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teaches MicroElectronics, Astronomy and Physics at West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon.
teaches AP Computer Science, AP Statistics, and Pre-AP Computer Science at W. T. White High School in Dallas, TX.
is the Mathematics Chairman at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio.
teaches Introductory and Advanced Placement Biology at Paideia School in Atlanta, Georgia.
teaches Physics, Physical Science, and Robotics in Littleton, NH.
Wired Science's "GeekDad: UFO" video includes a fun and educational segment showing a step-by-step method on how to build a hovercraft with your students. It is something that every physics teacher should have in their arsenal of fun toys that teach physics. So what follows below are a few construction tips, some helpful advice, and some teaching strategies on how to use them. Hovercrafts really took off in the early 1990s when powerful and cheap leaf blowers became available and plans began to proliferate on the internet. They are extremely popular with kids and a teacher should not have any trouble asking a student to build one for the class. I did that over ten years ago and I am still using the same one! There are many ways to build a hovercraft. The method shown in "Wired Science" is foolproof and I would encourage folks to try that and then go and modify the design. The particular one that I use in class is made from a half-inch piece of plywood cut three feet in diameter. I used a center hole with a thick piece of cardboard to mount the end of the leaf blower. You can view instructions at PBS's Dragonfly series. A video of it in action is also available on Teacher Tube. When choosing a leaf blower, look for a motor with the highest amperage so that you have plenty of lift. You might check your outlet as these motors can pull considerable current. Hovercrafts work by filling the tarp underneath with a pillow of air. If the floor is smooth enough the pillow will slide along with very little friction. It is essential that air can get out of the pillow - otherwise it will fill and deflate suddenly. You should test your fabrics before buying them. Blow into the fabric and see if air is able to go through. You want a fabric that can breathe a bit, but if it does not, you can simply add a few holes symmetrically until the right volume of air exits. A smooth release of air is what is required. !!!!!!CAUTION!!!!!! And I Repeat !!!!!CAUTION!!!!! Leaf blowers have a cowling that protects the user from exposure to the spinning motor blades. It is also safety protected so that if the cowling comes off the motor stops spinning. This cowling is designed for everyday use in the garden. It is not designed to sustain impacts with walls and other kids. Once I had a child hug the motor as they spun out of control and bumped into a wall. The cowling came off and the motor was so close to the stomach of the child that it scraped clothing and skin. It could have been much worse. I can only imagine the damage of getting long hair caught in the motor. So I warn kids about this repeatedly and I tape the cowling shut so that it can not fall off. I highly recommend you do the same. The second safety warning is that kids really do not know how to push someone so low to the ground, they tend to push hard and at the wrong angle. I instruct them to do a gentle and horizontal push and remind them that this is just a demonstration, not the Indy 500. I feel comfortable at the low speed not using a helmet on the hovercraft but you might consider it. There are several avenues a physics teacher can take on lessons with hovercrafts. I usually bring it out when I discuss Newton's First Law - that an object in uniform motion stays in uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force. A simple push and the kids keep sailing down the hallway. There really is no better demonstration of this. To make the day that much more special, I combine this with Newton's Second Law and bring out the CO2 cart. I sit the kids on a cart with a modified C02 nozzle and with a short burst they can accelerate themselves down the hall. Usually that takes the whole period, as so many kids want a turn. It is also a fantastic demo to do at elementary schools. There are many other websites for constructing hovercrafts. One of the original hovercraft designs is posted at the Science Hobbyist with William Beaty. Check out his website of whacky science demos. Hovercrafts are usually built at physics meetings and you can check out blogs and physics forums for additional plans. An interesting way to incorporate hovercrafts is in a physics lesson about air pressure, as this teacher did at the University of British Columbia. Finally, kids always want to see the coolest thing in town, so direct them to this video of a gas-powered hovercraft. Additional WIRED Science Video SegmentsDon't forget to check out our Video Section for other segments from WIRED Science that you can use in your classroom.
Wired Science's "GeekDad: UFO" video includes a fun and educational segment showing a step-by-step method on how to build a hovercraft with your students. It is something that every physics teacher should have in their arsenal of fun toys that teach physics. So what follows below are a few construction tips, some helpful advice, and some teaching strategies on how to use them.
Hovercrafts really took off in the early 1990s when powerful and cheap leaf blowers became available and plans began to proliferate on the internet. They are extremely popular with kids and a teacher should not have any trouble asking a student to build one for the class. I did that over ten years ago and I am still using the same one!
There are many ways to build a hovercraft. The method shown in "Wired Science" is foolproof and I would encourage folks to try that and then go and modify the design. The particular one that I use in class is made from a half-inch piece of plywood cut three feet in diameter. I used a center hole with a thick piece of cardboard to mount the end of the leaf blower. You can view instructions at PBS's Dragonfly series. A video of it in action is also available on Teacher Tube.
When choosing a leaf blower, look for a motor with the highest amperage so that you have plenty of lift. You might check your outlet as these motors can pull considerable current. Hovercrafts work by filling the tarp underneath with a pillow of air. If the floor is smooth enough the pillow will slide along with very little friction. It is essential that air can get out of the pillow - otherwise it will fill and deflate suddenly. You should test your fabrics before buying them. Blow into the fabric and see if air is able to go through. You want a fabric that can breathe a bit, but if it does not, you can simply add a few holes symmetrically until the right volume of air exits. A smooth release of air is what is required.
!!!!!!CAUTION!!!!!! And I Repeat !!!!!CAUTION!!!!!
Leaf blowers have a cowling that protects the user from exposure to the spinning motor blades. It is also safety protected so that if the cowling comes off the motor stops spinning. This cowling is designed for everyday use in the garden. It is not designed to sustain impacts with walls and other kids. Once I had a child hug the motor as they spun out of control and bumped into a wall. The cowling came off and the motor was so close to the stomach of the child that it scraped clothing and skin. It could have been much worse. I can only imagine the damage of getting long hair caught in the motor. So I warn kids about this repeatedly and I tape the cowling shut so that it can not fall off. I highly recommend you do the same. The second safety warning is that kids really do not know how to push someone so low to the ground, they tend to push hard and at the wrong angle. I instruct them to do a gentle and horizontal push and remind them that this is just a demonstration, not the Indy 500. I feel comfortable at the low speed not using a helmet on the hovercraft but you might consider it.
There are several avenues a physics teacher can take on lessons with hovercrafts. I usually bring it out when I discuss Newton's First Law - that an object in uniform motion stays in uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force. A simple push and the kids keep sailing down the hallway. There really is no better demonstration of this. To make the day that much more special, I combine this with Newton's Second Law and bring out the CO2 cart. I sit the kids on a cart with a modified C02 nozzle and with a short burst they can accelerate themselves down the hall.
There are many other websites for constructing hovercrafts. One of the original hovercraft designs is posted at the Science Hobbyist with William Beaty. Check out his website of whacky science demos. Hovercrafts are usually built at physics meetings and you can check out blogs and physics forums for additional plans.
An interesting way to incorporate hovercrafts is in a physics lesson about air pressure, as this teacher did at the University of British Columbia. Finally, kids always want to see the coolest thing in town, so direct them to this video of a gas-powered hovercraft.
Additional WIRED Science Video SegmentsDon't forget to check out our Video Section for other segments from WIRED Science that you can use in your classroom.
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