines in a clothes pin. bottom of your balloon. broad range of colors • Wrap a rubber band on the combined to produce ruler about 2.5 inches in from white light. LASERs the end (between 9.5 and lase by producing 10” in the image below). concentrated beam of a • Slip the opening of the single wavelength color. • A lidar (light detection and ranging) system shoots out a LASER pulse, calculates how long it takes the pulse to bounce back, and • Fold a scrap piece of paper determines how far in half several times. away an object is, like • Pinch open the clothes pin bats using echolocation to find dinner. • The Apollo astronauts left mirrors on the clothes pin under the rubber moon. LASER beams band. If you use something fire at the mirrors to slide under the bands (like measure the precise a nail) and lift, it is easier to distance. It shows the moon is slowly moving away from us.
and insert the paper to lift the light closer to the center of your balloon. Modify the piece of paper until the
slip the opening end of the clothes pin under the bands. • Wrap a second rubber band attaching the pinching end of the clothes pin to the ruler. FASCINATING FACTS • Dogs hear sounds at a much higher frequency than humans can. That means they can hear sounds or noises humans cannot. • Flies are not able to hear any sounds at all. • Most blue-eyed white cats are usually deaf. • Dolphins hear sounds underwater as far as 15 miles. • Whale voices are able to travel a whopping 479 miles through the waters of the ocean.
4-H TEENS! — LASER Light Show Gizmo 33
LASER light points about the cylinder so the light FASCINATING FACTS halfway up the balloon. doesn’t point near the • Light is made up of • Turn on your LASER light. dimple. energy. The point where the light hits • Your mirror may be self- • Light travels in a adhesive. If it is not sticky, straight line. Objects in add a small piece of double its path cause light to sided tape to the back of the bend or refract. mirror. If it is self-adhesive, • The speed of light in a peel off the cover. vacuum (like space) is • Secure the small mirror exactly 299 792 km per exactly over the point where second (186,282 miles the LASER hits the balloon. per second). • This will reflect the LASER • Travelling at the speed pointer towards the wall and of light, you could go around Earth 7.5 times the balloon is where you in a second. need to place your mirror. • Visible light makes up • Where is the balloon drip very little of the point? You may need to shift electromagnetic spectrum. On the spectrum, you will find everything from infrared to gamma rays. • Photography” in Greek means “writing with away from you. light”. • You can fold the bottom third of a paper plate to form a
screen.
NEVER point LASERs at anyone’s eyes.
FASCINATING FACTS • Sound travels at a speed of 767 miles per hour. • The majority of cows which listen to music end up producing more milk than those that do not. • In order for a whip to crackle or make the noise it creates, it must travel faster than the speed of sound. • The rapid heated air that surrounds lighting is what causes the sound of thunder. The lightning ends up expanding at a faster speed rate than sound itself.
4-H TEENS! — LASER Light Show Gizmo 34
I am going to turn over the rest FASCINATING FACTS • Turn out the lights, point the of this activity to my colleague, • There are different can at a blank wall, turn the Andrew Reed, the amazing types of light and each LASER on, hold the open one has its own end of the can up to your wavelength. mouth and sing! You will see • Some animals can see fun light patterns form and wavelengths that change on the wall. The humans cannot. camera wasn’t able to Ultraviolet light (UV light), for example. • Sunlight can be seen 80 meters underwater. • Plants are green because they reflect green light while Admin Assistant in the CSU absorbing other colors. Extension Montrose Office. He The other colors that has been helping us produce they absorb are used in video activities you can find on photosynthesis to STEMming with Steph: https:// create food. www.youtube.com/channel/ • A double rainbow UCSFQv8o-lAYHMQ_GWCLW occurs when light is Oug/videos. He is also a disc reflected twice within jockey in his “other life.” each water droplet.
LASER Light Show Gizmos with FASCINATING FACTS three types of LASERs, blue, green and red.
Mr. Drew will give you some ideas for making your own LASER light show!
