Amateur Science

I’ve seen people blowing smoke rings and dolphinsblowing bubble rings I was wondering if it was a physical possibility to do thesame thing but through soil or sand or whether its too dense. What exactly is a vortex ring? Is it ashock wave of force carrying another substance or is it an actual particle flow Furbs

My nephew has a science project where the only restriction is that he has to use a magnet is some form or another. He chose to try and replicate the Maglev trains. I've done some research and found some helpful book/articles/websites on how to make the train levitate using opposing poles of a magnet on the bottom of the train and the top of the track. So I'm pretty sure I can handle that part. The one problem I'm running into is how to get the train the actually move using the magnets. The research I've found says that the propulsion of the train comes from the magnets on the side of the train and the side walls of the track but it doesn't say how that actually gets the t…

Would it be possible to use a magnetron inplace of a primary in an induction system for wireless power transfer? I’minterested in microwave frequency resonance and i think this may be a good way of starting

Hey, i love reading this forum and thought I might propose the question: What would happen a large group - a huge group - of people shared dreams? intends to find out

My science project is centering around the idea of exercise and its effect on the mind. I want to get test subjects, make them do a maths and reading standardised test and then get them to do take a similar test the next day after doing fifteen minutes of mild exercise to see the difference in performance. I would like to know if you think this project is good enough to win a regional science fair. Thanks a lot, Rachael.

I'm a retired hobbyist, with a basic under standing of math, science, physics I want to glue a thin wood veneer on to deck of a radio controlled hydroplane. I want to clamp it with a clear plastic vacuum bag system. the hull is giber glass but basically hollow. The pump will produce 5 "hg, just under 2 1/2 pounds per square inch. this is the part I can't get my mind around. The hull is 50" X 24", lets say 1200 square inches. At a half pound per square inch, am I applying 600 pounds of force to all sides of the hull? Thats like having two great big guys stand on my little boat. I've tried other forums, hope you can help. Tap Otto von Guericke, (1602-1686), a Germ…

Anybody else on SFN an amateur (or professional?) fermenter? I've been making beer (malt extracts only so far) for less than a year, and think it would be cool to start making cheeses - though this sounds a lot tougher. Who else dabbles in fermentation?

I'm planing to operate a plant nursery in future. now I can only dream. I read that some green house input carbon dioxide. So I'm looking into the cheapest, cleanest and safest way to produce some CO2. I can burn some paper or dried leaves. but it may create monoxide, and probably dioxins. In enclosed space, it can be hazardous. The aquarium people use sugar and yeast to ferment in a bottle. I probably need something with a bigger scale. They are burning some oil or fuel to create CO2. However, it seems to be quite wasteful.Some oils are quite cheap actually, however I will consider cheaper options if there is one. What do you think of the above methods ? and …

I was really bored one day and I came across brainwave entertainment stuff. By what I read I can see it does stufff to your brain and all that. I was wondering if this could be pontentialy Harmful, if so what would the effects be?

Electricity travels at the speed of light 'along' a wire we are taught. But isn't the electron drift in a wire very slow even when the battery is connected? What is the 'electromagnetic wave' that travels along a wire if it isn't electrons. Or is it electrons? I'm confused. And since I'm a primary school teacher, if I'm confused so are the pupils. Has anyone an explanation I can understand with some basic physics?

I want to know can an amateur scientist have a home business or being self-employed. Do you know of successful scientists that are amateurs in this world, today?

Hello sciencefourms.net, it's nice to meet you (collective sense). I'm just some Bloke from the forest who's interested in science - feel free to derive profundities from my name, if you want. That's the introduction out of the way... So, I'm not actually writing a scientific paper for a journal; not yet. I am going to though. A few weeks ago a Eureka moment hit me and now I think I have a scientific theory! It is about physics. And no, (cliché) I'm not going to "reveal" what it is because I would be worried that someone might...steal it. And so, I want to get it down into a paper and (hopefully) get it published. The only thing is (cliché) I'm not very g…

I found this organism growing in a container we used to use to hold homemade baby wipes. The water it is floating in is simply tap water with a bit of tea tree oil, but it has been sitting stagnant for quite some time, as we apparently forgot to dump it when we were through using it. I find it quite fascinating, and would love to know what it is, if anyone would be kind enough to tell me their ideas. If the pics aren't clear enough, I can ask my husband to try. Thank you in advance! Dawn

