Science Project Help: Overview

Author and inventor Clive Catterall provides illustrated, step-by-step instructions for eight different homemade models, as well as the science and history behind them. Some, like the Solar Tetroon or the Trash Bag Sausage, are made from plastic bags and tape. Others, like the Khom Loi or the Kongming Lantern, are built using tissue paper and wire. The Hot Air Balloon Book also shows readers ways to heat the interior air that lifts these balloons, from tea candles to hair dryers, kitchen toasters to the sun’s warming rays.

Need a blue-ribbon science project? Here’s a treasure trove of super experiments to carry out: construct a simple circuit; exercise a little “Sun Power” with a solar cell; produce carbon dioxide with vinegar and baking soda; hatch some brine shrimp; stop food from spoiling; and lots more.

Although they are all around us, light and sound are very difficult to explain to young children. Now readers can join an expert to uncover what light and sound are, how they are generated, and how a reader's own eyes and ears work.

Dutton goes behind the scenes with twelve extraordinary kids. We are talking fourteen-year-olds who build nuclear reactors in their basements and train cockroaches to sniff for drugs. Two-year-olds who ask Santa for an extension cord. Their stories converge at the biggest science competition in the world, a sort of American Idol for geeks like me. An inspiring tale, deftly told.