• LED lights are made up entirely of visible (to humans) light. This is why they appear much brighter. capture the designs in the • Light from the sun takes over 8 minutes to reach earth. dark. However, the first • The speed of light is relevant to the atmosphere that it image on the left and the is travelling through. image below, you can see • Plato (a famous Greek philosopher) thought that we how the sound vibrations see by shooting light rays out of our eyes. form different designs. Facts from FACTS.NET (https://facts.net/science/physics/ light-facts)
4-H TEENS! — LASER Light Show Gizmo 35
So, ready to make your own LASER LIGHT SHOW LASER show! Here we GO! • Try these different ideas for your LASER light Directions: show • Never point the LASER at ○ Make a LASER anyone’s eyes. It is coherent show gizmo for each light, and very powerful. It member of your can damage your eyes, and family even cause blindness. If you ○ Try different see the LASER light, just instruments—which close your eyes. • What happens if hold your work best? • What to do: LASER show gizmo up to a ○ Try different music ○ Turn out the lights speaker playing music? ○ Sing songs together ○ Point the can at a blank ○ Change the volume wall ○ Can your barking ○ Turn on the LASER dog make a LASER ○ Hold the open end of the light show? can to your mouth • What other ideas do ○ and sing you have?
Have fun!
• What happens if you hold your LASER show gizmo up to a musical instrument, and play different single notes or chords? • You will see fun light patterns • Do different kinds of form and change on the wall. music produce different • What happens when you LASER shows? make a really low sound. Compare classical music What happens when you to electronic music and make a really high sound? your favorite music. • What about bird calls. Use the National Audubon Society website, and try different Colorado Never point MATERIALS LASERs at • blank wall • LASER show gizmo eyes! • musical instruments • radio (or other electrical component)
4-H TEENS! — Laser Light Show Gizmo 36
birds. called persistence of vision. POWER WORDS • What happens when you Flipbooks, movies, and • absorb: soak up or take increase the volume? cartoons all use this concept. in • Make a different LASER • Professional LASER shows • coherent: wavelengths show gizmo with red, green, use the same concepts as in of light moving in the and purple LASER lights. our LASER light show gizmo. same direction with These are easy to find online The also use computer identical wavelengths at reasonable prices. controlled mirror movements • quantum: a specific • Each LASER needs to be for precise and elaborate amount of energy at operated by a different shapes. the atomic level person. Try singing a song • reflect: throw back, like in different harmony, or a Dr. Albert Einstein was the first your image in a mirror round (like Row, Row, Row person to propose the concepts • refract: bending light Your Boat). of LASER light. In 1917, Dr. when it passes through • Set each LASER show Einstein wrote a paper on the a raindrop or prism gizmo pointing in the same quantum theory of radiation. general direction and play In that paper, he predicated the music. stimulated emission. This is the Spectral signatures of • Try different experiment with way scientists can take a Helium and Neon image different sounds. Can you wavelength of light (for example are used with permission develop your very own red), and point them all in the by “the Engineer” at https:// LASER Light Show with your same direction. That is www.experimental- LASER show gizmo? stimulated emission. engineering.co.uk/helium- neon-lasers/viewing- What’s happening? The red LASER uses helium spectral-lines-in-discharge- • Sound is mechanical energy. and neon gas. Notice that both other-colours-in-output/ It vibrates the molecules in of them share a red wavelength. the air. Those molecules vibrate the balloon and mirror. The light reflecting on the mirror forms the vibration patterns on the wall. • The LASER is a very intense light dot. Notice that there are no shadows. LASERs are coherent light. That means it is a single wavelength of light with all the wavelengths moving in the same direction. • Light is the fastest thing in science. As the dot of LASER light moves from the vibrations on the mirror, it FASCINATING FACTS appears as a line or circle. • Incoherent light—from light Our brain cannot separate bulbs or the sun—travels in all the dot as it moves. It is so directions fast that your brain puts each • Coherent light—from LASERs— tiny dot of LASER light travels in a single direction together as one consistent image. This concept is
COGITATION EXPEDITION 37
The matchstick was an Move three matchsticks to make POWER WORDS accidental invention. John two squares. • chert: a hard, dark, Walker was testing different opaque rock composed chemicals known to ignite, but of silica (chalcedony) he discovered a stable, slow- with an amorphous or burning friction match. microscopically fine- grained texture His match was made from a • flint: a hard gray rock wooden splint coated consisting of nearly with Sulphur and tipped with a pure chert, occurring mixture of sulphide of chiefly as nodules in antimony, chlorate of potash, chalk and gum. • ignite: catch fire or cause to catch fire Before this invention in 1827, • splint: a long, thin strip people would light their fires with of wood used to light a a fire striker. A piece of flint or fire chert (rocks) are stuck on a • Move three matchsticks to piece of carbon steel, which make three squares. Matchstick puzzles cause sparking. modified from: https:// www.puzzles-to-print.com/ Not only were matchsticks used printable-brain-teasers/ for easily starting fires, they matchstick-puzzles.shtml were also used as brainteasers: matchstick puzzles! In this activity, you can use either matchsticks or toothpicks. Lay • Move two matchsticks to out your toothpicks as make six squares. diagramed. By rearranging a specific number of toothpicks, you form a new pattern.
