Make a simple mini-motor. A coil of wire becomes an electromagnet when current passes through it. The electromagnet interacts with a permanent magnet, causing the coil to spin. Voilà! You’ve created ...

Build a paper-pencil-pin phonograph. In this classic activity, make a record player out of simple materials and listen to your favorite vinyl LP—no outlet required. Starting in one corner, roll the ...

The distribution of the mass of an object determines the position of its center of gravity, its angular momentum, and your ability to balance it. Place a lump of clay about the size of your fist ...

With polarized light, you can make a stained glass window without glass. Using transparent tape and polarizing material, you can make and project beautifully colored patterns reminiscent of abstract ...

Throw one hundred coins, remove all those that come up tails, place them in a pile, repeat—you've got yourself a hands-on model for radioactive decay. The piles graphically show the meaning of the ...

When we think about objects that respond to magnets, fruit usually doesn't come to mind. Watch a rare-earth magnet repel a grape and discover different kinds of magnetism. A note on magnets: Only ...

You have two eyes, yet you see only one image of your environment. If your eyes receive conflicting information, what does your brain do? Roll the sheet of paper lengthwise into a tube 11 inches (28 ...

You’ve probably seen an ice skater spinning on the tip of one skate suddenly start to spin dramatically faster. A diver or gymnast may also suddenly flip or twist much faster. This speeded-up rotation ...

Hone your electrostatic levitation skills and fly some tinsel. Next time you’re in the vicinity of a Christmas tree, impress your friends and family with a little levitation. By experimenting with ...

Discover why the sky is blue and the sunset is red. When sunlight travels through the atmosphere, blue light scatters more than the other colors, leaving a dominant yellow-orange hue to the ...

Polarizing sunglasses cut road glare better in some positions than in others. When light reflects from water, asphalt, or other nonmetallic surfaces, it becomes polarized—that is, the reflected light ...

Polarized light passing through sugar water reveals beautiful colors. White light is made up of all the colors in the rainbow. When polarized white light passes through a sugar solution, each color’s ...