Discover the expert in you.
Discover the expert in you.
Making models is a great way to get elementary students interested in a variety of subjects. Make a model of tectonic plates for elementary students with help from a science teacher and writer in this free video clip.
Cement's low cost makes it the material of choice for many building and sculpting projects, but its relatively brittle nature makes it susceptible to cracking and crumbling. Cement is rarely untreated before it dries. No matter what the application, you must take steps to reinforce it. Before your cement model turns to concrete, takes precautions to ensure that your concrete model comes out strong and durable.
Steam engines have been in existence since the late 17th century, but it was not power source for farming implements until the late 19th century. It predated the gasoline engine and more or less served as a template for mechanized farming, but steam engines were complicated and too large for practical daily use.
Horse-drawn carts were used throughout the middle ages to transport goods of all kinds, from humble farm produce to exotic imported goods. Carts ranged from simple farm vehicles to elaborate carriages with padded seats and curtains. Whether you're building a school project, adding detail to a set of wargames terrain, or just creating something for your own enjoyment, a model horse and cart is a challenging craft project and a fun way to learn about daily life in the middle ages. As long as you have some patience and a bit of know-how, you can create a simple farm cart…
Organizing papers in the house isn't something that should take all afternoon. Organize papers in the house with help from an author, teacher and blogger in this free video clip.
Learning about the elements of the world can be a lot of fun, but it's difficult to view everything that's really happening inside these elements unless you're using a powerful microscope. If you're entering a science fair, or you just want to illustrate how solids, liquids and gases are formed, you can use regular polystyrene balls to put together quite a display, using a basic planetary model. This method was created when the atomic nucleus was first discovered, and is still widely taught to children today.
Creating and painting plastic models is often a delicate and exacting hobby. The right paint, and the lasting effects it gives to the model, makes all the difference when complementing the finished piece. While there are several painting methods suitable for your plastic model, using an airbrush to apply paint provides a greater finish, a more attractive color nuance nand better control than painting with brushes or sprays.
The carbon atom’s nucleus contains six positively charged protons and six electrically neutral neutrons. Six negatively charged electrons surround the nucleus. Although it’s easy to model these atomic particles with craft materials, it’s important to understand why any such model is inaccurate. First, the scale is wrong. If a carbon nucleus were the size of a pinhead, the space containing electrons would be almost five times the size of a football field. Secondly, simple models imply that electrons orbit the nucleus like planets around the sun, occupying particular places at specific times. In fact, electrons are wavelike particles with no…
A truss is a type of support bridge often used because of its strength and ability to handle a large weight load. It is often used for passenger vehicle bridges but also for railroad bridges. The truss is made of triangular supports that are not only strong but have a striking geometric aesthetic. Model trusses are used for model railroad tracks as well. They can be built to scale like the model trains that ride over them.
Electric furnaces, like any household appliances, are prone to various problems and malfunctions. If the problem with your furnace lies in the blower fan or blower motor, a bit of troubleshooting can help you find the exact nature of the issue and decide if the motor needs to be fixed or replaced.
Dioramas are three-dimensional constructions that are drawn to scale and feature a scene, such as an urban setting or the wilderness. Dioramas are often assigned to students, but adults may create a diorama as well, to be used in a theater production. Biology students who are studying the ocean’s ecosystems or pupils who are reading “Moby Dick” in their English class may be asked to create an ocean diorama with a model ship. Dioramas can be effective learning tools for both the creator and the viewers.
Model train layouts are enjoyable to develop, but they can become complicated and quickly take over a space. Making a large, table layout requires a lot of time and detail work, and such a layout can't be boxed easily when completed. Having a model train table that suspends from the ceiling and can be raised or lowered as needed is an ideal way to store your creation intact.
Your refrigerator has a condenser that cools hot air inside of the refrigerator unit. Once the air is cooled it is blown into the fridge with electric fans. The electric fans usually run fairly silent. If your refrigerator is noisy, or fails to cool properly, you may have an issue with the fan. There are a few troubleshooting steps you can try to determine whether the fan is faulty. However, noise is usually enough to determine whether a fan is faulty or not.
Ever since Peter Peregrinus floated lodestones in water in the 13th century, compasses have assisted explorers and travelers in finding their way. Modern compasses are powered by magnets and show direction due to the pull of the magnetic North and South poles of the Earth. The needle in the compass is magnetic and it will show which direction north is, allowing the user to also find east, west and south. Teach students how compasses work by having them create their own compasses from magnets and materials found around the home.
