the toy lab

8/9/2019 the toy lab

1/17

arvind gupta electric enginere by degree,

teacher by fate. he has brought science

into the lives of many through unformal

education. he belives that learning

science does not requier heavy equipment

or 16 hours a week module. science can be

learned from things you have but don’t

use. scrap and junk that one never throws

away but never have any use for.

THE TOY LAB

WRITTEN BY ARVIND GUPTA

ILLUSTRATED BY VIDITA NANDA


2/17

preface

hello my precious little ones,i’m arvind gupta, a science lover andenthusiast. our government calls methe best teacher.we are all told that science isaround us but did you know, you can

also learn it from things around you,i’m here with my mischievous friendsto show you some ways the first step


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contents

1 cd balloon hovercraft 5

2 the newton color spin wheel 9

3 the balancing ballerina 13

4 the straw flute and pan flute 17

5 the jumping bug 21

6 newton color wheel template 25

7 arc and skirt template 27

8 ballerina template 29

9 bugs template 31


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6 7

cd hovercraft

thing you’ll need for the construction

sketch pen with cap

compact disc (cd) rubber base

balloon

check for a hole in thesketch pen cap easy wayis to blow and see ifthe air passes through.

if not you can use a push pin ora soft board pin to make a hole.

ask an eldershelp for makinga hole in the

rubber.

fix the sketch pencap in the rubber

base.

apply rubber gluearound the cd

center.

let glue dry justa little, so thatthe rubber becomessticky and holdson to base. placethe rubber basewith the hole andthe pen cap in amanner that thehole of the rubberis lined withe thehole of the cd


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8 9

tie the balloon at theback of the pen witha rubber band. makesure the rubber band istightly wind around theballoon

pull the cap from theback of the sketch pen,to expose the refill andremove it.

push the nib/tip of thepen out to make it a hollowtube.

blow in the balloonthrough the pen

pinch the balloon so the airdoes not escape from the it.

place the tube andballoon in the cap whileit’s still pinched tokeep the air in

now how exactly doesthis work?there’s an easyexplanation for thisawesomeness.

place thehovercraft ona smooth floorand let itflow and runlike the wind.

when you blow theballoon you are fillingthe balloon with air,once you leave it on thesmooth floor the airtravels through the pentube and through thetiny hole in the pen capand out of the cd.

this air that comes outthe from the pen, to thebase makes a cushion of

air that the cd floats onand the pressure of theair make it move.


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10 11

the newton color spin wheel


string

push pin

card disc

newton color wheel card(provided at the back)

glue

you will need a pieceof string, this stringcould be a jute rope ornylon rope anything youcan spare. but steerclear from kite rope or

even stitching threadthey are too thin forthis toy.now cut approximately 1 meter of the string.

poke twoholes inthe centerof the card1cm apart.


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pass the sting throughboth hole and tie a

knot at the end ofthe two string

ends like

show.

apply glue on thecard disc and stickthe template of thenewton color wheelon it

after the glue is dryredo the holes withthe help of a push pin.pass the string throughthe hole.

now hold the stringand start windingthe string in whichever direction youplease.

once you can notwind it any morepull the stringfrom both sides.

you’ll see the discmove spin and thecolor wheel withthe rainbow colorswould be a greywhite.

in about 1666 newtonpassed sunlight througha triangular glass prismand obtained a spectrumof colors. The sunlightwas dispersed (split up)by the prism into itscomponent colors, andspread out on paper.

this demonstrates that thewhite light is made ofall the color spectrum andthis can be reversed. whenall the rainbow colors areseen at a speed the humaneye that catches imagesevery 1/6th of a secondsees only the white.


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14 15

the balancing ballerina


card skirt (provided)

steel nut

card arc

(provided)

card ballarina(provided)

cut the templated of theballerina, the skirt and

the ark provided in theback.

applyglueon thesteelnuts.stickit tothe arcat bothends as

weights.

cut through the handsand attach the skirtso that the handsare above theskirt. now stickthe skirt to thewaist leavingthe hands free.

fold the legso that thelegs arevisuallyaligned.one behindof theother


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16 17

notch the feet, so thatfigurine has an slot toaccomodate the spoke.

stick the arc withthe bolts underwhere you makethe slits for thehands and glue

them. because of the low centre ofgravity the Ballerina willnot fall and will rock onthe spokeh . the weight ofthe bolts, the legs forwardand back, and the straightposture creates a balence andcenter of gravity. creatingthe three spoke alignment.

now hold the skewersteady and balence thenotched feet of tickthe figure on it,you’ll see theballarina dancing andmoving on the stickwithout falling


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18 19

the straw flute and pan flute


snip the straw on one end to make a“A” or an upward arrow.

scissors

cellophanetape

drinkingstraws

the strawshould looklike so andhave twodistinctflaps.

now keep theside that hasbeen cut inyour mouth

and blow onit.you willhear anoise and

as you startto cut thestraw from the

other endthe straw

starts poducingdifferentsoungs witheach cut.


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20 21

now take some strawsand cut them in orderof legnth. they can be1 cm smaller than eachother or i inch.make 5 straws ofdifferent lengths andmake the “a” shaped cuton all of them

take a piece of cellophanetape and lay it down stickyside up tape the ends if youneed to.

place the straw lengthwise so that you have onestraight edge and the otheris a slaint.

why does this happen?sound is producedby vibrations, whenyou blow into auncut straw, itsexpected when theair comes out theother hole. but assoon as you makethe cuts and blowthrough the strawnow divided in two

flaps will producethe vibrations neededmake sound. thevibrations bounceof the walls of thestraw, and henceas the straw goesshorter the soundchanges because thelength the vibrationhas traveled ischanged.

stick some tapeover the seiresof flutes tomake a panflute.

enjoy yourpan flutethat makesvariousnotes


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22 23

the jumping bug


make sure the ring is half aninch wide all around. press it

flat against the ground to findthe diameter of the circle andcut.

take a placticbottle and cut aring from it.

you will have two equal length arcsof molded plastic

place one ofthe plasticarcs on theeraser. findthe middlepoint of thelength andwidth makehole bigenough to fitthe suctioncup nose.eraser

scissors

push pin

card bug(provided)

plastic

bottle

suction cup


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24 25

once the both the bottlearcs have holes in thecenter place the overeach other in a “X”

position, so thatthe holes

match.

fit the neck of thesuction cup in the two

holes mainting thecross. use some

glue if it doesnot stay.

place the bug templateprovided in the book, overthe suction cup to cover theholes. at this point you can

also paint the bottle for acleaner bug.

place the bug on a smoothsurface so the vaccum cupcan stick to it and pressand leave. in a matter ofmomments you will see thebug jump.

when you press the bug thevaccum cup expels air, whenthe pressure is removed ittries to fill the air again,but because of the materialand the shape of the cupthat is not possible. hencethe cup sticks to theground.

but the cup does not leaveits attempt at gettingair in the cup the concavemolded plastic helps thevaccum cup, so after awhile of fighting the cupregains the lost air. dueto the sudden filling of airthe overwhelmed cup jumps,

making the bug jump withit.


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26 27

cut and use this template for the toy on page 8 the newton color wheel top


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28 29

cut and use this template for the toy on page 12 the balancing ballerina.


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30 31

cut and use this template for the toy on page 12 the balancing ballerina.


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32 33

cut and use this template for the toy on page 20 the jumping bug

Documents

the toy lab