- Science Toys
- Magnetism
- Magnetorheological fluids
- A Curie-effect heat engine
- A magnet in mid-air
- Pyrolytic graphite in mid-air
- The Gauss Rifle: A Magnetic Linear Accelerator
- A Magnetic Ring Launcher
- Electromagnetism
- An electric motor in 10 minutes
- The single brush motor
- A bigger motor
- The double brush improvement
- The 10 minute motor with no magnet
- Notes about electricity
- Fun with High Voltage
- A high voltage motor in 5 minutes
- A rotary high voltage motor
- A simple homemade Van de Graaff generator
- A high voltage ion motor
- A 10 minute railgun
- A 30 second motor
- Listening to magnetism
- Electrochemistry
- A plastic hydrogen bomb
- Building your own solar battery.
- A flat panel solar battery.
- Building a Hydrogen Fuel Cell.
- Homemade Batteries.
- Collecting Chemical Elements.
- Radio
- A quick and simple radio
- Building a radio in 10 minutes
- A radio out of household items
- A simple AM transmitter
- The Three-Penny Radio
- A Portable Crystal Radio
- Thermodynamics
- Simple heat engines
- World's simplest steam boat
- A simple rotary steam engine
- A simple rocket engine
- A bimetal strip heat engine
- A Film Can Cannon
- A metal that melts in hot water
- A room temperature liquid metal alloy
- A simple solar powered heat engine
- Homemade Ice Cream Maker
- Aerodynamics
- A Bernoulli levitation ball
- A Homemade Vacuum Pump
- A Classic Propellor Toy
- Light and optics
- Simple laser communicator
- Make your own 3D pictures
- Making permanent rainbows.
- A solar powered marshmallow roaster
- Make a spectroscope from a CD.
- The impossible kaleidoscope
- Make a solar hotdog cooker
- Exploring invisible light
- A high resolution spectrograph.
- Time-lapse photography.
- High speed photography.
- Stacking photos for high depth of field.
- Biology
- Extracting DNA in your kitchen
- Photography through the microscope
- Video through the microscope
- Listening to Electric Fish
- Using a video camera as a microscope
- Mathematics
- Kaleidocycles
- A Geodesic Dome
- A Homemade Microgram Balance
- Computers and Electronics
- A Computer Controlled Transmitter
- A Free Space Laser Data Transmitter
- Fun With Solderless Breadboards
- A Simple 1 Watt Amplifier
- An integrated circuit Amplifier
- Build a digital thermometer
A Magnetic Ring Launcher
This very simple toy keeps amazing me with new tricks. My friend Jef Raskin
first described it to me, and we have both been having fun with variations
ever since.
All it consists of is ten little magnetic beads on a carbon graphite
composite rod.
The beads all repel one another, and arrange themselves in a way that
clearly shows the effect of gravity -- the beads at the bottom are closer
together than the ones at the top, forming a beautiful mathematical
progression.
Click on image for larger picture
The fun doesn't stop there, though. Turn the rod upside-down, and the
beads flow down like sand, arranging themselves once again in the same
pattern, always staying separate.
Push down on the top bead, and then let it go. The ring shoots up into
the air, and sticks to whatever ferromagnetic surface it hits, such as
a filing cabinet or refrigerator. The effect is non-linear. Adding one
more bead makes the top bead go farther than adding the previous bead did.
There are two configurations we like to play with. In one, we glue a bead
to each end of the rod, with eight (or more) beads in the middle. This form
allows us to stick it to the refrigerator, and peel it off like a zipper.
If you let it stick to the refrigerator, then pull the top or the bottom,
the magnets bunch up at the other end. Then peel it off, and they jump back
one by one into the original sequence.
It's mesmerizing just to turn it upside down again and again, and watch the
beads orient themselves, flowing like water down the rod.
The second form is the Ring Launcher. In this form, the rod is glued into
a hole in a block of wood, so it stays upright (or at a 45 degree angle if
you want maximum horizontal range).
You can launch the rings at steel targets, or have competitions or battles
between two launchers. Or, you can glue a bead to the top, and just play
with it on your desk, shooting the beads up to the top, where they are
silently repelled back down by the top bead.
