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Summary: Learn about the supplies you will need to build your cool and easy balloon hovercraft experiment in this free science fair video.
Views: 4,388 | Tags: easy, kids, fun, science, fair, experiment, balloon, hovercraft, experiments
About the Expert
Scott Thompson Scott Thompson has been teaching kids of all ages for about twenty years. He currently works for the Wisconsin Public School system teaching science and other... read more
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Questions & AnswersHi this is Scott Thompson from expertvillage.com. Today I'm going to demonstrate a way to put those used CDs to use by building a small balloon hovercraft. Supplies that you are going to need to build this are: as many CDs as hovercrafts you want create; you are going to need a small poking kind of device, like a pen, thumb tack, or a sharp pencil; a piece of cardboard that you cut from a larger stock piece—you might need one of these for each hovercraft that you build. To attach the balloon to the CD, you actually put the balloon over a piece of small plastic pipe. This can be cut by students, if they are old enough, using a small pipe cutter. Simple little thing that works pretty well. But if the kids are really small, then you might want to do this ahead of time. Once you cut the pipe off, using a piece of sandpaper really helps to take the burrs off that edge so it does not puncture the balloon when you put it over the top. Get that as smooth as you can. And you will need a balloon. The balloon actually powers the hovercraft. The balloon has the energy in it to get your hovercraft scooting along the floor. Assembly of the pieces works really well with hot glue; be real careful with this. Safety goggles are probably a good idea. Use the lowest temperature glue stick that you can find; it is just a lot safer, and it still works pretty well.
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