Science Kit

Science Kit

I came across this kit, one at a department store.

Kit 1

The first kit "Charge" - This was on a clearance sale for $10 from $34.95. It was new in package. Taking a look at it and finding out it had the parts to build your own Van de Graaff generator, I figured I would like to build one so why not try it.

Van de Graaff Generator

It's manual is very basic but a good start. From common items they show you how to build a Leyden Jar, Electroscope, electrostatic motor, Franklin Bell and of course the Van de Graaff generator. There are many youtube videos showing you how to build these items but for only $10 I get many of the pieces to build the generator.

I have been wanting to begin to experiment with high voltages and with this kit I should be able to start.

Books to Read

 

3 Great Books to Read

Books To Read

The Amateur Scientist, Procedures in Experimental Physics and Pictorial Handbook of Technical Devices

I love to read and I love to read scientific and tech books. Here are 3 that I had or received as gifts.

The Amateur Scientist - is one I had when I was much younger. As you can see it is quite worn. I have read this book cover to cover countless times. I have done many of the experiments in this book. This book is more of a how to do of experiments written in 1960 and is named for the column that the experiments are derived from - Scientific American's The Amateur Scientist monthly column, which ran for many years or decades really.

There are experiments in astronomy, physics, nuclear physics, rocketry, geology, math, biology, optics, etc. It is so full of different experiments it is amazing. Many of the experiments are dangerous and maybe hard to do as many items have become very hard to find. It is a great read even if you can't do the experiments. It does show what individuals can do and accomplish on their own. You maybe able to find this book as a pdf file on line.

The next 2 books were given to me as gifts over the last few years. Both as well are older than most.

Procedures in Experimental Physics - was written in 1938 and it covers many procedures needed in a laboratory, such as, glass blowing, optical work, vacuums, surface coating, electronics, old time photography, etc. Another great read in how build and use science equipment. A bit out-dated but a great read.

Pictorial Handbook of Technical Devices - written in 1971, this book shows you pictures of many many devices so you can have an understanding of how they are put together and how they work. There are joints, springs, levers, belt drives, prisms and lenses, etc. It is full of devices.

These books are out of print but you may be able to find them online. Even though they are older books they allow me to see how things can work and helps me come up with new ideas for my own experiments. I will be discussing more books in the near future. I may even start a book of the month column. In the mean time, old or new keep reading anything that interests you.

Water Bath

Water Bath Prototype

Driver Board

With the help of a member from my maker space, we are trying to create a working water bath that uses a arduino to control the temperature. If we are able to make it work properly we will open source it. We are looking to develop either a arduino shield or it's own driver board to run the water bath.

We trying to have it set to 42 degrees C. This is the temperature used for bacterial transformation(the heat shock method). It is working very steady with about 0.25 degree C on either side of 42 C. We are going to try at different temperatures next.

The top picture shows the setup, it is a power supply(top middle of picture), an arduino on a driver board(black box next to the power supply) built by a member of my maker space, a heating pad, LM35 temperature sensor and a plastic container(sitting on the heating pad). The lid must be on to bring up the heat and keep it at a steady temperature.

The next picture shows an arduino temperature driver board.

More Science Kits (Electronic)

Here you can see 3 different electronic kits, 2 of which I found at garage sales and one I found at a surplus store.

1) A 75 in-one kit. It is an older kit and was from Radio Shack.

2) A 130-in-one kit, again it came from the old Radio Shack stores. It to is an older kit.

Both of these were found at garage sales and cost very little to buy.

3) A 300-in-one kit(the white one). This is a new kit and it allows for the mounting of microchips and electronic parts. It was at a surplus store for about a third of the cost.

These kits are great. They allow you to put circuits together for testing without any soldering. It makes it easier to try different things without having to solder and desolder parts to see if they will work together. If you intend to build anything with electronics this is a good way to test it and I believe most labs should have one or two.