Junk Drawer Engineering: 25 Construction Challenges That Don't Cost A Thing
To Jordan and Nicole you inspire me daily
Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction What Is Engineering ix 1 Energy 1 Zip Line Madness 1 Lunchroom Catapult 10 Bounce with Me 18 Gravity Slide 26 Marbleous Roller Coaster 32 Slow Down 40 Leap of Faith 46 Fridge Run 55 Almost Totally Tubular Roller Coaster 62 Mint Can Challenge 70 Windmill Challenge 76 2 Structures 89 Index Card Textbook Challenge 89 Newspaper Table 97 Paper Tower 107 Marshmallow Tower 116 Pasta Bridge 130 Penny Boat 144 Egg Catch 153 Candy Mobile 161 SOS Save Our Socks 168
Acknowledgments Thanks to all the people who made this book series a reality The teachers I work with are truly an inspiration to me on a daily basis and their insight is invaluable Thanks to Laura Spinks Jennifer Allsbrook Sergey Zalevskiy Kim Mirasola Leslie Rhinehart Robert Frost Lucas Link and Shannon Haynes Thanks to the best agent in the business Kathy Green Thanks to Jerome Pohlen and the creative people at Chicago Review Press for helping to shape this book As always I am eternally grateful to my wife Michele for allowing me and my assistants to make a mess in the name of science And a special written shout-out to my two personal science assistants Jordan and Nicole Their tiny hands are featured in many of the photographs vii