Drawing a sketch of a building that you want to build can help you to explain to the architect how you want the structure to look. However, if you want to create a more accurate representation of the building, use a computer modeling software program. A building model created on a computer allows a viewer to see a three-dimensional version of the structure. You can change the model at any time because it is a computer rendering of the building.
Boots are one of the many products you can make as an IMVU Content Creator. The boots are worn by avatars, and you can also use them on your own virtual characters or sell them to the IMVU community. The IMVU Create Mode Editor gives you the tools to apply meshes that automatically create the dimensions that build a 3D product. After you create a texture and opacity map in your 2D graphics program, use your files to apply a mesh to your boot products.
Wind erosion occurs when the wind removes and redistributes soil, wearing away the surface of the Earth. In fields, wind erosion strips away the most fertile part of the soil, getting into the air and becoming harmful dust. A simple way to teach students about wind erosion is to build a model, allowing them to see how the land looks before and after the wind causes the erosion. A shoebox serves as the perfect contained model to move sand, soil and rocks and demonstrate the effects of wind on land.
Roofing paper is often used to control moisture under your home as part of a vapor barrier. Vapor barriers are designed to prevent moisture from reaching your insulation. They are often installed in other areas of the basement, depending on how it is built. These barriers are intended to protect the structure of your foundation and extend the life of the insulation.
The introduction of steam technology was one of the driving forces of the industrial revolution. Manufacturing, shipping and overland travel were dramatically changed as steam engines were invented and improved. The first steam engine appeared around 1698 in England. Throughout the industrial revolution, it would evolve and become an increasingly important part of the technological evolution of the world.
Beginning a new modeling career may seem like an overwhelming experience, but there are a few basic steps every aspiring model must take in order to create exposure. One of the best ways to get your image out to potential agents is by creating a modeling contact page. This simple page gives agents your basic information and an image of you, and full contact information.
Sitting in a spa filled with warm, bubbly water is a pleasant way to relax at the end of the day. Your spa is connected to an electric motor that produces bubbles and massaging streams of water. When the motor fails, the spa's jets stop working. Electric spa motors often stop working when they get too hot. Overheating decreases the motor's life, and it may cause permanent damage. Keep your electric spa motor cool and ventilated to avoid damage caused by overheating.
When designing a line of clothing, creating an initial model of the pieces is an important step. This is particularly true when you are designing suits, as the potential wearers are going to want to try the style on, feel its fabric and ensure that the fit is correct for them. When doing this, you may want to incorporate current trends or focus on a completely classical look. Decide on your design's ambiance before you begin sewing the pieces together.
A crane is the ideal option for pouring cement over a large area, with an incredible range of skips available to the builder, depending on their specific needs. These can be used to accurately choose the direction and speed of cement flow, providing solid foundations to any building project that will last for decades.
Whether you want to store food or clothing using less space, build your own vacuum pump using an auto AC electric motor. Vacuum pumps remove the air from storage bags to shrink the size of the contents. Excess air in storage bags creates unneeded space. Use an auto AC electric motor to generate the suction needed for your vacuum pump. Wall electrical outlets generate alternating current, or AC, power needed to power the electric motor. The electrical motor is attached to the air-conditioner compressor.
OtterBox offers several lines of smartphone cases designed to protect your device from all kinds of damage. The front housing for some OtterBox series includes a clear plastic front that fits right over the screen and protects it from damage. Sometimes, small air bubbles may appear under this plastic and there are a few ways to fix the problem.
Teaching your child to reduce, reuse and recycle is important, but it doesn't have to be monotonous. Help your child make a skeleton out of recycled milk jugs and wire for a fun and educational craft. You will need a supply of plastic milk jugs to complete this project. You can save your own containers over several weeks or visit the neighbors with your child to ask for recycled donations. For extra pizzazz, decorate the skeleton with glow-in-the dark paints and recycled bottle caps for his eyes, nose and mouth.
A hydraulic system is powered by either a diesel-fueled or gasoline-fueled tractor’s engine, depending on the make. The engine not only powers the machine, but the hydraulic pump, a set of gears designed to supply pressurized oil that creates motion for the hydraulic system. Converting your farm machine’s hydraulic system from one powered by gasoline to an electric motor essentially involves installing an electric motor and battery in the engine.
