In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, two cast members demonstrate what happens when vinegar is added to baking soda inside a container. The resulting chemical reaction produces enough carbon dioxide to launch their paper rocket skyward.

Recommended for: Grades K-5

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make their own hovercraft and demonstrate how the air leaking out of a balloon can make a plastic plate hover above a table.

Students design and construct a device to trap insects that are present in the area around their school. The objective of the exercise is to ask the right design questions and to conduct the right tests to determine if the trap works properly.

This activity allows children to construct something themselves and be creative while learning about the concept of the center of mass.

Students will construct bird nests and birdhouses. The students will research a bird of their choice in order to design a house that will meet that bird's specific needs. This activity works well in conjunction with a 9th-12th wood shop class whose students would partner up with your class, however this is not a necessity.

Survey potential bridge sites, research bridge design, and select the right bridge for the right location in this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site.

In this hands-on activity, students explore the electrical force that takes place between two objects. Each student builds an electroscope and uses the device to draw conclusions about objects' charge intensity. Students also determine what factors influence electric force.

Students create their own anemometers instruments for measuring wind speed. They see how an anemometer measures wind speed by taking measurements at various school locations. They also learn about different types of anemometers, real-world applications, and how wind speed information helps engineers decide where to place wind turbines.

Students will create a model of an object of their choice, giving them skills and practice in techniques used by professionals. The students will use sketches as they build their objects. This activity will facilitate a discussion on models and their usefulness.

Students will build a city out of sugar cubes, bouillon cubes, and gelatin cubes. The city will be put through simulated earthquakes to see which cube structures withstand the shaking the best.

You will be investigating the physics behind the launching of a bottle rocket that you will design and build.

You will investigate some of the components that go into designing your own model of a solar car. This is to kindle car design ideas, not limit them.

Students build their own roller coasters using pipe insulation and marbles, and then analyze them using principles of physics. They examine conversions between kinetic and potential energy and frictional effects to design roller coasters that are completely driven by gravity. A class competition is then held to determine the most innovative and successful roller coasters.

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast shows how the 34 steps in their Rube Goldberg invention use everything from gravity to carbon dioxide gas in order to accomplish one simple task: pouring a glass of milk.

In this video segment from ZOOM, Jillian explains how her simple machine uses marbles, levers, flowing sand, and a spinning wheel to water a plant.

Working in teams of four, you and your team will build a tetrahedral kite following a specific set of directions and using specific provided materials. You will use basic processes of manufacturing systems -- cutting, shaping, forming, conditioning, assembling, joining, finishing, and quality control -- to manufacture a complete tetrahedral kite within a given time frame. Evaluation of your project will involve the efficiency of your team as well as your finished product.

Students investigate the weather from a systems approach, learning how individual parts of a system work together to create a final product. Students learn how a barometer works to measure the Earth's air pressure by building a model out of simple materials. Students analyze the changes in barometer measurements over time and compare those to actual weather conditions. They learn how to use a barometer to understand air pressure and to predict actual weather changes.

Students learn about the practical uses, structure, mathematics and terminology of the binary number system. They learn how to convert a given number from the binary to the decimal number system and vice versa, and perform binary addition and subtraction as part of a class game. They use this understanding to build their own simple, mechanical "hard drive" a box that uses binary numbers to represent words for later retrieval. The activity helps students build an appreciation for the way that computers and electronics store and retrieve information.

Students create and decorate their own spectrographs using simple materials and holographic diffraction gratings. A holographic diffraction grating acts like a prism, showing the visual components of light. After building the spectrographs, students observe the spectra of different light sources as homework.