Rain Gauge
Sam Houston Area Council

Materials: Plastic medicine bottle, permanent marker, ruler (I have also seen these made with skinny olive jars)

Directions: Mark off regular intervals onto the medicine bottle using the ruler and indicate each with a mark of permanent marker. Place outside where it won't be knocked over. After each rain, see how much rainwater filled the gauge.

Pinwheel
Sam Houston Area Council

Materials: Construction paper, brad, penny, straw, hole punch, scissors, pencil

Directions: Cut paper into a 6" x 6" square. Draw diagonal lines from corner to corner. Using the penny, trace a circle in the center. Cut the diagonal lines to the edge of the circle in the center. Punch 4 holes in the pinwheel, to the right of each cut close to the edge, and one in the center. Punch a hole through the top of straw using hole punch. Fold each corner, without creasing, to the center and fasten together with the brad. Push the brad through the hole in the top of the straw and loosely fasten the brad. Hold in the wind!

Air Painting
Sam Houston Area Council

Give each boy a straw and a piece of construction paper. Spoon a little watered down tempera paint on each boy's paper. Have each boy blow through their straw to move the paint around on the paper to create an air blown painting.

Making A Switch
Sam Houston Area Council

Collect a battery and a light of the same voltage (electronic supply stores have these), electrical wire, two brass paper fasteners, a paper clip and an index card. Use a hole punch to punch two holes in the index card, about 1" apart. Put a brass paper fastener through the paper clip and then through one of the holes in the index card. Put the other fastener through the other hole. Cut three short lengths of electrical wire and remove a small amount of insulation from each end. Attach one wire to the ends of one paper fastener and the battery, one wire to the battery and the light, and the final wire to the light and the ends of the second paper fastener. Show the boys the circuit and demonstrate how the light comes on when the paper clip is positioned to touch both paper fasteners. Tell them that the paper clip is like a switch. When it touches both paper fasteners, the circuit is complete and the light will come on. When it is not touching, the circuit is not complete and light will not come on.

Electric Light Show
York Adams Council

Contact a local high school's Physics Department Chairperson to see if anyone has some neat demonstrations they can do at the Pack Meeting. For example, you might find someone who does demonstrations with Van DeGraff Generators and Tesla Coils. These make super impressive exhibits that the boys and their families will talk about for years to come.

Description: Construct A Balloon- Powered Pinwheel.

Contributed by: John Hartsfield, NASA Glenn Research Center

Edited by: Roger Storm, NASA Glenn Research Center

Materials: Wooden pencil with an eraser on one end Sewing pin Round party balloon Flexible soda straw Plastic tape

Method: 1.Inflate the balloon to stretch it out a bit.

2. Slip the nozzle end of the balloon over the end of the straw farthest away from the bend. Use a short piece of plastic tape to seal the balloon to the straw. The balloon should inflate when you blow through the straw.

3.Bend the opposite end of the straw at a right angle.

4.Lay the straw and balloon on an outstretched finger so that it balances and mark the balance point. Push the pin through the straw at the balance point and then continue pushing the pin into the eraser of the pencil and finally into the wood itself.

5.Spin the straw a few times to loosen up the hole the pin has made.

6.Blow in the straw to inflate the balloon and then let go of the straw.

The Amazing Electric Lemon
Greater St. Louis Area Council

Materials:
Clean galvanized zinc nail

2 ' insulated copper wire

X-Acto or utility knife

Small flashlight bulb

Electrical tape

Large lemon

Clean penny

Cut your wire into two 1' sections and strip off one inch of insulation from all four ends of wire. Attach one end of each wire to the light bulb so that one end is touching the metal threads on the sides and the other is touching the metal cap on the bottom. Being careful that the two wires do not touch, secure them with electrical tape.

Cut two small notches into opposite sides of the lemon with your knife. Insert the penny halfway into one notch and the zinc nail halfway into the other. Be sure that the penny and the nail do not touch. Take one of the free ends of wire and tape it to the nail.

Now when you touch the remaining exposed end of wire to the penny, the flashlight bulb should give off a faint glow.

Try this same experiment with different fruits, such as oranges, grapefruits and limes. Rate the amount of light given off by each fruit battery. The more acidic the fruit, the brighter the light.

A Doctor
Trapper Trails Council

Make a first aid kit using a videocassette case. Fill with the following:

1. Band-Aids

2. Gauze

3. Tape

4. Small scissors

5. Alcohol wipes

6. Neosporin

7. Tongue depressor

8. Q-Tips

9. Tweezers

10. Individual wrapped aspirins

11. Latex gloves

12. Sample size tube of sunburn screen

Use red tape to make a red cross on the top of the cassette.