Frankenstein200

Explore some more mysterious forces of nature! Make a snow-white orb appear to float in space!

About 60 years before Mary Shelley was born, a Swiss mathematician named Daniel Bernoulli discovered a principle that explains some surprising things, like why some things that are heavier than air, like airplanes, can stay aloft.

Make this simple gadget to see this principle in action.

You can download and print these instructions.

Materials

Collect these materials:

a ping pong ball
a flexible “bendy” straw
tape (masking tape or cellophane tape will work)
a large piece of stiff construction paper
scissors

Recipe

Cut a large circle out of the construction paper.

Make a cut in the circle, in a straight line from the outside of the circle to the center.

Carefully make a hole in the center of the circle, a bit larger than the thickness of your straw.

Bend the straw at a right angle, and insert the shorter end into the bottom of the cone…

…so that about 1/2 inch of it sticks up into the interior of the cone.

Place the ping pong ball inside the cone.

Blow into the long end of the straw…and see what happens!

Show us what you made!

Did you make a floating orb? Then share it with us! We love seeing what people make.

SHARE YOUR CREATION!

...and then claim your exclusive Frankenstein200 Award Certificate!