Rube Goldberg Machines at Camden

This Wednesday in Weird Science we will be exploring Momentum! I am bringing back a very popular activity that I've done in the past with the kids. We will break up into 2 - 3 person groups and build marble tracks using different building materials. The students will be challenged to design a marble track that keeps their marble rolling for the longest period of time. Then, we will spend some time engineering the track materials so that all the components (groups) might work together in one large Rube Goldberg machine! If you don't know what a Rube Goldberg machine is, here is a fine example on youtube that the band OK GO used for one of their music videos. Your kids might enjoy this:

Of course, the ones we design won't be nearly this complex, but fun nonetheless!

Pizza-Box Solar Ovens

Pizza-box solar ovens are perfect projects for elementary school kids and older! Next week I'll be making them ahead of time for the preschool group so that they can melt candles inside them and watch the temperature rise as we put them out in the sun. In the past, my solar ovens have reached temperatures around 200 degrees F. They don't get too hot, but hot enough to melt things! I haven't tried cooking anything in them-- I would want the temperature to be at least 350 degrees F for that. So I need to refine the design a bit to reach that goal.

If you are interested in making a pizza-box solar oven, here is a great youtube video that shows you how to do it step by step. Enjoy!

How to Make a Pizza-Box Solar Oven