Ebook249 pages2 hours
Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this ebook
This bestselling DIY handbook now features new and expanded projects, enabling ordinary folks to construct 16 awesome ballistic devices in their garage or basement workshops using inexpensive household or hardware store materials and this step-by-step guide. Clear instructions, diagrams, and photographs show how to build projects ranging from the simple match-powered rocket to the more complex tabletop catapult and the offbeat Cincinnati fire kite. The classic potato cannon has a new evil twin—the piezo-electric spud gun—and the electromagnetic pipe gun has joined the company of such favorites as the tennis ball mortar. With a strong emphasis on safety, the book also gives tips on troubleshooting, explains the physics behind the projects, and profiles scientists and extraordinary experimenters such as Alfred Nobel, Robert Goddard, and Isaac Newton. This book will be indispensable for the legions of backyard toy-rocket launchers and fireworks fanatics who wish every day was the fourth of July.
Author
William Gurstelle
William Gurstelle is an American nonfiction author, magazine writer, and inventor. He is a feature columnist for Make: magazine and the Pyrotechnics and Ballistics Editor at Popular Mechanics magazine.
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Reviews for Backyard Ballistics
Rating: 4.024691390123457 out of 5 stars
4/5
81 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I bought this book to use in an after school science enrichment class I teach. It did not disappoint, the kids thought all my exploding stuff was great. Along the way they also learned terms like exothermic and velocity. Pretty decent for elementary school. Plus? Now I'm the coolest mom in school. :-D
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book rules. I am a grown-ass woman and I'll be doing some of these experiments. I don't have kids. It just sounds like fun.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is not politically correct, in an era in which school science experiments have been tamed to the point that there is little possibility that the teacher will kill or maim him/herself. William Gurstelle, an engineer who has been collecting plans for devices that will throw stuff fast and far, is careful to emphasize the hazards implicit in shooting potatoes or water balloons the length of a football field, or launching flaming newspaper (Cincinnati fire kite) into the sky. Youngsters would need lots of adult supervision when making or using these devices, but any budding engineer would thrill to see them in action.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Some interesting experiments and easy to follow instructions.
Book preview
Backyard Ballistics - William Gurstelle
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