Uploaded with ImageShack.us This is quite a big pod of an orchid. I've just flasked it, and I took a few pictures. Orchids seeds can be germinated in bottles, and it was first done probably a century ago by someone. This pod is still green. If it is too immature, none will germinate. Green pods just before it turns yellow and split seems to be the preferred stage to flask orchids. I do not know what stage this pod is at, anyway I go ahead and flask it. I got some jam bottles, clean them. I cooked some agar nutrient, using a recipe I got off a website. fill a bit of the agar nutrient into the jam bottles. I'm not using the commercial plant nutrient, as I can't find…

I am looking for some foam or rubber material that I can mold to a specific shape. The two main constraints I have for the material are as follows: it needs to work quickly (30 minutes or less) and form shape at room temperature. To be more specific I need to press a shape into the foam or rubber and have the material take the shape fast. The reaction can be exothermic but must not create so much heat it could cause a burn human skin. Does anyone know of a material like this? Does a product already exist that does this? Could I make it myself? Thank you

Hello everyone, My name is Jacob Shiach and I am organizing a magazine for the amateur science community. It's called The Citizen Science Quarterly. And the first issue is planned to be printed in the First Quarter of 2011. Is anyone here working on something they think others would like to read or learn about? Or interested in putting something together specifically for the magazine?

for beggining astronomy you should already know that the earth is 93000000 miles from the sun so then you can know how far pluto is from the sun and it is 3000000000 miles from the sun and our solar system is very huge:eyebrow::doh:all feelings

Hi All, My nephew has been learning about Hydro Electricity at school. He is very interested in the subject and has asked if I could help him make a Hydro-Electric generator at home as an experiment. I am more than happy with building the turbine bit. I was first thinking of using the tap outside to provide us with the power source (water-flow). The thing I'm not sure of is how to turn the spinning turbine into electricity and use it to do something effective for him to see. It can be something as simple as lighting a small bulb or sounding a buzzer. Then I got thinking about maybe plumbing something up to the drain pipe outside and somehow "storing" the electrici…

For those of you that have been following the Registers PARIS mission - updates and pictures galore here. PARIS page Congrats to all involved. PARIS involved building a paper plane that could be launched from a weather balloon at high altitude.

I am interested to know your answer about the question above.

My son is 10 years old and he has questions which many times I can't answer. I don't and honestly can't answer his questions in a simple way that he can understand. Or do I underestimate him? Not so sure about it. His questions are: 1. What is energy and what is its form: is it liquid, solid or gas? 2. What is light? Can somebody help me, please? Thanks.

I am building an air cannon with a 100 psi compressor, 2.5" PVC barrel, and a tennis ball projectile. What type of valve should I use?

So I was contemplating the consequences of no saturation point to energy within a given space. I eventually came up with a small way to capture photons from light and keep them. Basically I thought of a toroid design that on the inside consists of mirrors to reflect the photons all along the ring. The entrance for the photons to get in would be a one way mirror on the top that hits a 1 way mirror below the inside tube that reflects it at an angle into the torus. Of course energy is lost due to heat and such so encompass the torus with another torus, and create a vacuum between the two. Also because of the heat concept you could build test probes in the vacuum to ex…

Looking to put together a 300 to 500 megaelectron-volt linear electron and ion accelerator. Need tips on design. -How large a voltage source? -What kinds of cathodes for the particle emitter? -Should I just steal an electron gun out of a TV? -Is highly evacuated PVC tubing a good beam chamber? -Would it be a good Idea to build two, and then slam the electrons into one another? -Will there be positron creation at this energy? -How much lead shielding are we talking about? -Should I use a live cockroach as a particle target? -Is the Compton wavelength of the cockroach shorter than a breadbox? -Should I call the IAEA? Help a brother out.

I'm currently constructing a coil gun for a science project, and had a few technical questions that I'm hoping you guys can help with. First off, I'm building a capacitor bank, consisting of 6 small flash capacitors that are 330V each (I don't recall the Farads off the top of my head and can't access it at the moment, but it should be around 120uF). My main questions for the cap bank are what the exact voltage would be, what the exact capacitance would be, and how I would go about testing the charge of the bank before firing. From what I understand, two 1.5V batteries linked in parallel provide 1.5V, but when linked serially would equal 3V. My cap bank is in parallel, s…