Rotisserie grilling consists of placing food on a spit rod and slowly rotating it over a fire. This type of grilling is primarily used for large and small pieces of meat, but can also be used for cooking vegetables. While rotisserie grilling, the right rotating speed is essential for cooking the food properly. Rotisserie grilling is advantageous since it does not leave any unwanted grill marks on the food and barbecue chefs let the spit do all the work.
When creating a miniature model city, forest or other location with a winter theme, one way to bring even more detail and realism is to include a frozen pond. While the logistics behind using actual frozen water for your pond is not appropriate for most model enthusiasts, the look of ice can be replicated using basic arts and crafts supplies.
Johannes Gutenberg, a metal smith of the early Renaissance period, was the first to devise a printing press with removable wood or metal letters, making it easier to print hundreds of copies of any book or written material. Although, an extraordinary idea, the press was simply made. It was constructed of a few wooden beams, holding a wood frame box containing the letters. This frame was pressed down to paper lying on a workspace to make the print. To demonstrate what the Johannes Gutenberg printing press looked like, you can make a model using white poster board.
Today's automotive engines are as much electronic as mechanical. Computer controls that regulate systems, such as fuel delivery, mixture, temperature and performance, depend on feedback from an array of electronic engine sensors. If a single sensor is defective, symptoms may cascade across a range of systems, making troubleshooting difficult. The Sunpro Sensor Tester Plus enables on-vehicle testing of primary engine sensors to diagnose malfunctions at their source. While most engines utilize the same configuration of sensors, plug and pin assignments in connectors and the proper connection of Sunpro test leads vary, according to make and model. However, the basic test…
Investigate the anatomy of vertebrate animal vision by making a model eyeball using a Styrofoam ball. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the eyeball is the round structure that houses the retina, which is made up of millions of light receptors that humans use to focus and see objects. The spherical piece of Styrofoam forms the entire eyeball and a model cornea is inserted into its center. The project is simple enough for beginner crafters or children.
The Temple of Artemis is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, built in the year 560 B.C. to honor the goddess Artemis. The temple has undergone several changes, mainly because it has been destroyed several times and each time it was reconstructed, the configuration and materials used appear to have changed. The original structure was likely constructed of marble and later versions contained some limestone. One hundred and twenty 60-foot high pillars or columns are evenly distributed through the 425-foot-by-225-foot base. Thirty-six of the original pillars had hand-carved figures representing Grecian culture of the time of its…
Craft a small bench for a model railroad set that is just the right size for miniature passengers. Model train aficionados create elaborate models for their railroads, including buildings, train depots and countryside. A miniature bench fabricated from balsa wood, which is an easy-to-cut soft wood, recreates the type of bench that passengers sit on while waiting for their trains to arrive.
Bungalow is a type of house which become very popular in the western United States, as a low-cost but also stylish accommodation, according to OldHouses.com. Bungalows are mostly detached, one- or one-half-stories structures, which feature a verandah -- roofed porch -- on the facade or the sides of the house. The high number of different bungalow styles, each featuring a distinct design, makes it difficult to list other distinguishing structural elements. One of the simplest bungalow styles is the California style, making it an approachable craft for house model novices.
Cells, despite their small size, contain a large number of organelle, which make them impressive subjects to model for science fair projects and classroom activities. The modeling process helps students remember the information, and in turn this provides a strong foundation for later life-science courses. There are several possibilities for materials to use in creating organelle, but colored clay is easy to shape and provides a visually memorable end product.
Neurons are brain cells. Artificial neural networks are engineering simulations -- in hardware or software -- that behave like interconnected neurons. Neural coding is the pattern of stored information in biological or artificial neural networks that allow them to give an appropriate response for a specific pattern of excitations. The neural code is developed by repeatedly exposing the neural net to excitation patterns and comparing their outputs to known correct outputs -- adjusting the neural code each time so that the response is a little more appropriate. If the training examples consist of time-related stimulus-response information, the neural net can…
One of the pleasures of model railroading is creating realistic scenes in miniature. In addition to towns, bridges and assorted buildings, you may want to add features to your railroad that would be needed for a real train. One possibility is a water tower, which would be used to refill the boiler on a steam engine. In addition to coal or wood, steam trains need large quantities of water to produce the pressure that drives the wheels. You can make a simple water tower for your railroad in an afternoon.