Answers will be in the Next 2021 ST[EMpower] issue. • Take away six matchsticks Have fun! from the fifteen to leave ten.
Directions:
• How did you do? • Move three toothpicks to make two squares. MATERIALS • toothpicks or matchsticks
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND CITATIONS 38
AUTHORS • Dr. Barbara J. Shaw, Colorado State University Extension Western Region Youth Development 4-H STEM K/12 Specialist • Stephanie Lamm, Colorado State University, Montrose County Extension Youth Development 4- H STEM K-12 Associate • Andrew Reed, Colorado State University, Montrose County Extension Administrative Assistant • Tom Lindsay, retired Portland State University instructor (geology and paleontology); HS science teacher (AP and IB Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Calculus)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • Funding for this project provided by Colorado State University System Venture Capital Fund • CJ Mucklow, Colorado State University Extension Western Regional Director • Monique Mull, Colorado State University Extension Western Region Administrative Assistant III • Dr. Joe Cannon and Marketing Strategies students Berlyn Anderson, Jenna Balsley, Rachel Kassirer, Rachel Richman, Colorado State University, College of Business, for marketing strategies and ST[EMpower] graphics • Doug Garcia, Colorado State University Creative Services Communication Coordinator/ Designer
CITATIONS • Tall Tower: Empire State Building captured from the History Channel 11/6/2020 https:// www.history.com/this-day-in-history/empire-state-building-dedicated; • Rain Stick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainstick#:~:text=The%20rainstick%20is%20believed% 20to,of%20several%20species%20of%20cactus;.https://buggyandbuddy.com/how-to-make-a- rainstick-instrument/; https://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/rain_stick/index.html • Catapults: Mangonel Photo: https://pixabay.com/photos/png-catapult-weapon-medieval- 2687075/; Airforce Catapult: https://media.defense.gov/2020/Nov/06/2002531556/-1/-1/0/201031 -N-FH905-1924.JPG; ballista image from the Smithsonian https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/ video/series/world-of-weapons/71133 • Feed the Birds: http://Audubon.com; https://rockies.audubon.org/: http://ncfeederssupply.com/ blog/36147/winter-birds-to-watch-for-and-how-to-attract-them; https:// coloradocollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=286973&p=1908860; https:// www.sadieseasongoods.com/goodwill-blogging-thrifting-for-the-birdsa-diy-suet-feeder-february- 2016/ • Vortex Cannon: Tornado image from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Severe Storm Laboratory: https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/types/ • Japanese Mini-Kites: http://www.d-vision.co.il/?doc=151761, http://www.teamfoster.me.uk/ Silver_Bay/files/archive-jul-2007.html, http://miniatures.kitingusa.com/mini_plans.htm, http:// www.kiteman.co.uk/MiniKites.html, http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~et3m-tkkw/wanwan.html; https:// airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/kitediagramjpg; https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/ airplane/kite1.html • Hot Air Balloons: Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Hot Air Balloon activity http:// pictures.imwe.net/imwe2008/download/workshops/hot%20air%20balloon%20construction.pdf • Laser Light Show Gizmo: https://www.raisingarizonakids.com/2019/01/sari-science-make-tin-can- laser-show/; http://ellenjmchenry.com/make-an-o-silly-scope/; https://science.nasa.gov/ ems/01_intro; https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight;