AK Learning Box

  Build a Bubble-Powered Rocket! Build your own rocket using paper and fizzing tablets! Watch it lift off. How high does your rocket go? Print this page for the instructions. Suggestion: Find a grown-up to do this activity with you. Materials: Paper, regular 8-1/2- by 11-inch paper, such as computer printer paper or even notebook paper. Plastic 35-mm film canister (see hints below) Cellophane tape Scissors Effervescing (fizzing) antacid tablet (the kind used to settle an upset stomach) Paper towels Water Eye protection (like eye glasses, sun glasses, or safety glasses) Hints: The film canister MUST be one with a cap that fits INSIDE the rim instead of over the outside of the rim. Sometimes photography shops have extras of these and will be happy to donate some for such a worthy cause. Keep in mind: Just like with real rockets, the less your rocket weighs and the less air resistance (drag) it has, the higher it will go. Making the Rocket You must first decide how to cut your paper. You

  Get your Gummy Greenhouse Gases! Got gumdrops? Then you can build models of molecules. Molecules are tiny structures that make up just about all matter—including you! Molecules themselves are made of atoms, the basic building blocks of matter. Using just four kinds of atoms as building blocks, you can construct many different types of molecules. In this project, you will build models of some gas molecules. These kinds of gas molecules are part of the air. They are called greenhouse gases. We will explain why later. For now, get ready for some gummy fun! You will need: Gumdrops, any size, four different colors. These atoms are usually modeled using  red  for oxygen,  white  for hydrogen,  gray  for carbon, and  blue  for nitrogen. However, some of these colors are mighty hard to find in gumdrops. So use any colors you like. Here's how many you will need of each (but don't forget to get extras for sneaking into your mouth): Red: 13 White: 7 Gray (or black): 3 Blue: 2 Round wood

  Make a topographic map! Build your own mountain and make a topo map of it! A topographic map, or "topo map," is a way to show mountains and valleys on a flat piece of paper. Topo maps are handy and necessary for many uses, including building roads and hiking trails in the mountains. The map shows where the hills and valleys are and how steep they are. What you need: A lump of clay or Play-Doh® about the size of a coffee mug.  Piece of cardboard or large tile on which to work the clay Piece of dental floss, about 2 feet (around 60 centimeters) long Ruler Piece of plain, white paper Long pencil 2 toothpicks What to do: Put the lump of clay on the cardboard and shape a mountain about 4 inches high. Making the map is more fun if you make your mountain a little lop-sided or oddly shaped. However, the mountain should be flat on the bottom. Use the long pencil to poke two holes straight down through the center of the mountain. Make sure your two holes go all the way through the mo

  "See" inside a closed box! Make a detailed map of an object you can't even see! Suppose someone shows you a box and says it contains a mysterious object. Figure out what's in the box without looking or touching and the object is yours! The box has no lid, but is covered by a piece of paper so you can't see inside. You are allowed to poke small holes in the paper with a sharp, straight stick of some kind, like a knitting needle, but you can't peek inside. How would you discover what's in the box? Well, one way is to poke the stick straight down into the box until it touches something. Mark with your fingers how far the stick went in. Take out the stick and measure how far it went into the box. Mark that hole with that measurement. You could use numbers for the measurements, but an easier way is to use colors. For example, 5 inches deep is blue, 6 inches is purple. After you have almost covered the paper with color-coded holes, you could color in the areas

The Short Answer: GPS is a system of 30+ navigation satellites circling Earth. We know where they are because they constantly send out signals. A GPS receiver in your phone listens for these signals. Once the receiver calculates its distance from four or more GPS satellites, it can figure out where you are. Earth is surrounded by navigation satellites. Credit: NOAA. Humans have looked to the skies to find their way since ancient times. Ancient sailors used the constellations in the night sky to figure out where they were and where they were going. Today, all we need is a simple hand-held GPS (short for Global Positioning System) receiver to figure out exactly where we are anywhere in the world. But we still need objects high in the sky to figure out where we are and how we get to other places. Instead of stars, we use satellites. Over 30 navigation satellites are zipping around high above Earth. These satellites can tell us exactly where we are. What is GPS? The Global Positioning Syst