Although Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, it will still be in the news in coming years. In the same year, NASA launched New Horizons, an unmanned interplanetary craft expected to fly by Pluto in July of 2015. That will be our first close look at the mysterious planet, which is believed to be a giant ball of ice surrounding a core of rock, as indicated by its bluish cast in photographs from the Hubble telescope. A model of Pluto can be built easily with a basketball and some…
The F-4 Phantom II is one of the most celebrated fighter planes of the 20th century. After entering full production in 1957, the Phantom quickly set numerous aviation records, including marks for altitude (98,000 feet) and speed (1,600 mph). In addition, it was a versatile and heavily armed weapons platform that saw service in 20 different major variations all the way up to the first Gulf War. Model builders who wish to add a Phantom to their collections can choose versions from most major model companies in most common scales. All of them have some common steps to consider.
A variety of electrical wiring types have been used in homes and commercial buildings since Edison wired the first structures for power more than a century ago. Paper-insulated wires were heavily used in homes early in the past century, and people are shocked to find that paper may be found in the insulation of their new home's wiring. Fortunately, in newer homes with properly certified wiring, paper isn't the hazard you might think. To check whether your wiring has paper insulation is a fairly simple procedure.
Whether you're a teacher, student, engineer or hobbyist who enjoys learning about steam powered engines, it’s both rewarding and enlightening to build a simple steam engine from scratch. For decades, trains and other pieces of heavy machinery were powered by steam. Although technology has advanced beyond the need for steam engines to power trains, fundamental engineering principles such as kinematics, statics and thermodynamics can all be learned through the process of building a steam engine.
The horsepower rating of an electric motor is not directly comparable to that of an internal combustion engine driving the same load. Internal combustion engines are rated for maximum attainable horsepower, while an electric motor is rated according to the horsepower it can supply on a continuous basis. Electric motor ratings also include a power factor, which is basically a measure of the efficiency of the motor in comparison to other electric motors. In addition, physical sizing should be taken into account to ensure that the electric motor will fit and operate properly without requiring major modifications.
In most cases, hobbyists build plastic ship models by buying ship model kits and then assembling the pieces provided in the kit. More skilled hobbyists might choose to customize models to fit personal desires. This can be done through altering the pieces provided in the kit, using pieces from different kits on the same model and by building pieces entirely from scratch. In all cases, the process for building the ship model is simple -- the hobbyist must separate and clean the pieces before assembling and painting them for presentation.
Tony Robbins writes that we give our experiences meaning by interpreting them through "frames," or contexts. These frames are made up of our beliefs about how the world is and how it should be. Rearranging our understanding of the world and, on occasion, our expectations, allows us to "reframe" our ideas, which can lead to healthier and more beneficial responses.
The element iron is a transition metal on the periodic table. An atom contains protons and neutrons in the nucleus and electrons on outer orbiting shells. The number of positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons must equal for the atom to remain without charge. An atom of iron contains 26 protons, 26 electrons and 30 neutrally charged neutrons. The 26 electrons are arranged on four energy levels. Create a three-dimensional model of iron using metal hoops, foam balls and craft paint.
While many kids are more familiar with the the heart shape that features a pointed bottom and two rounded bumps at the top, the actual human heart has a very different shape. Teaching kids about the actual shape of the heart can give them a better idea of how the heart functions within the body. Making a model of the heart from dough offers an easy way for kids to gain a better understanding of what the heart looks like.
Although an arch looks sophisticated, its construction is relatively easy. You just have to use two certain crucial elements: the most lightweight material possible and a keystone. This technique allowed the ancient Romans to construct some very elaborate buildings. You can construct cubes and other geometric shapes out of paper to build a lightweight model of an arch. You can easily find templates for geometric shapes in books or online or use a ruler to create your own.
With graphics programs, you can create almost any type of image on your computer. There is no limit to how realistic you can make the image look, though refinements can maximize the realism of the image. For starters, you can use many basic techniques, such as resizing and filters, to create a basic planet Earth that you can later make adjustments to, as your digital art skills improve. Make small tweaks and adjustments to your planet to not only learn the program, but also make the image your own.
Conventionally, motors are tested with dynamometers -- devices that measure the horsepower of cars. Dynamometers, however, measure torque in a roundabout way by measuring force exerted on a heavy-duty treadmill by interpreting hydraulic resistance. For electric motors, the additional steps of the complex hydraulics and treadmill aren't necessary. Torque can be measured directly at an electric motor's drive shaft. An efficient way to do it is to make a device that connects an economical, electronic torque-load cell that can easily fasten to a variety of different-size drive shafts. You can adapt a replacement chuck for a drill for this purpose.
