Friday 5 October 2012

Liquid-Powered Clock

We lucked upon some really cheap home science experiment kits at a clearance sale, so Littletree picked out a few that looked interesting, the first one she wanted to do was a liquid-powered clock.

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The unboxing is always exciting, especially when things come with safety equipment! Littletree is so big on safety – she even made the cat go outside for this as it says on the safety information “keep small children and animals away from chemicals”.

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First step – reading the instructions. Always read the instructions carefully. It amazes me just how well Littletree can read when she wants to, but if anyone asks her arbitrarily to read something, she’ll say “I can’t read”.

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So after a careful examination of all the safety warnings and instructions and checking the inventory, she set to work

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Assembling all the plastic bits

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Wiring it all up (also learning about currents and wiring)

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And then the acidic juice needed to start the reaction (mmmm cranberry)

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Copper and Zinc plates (which involved a long discussion about copper and zinc and the different properties of various metals)

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And voila! A working digital clock, powered by juice.

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I’m thinking it wont be long before Littletree is hacking this kit to power all sorts of things.

5 comments:

  1. That is SO cool. Little Tree looks so professional with the goggles! I'm impressed discovering your version of the clock - for years now I've been telling the time by pouring water from one cup, into another cup. It takes approx.4 seconds to pour from one, to the other.
    That's approximate of course. There's a 1 second margin of error. Anyway that's my liquid clock which is time-tested (snort) for millenia. I haven't yet managed to tell the time using only one hand - I invariably end up spilling the liquid. Ansanity

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is SO cool. Little Tree looks so professional with the goggles! I'm impressed discovering your version of the clock - for years now I've been telling the time by pouring water from one cup, into another cup. It takes approx.4 seconds to pour from one, to the other.
    That's approximate of course. There's a 1 second margin of error. Anyway that's my liquid clock which is time-tested (snort) for millenia. I haven't yet managed to tell the time using only one hand - I invariably end up spilling the liquid. Ansanity

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is so awesome! I love that the cat had to go outside too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Inspired by Little Tree, I have hacked my liquid clock and have a prototype, or a beta test of an updated improved version. This one requires only one cup. Easy instructions for you all to follow

    1. Pour cranberry juice into a cup
    2. Raise filled cup to mouth
    3. Swallow cranberry juice
    (steps 1 and 2 can be done with only one hand)
    4. Using wristwatch, time how many seconds it takes to do steps 1, 2 and 3
    5. Congratulations! You now have an efficient
    method for measuring seconds.

    Be sure to wear the wristwatch on the hand that isn't holding the cup to preventing spilling
    the time-keeping resource
    Ansanity

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  5. thanks lea :)

    and Ansanity, you crack me up.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your lovely words, witty banter and entertaining discussion :)