Building the Ring Launcher
You probably don't need any further explanation, but for completeness,
we show the construction steps below.
Click on image for larger picture
We start with a wooden block, and drill a small hole in the center.
We carry the rods and the beads in our
catalog.
The rods are 10 inches long, and 0.03 inches in diameter. They are made from
the same high strength graphite composite that high-end tennis racquets,
fishing poles, and bicycles are made of. They will bend easily, and spring
back to their original straight form. If bent too far, they will snap cleanly
in two pieces.
The beads have holes in them that just fit over the rod. They are the same
super high strength magnets as the others we carry in our catalog. Like those,
they are gold plated to keep out moisture, and survive corrosion and abrasion.
Click on image for larger picture
Glue the rod into the hole, keeping the rod upright. We like to use
Super Glue, as other glues take longer to harden, and don't hold onto
the slippery rod as well.
Place one bead at the bottom of the rod, and let the glue stick it there.
Now place the rest of the beads on the rod one by one, making sure they
repel one another. If they stick, turn the last one over.
That's it! Now you have a ring launcher.
To make the Zip Rod, don't use the wooden block.
Click on image for larger picture
Glue one bead at the end of the rod.
Click on image for larger picture
Let the glue harden, then place the remaining beads on the rod, so they repel.
The last bead is finally glued to the far end of the rod, again making sure
it repels the bead before it. There should be a good deal of space between
the last two beads, so you can watch the beads move and stack themselves.
Click on image for larger picture
Click on image for larger picture
Click on image for larger picture
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Del.icio.us
- Science Toys
- Magnetism
- Magnetorheological fluids
- A Curie-effect heat engine
- A magnet in mid-air
- Pyrolytic graphite in mid-air
- The Gauss Rifle: A Magnetic Linear Accelerator
- A Magnetic Ring Launcher
- Electromagnetism
- An electric motor in 10 minutes
- The single brush motor
- A bigger motor
- The double brush improvement
- The 10 minute motor with no magnet
- Notes about electricity
- Fun with High Voltage
- A high voltage motor in 5 minutes
- A rotary high voltage motor
- A simple homemade Van de Graaff generator
- A high voltage ion motor
- A 10 minute railgun
- A 30 second motor
- Listening to magnetism
- Electrochemistry
- A plastic hydrogen bomb
- Building your own solar battery.
- A flat panel solar battery.
- Building a Hydrogen Fuel Cell.
- Homemade Batteries.
- Collecting Chemical Elements.
- Radio
- A quick and simple radio
- Building a radio in 10 minutes
- A radio out of household items
- A simple AM transmitter
- The Three-Penny Radio
- A Portable Crystal Radio
- Thermodynamics
- Simple heat engines
- World's simplest steam boat
- A simple rotary steam engine
- A simple rocket engine
- A bimetal strip heat engine
- A Film Can Cannon
- A metal that melts in hot water
- A room temperature liquid metal alloy
- A simple solar powered heat engine
- Homemade Ice Cream Maker
- Aerodynamics
- A Bernoulli levitation ball
- A Homemade Vacuum Pump
- A Classic Propellor Toy
- Light and optics
- Simple laser communicator
- Make your own 3D pictures
- Making permanent rainbows.
- A solar powered marshmallow roaster
- Make a spectroscope from a CD.
- The impossible kaleidoscope
- Make a solar hotdog cooker
- Exploring invisible light
- A high resolution spectrograph.
- Time-lapse photography.
- High speed photography.
- Stacking photos for high depth of field.
- Biology
- Photography through the microscope
- Video through the microscope
- Listening to Electric Fish
- Using a video camera as a microscope
- Mathematics
- Kaleidocycles
- A Geodesic Dome
- A Homemade Microgram Balance
- Computers and Electronics
- A Computer Controlled Transmitter
- A Free Space Laser Data Transmitter
- Fun With Solderless Breadboards
- A Simple 1 Watt Amplifier
- An integrated circuit Amplifier
- Build a digital thermometer
Some of my other web sites:
- Your Mother was a Chemist: Science in the Kitchen
- Ingredients: What's in the Stuff We Buy?
- Toying With Science: My Science Blog
Send mail to
Simon Quellen Field
via
sfield@scitoys.com
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