WEBELOS
I received a question this month about why there were no Den Meeting plans for Webelos in the cub Scout Program Helps. The answer is because they are in the Webelos Leaders’ Book – Here is the description from www.scoutstuff.org -
Webelos Leader Guide
The basic book for Webelos Scouts and their leaders has explanations of the activity badge programs and has references to the new oval Webelos badge, the revised Cub Scout Leader How-To Book, and the Ethics in Action program. WW33853C $8.95
ENGINEER
TECHNOLOGY GROUP
Be sure to see the January Baloo for February’s Theme, It’s a Scouting Celebration, for lots more ideas for Engineer. This is a two month badge. CD
Southern NJ Council
An Engineer is defined as a person who is skilled in at applying scientific knowledge to practical uses. Anybody can be an engineer - involved in the creation or construction of something. The Webelos Scouts will gain some insight about the practical application of skills and knowledge by studying the Engineer activity pin.
Fields of Engineering
ü Aeronautical Engineering - deals with the whole field of design, manufacturing, maintenance, testing, and the use of aircraft. Industrial or Management Engineering - pertains to the efficient use of machinery, labor, and raw materials in industrial production. Astronautical Engineering is closely related to aeronautics, but it is concerned with the flight of vehicles in space.
ü Chemical Engineering - concern with the design, construction, and management of factories in which essential processes consist of chemical reactions.
ü Civil Engineering - is one of the broadest of the engineering fields dealing with the creation, improvement and protection of the communal environment. Buildings, roads, bridges, airports and other constructions are just a few of the areas civil engineers impact.
ü Electrical Engineering - involves the use of electrical power, electrical machinery and communication, information, and control systems.
ü Geological and Mining Engineering - includes activities related to the discovery and processing of minerals.
ü Mechanical Engineering - speaks to the design and operation of all types of machinery.
ü Safety Engineering - is concerned with the prevention of accidents.
Activities
· Have the boys find pictures of different bridges and put together a poster for pack meeting.
· Visit a college engineering department.
· Invite an engineer to visit the den meeting to talk about their job.
Strength of Hollow Tubes
Begin the demonstration by laying a brick on a Styrofoam cup laying on its side. Place another cup on its rim and add bricks (2 or 3) until it crushes Glue 4 cups together rim to rim and bottom to bottom with white glue and allow to dry. Place bricks (usually 4) on until the structure crushes. Demonstration shows the use of columns-in engineering and bridges.
Syllable Puzzle
Use each syllable given below to form the words that fit the seven definitions.
Bine |
Die |
Ler |
Pro |
Ter |
Bu |
En |
Li |
Ra |
Tor |
Car |
Gine |
Ni |
Re |
Tur |
Cop |
He |
Pel |
Sel |
u |
Um |
|
|
|
|
1. The part of a boat that moves through the water.
2. An airplane that hovers.
3. A machine that turns energy into work.
4. A machine in which a wheel is turned by water, steam, or hot gases.
5. The most common type of nuclear fuel.
6. The part of an engine which mixes air and gasoline.
7. One type of internal combustion engine. -
Answers:
1. Propeller 2. Helicopter 3. Engine
4. Turbine 5. Uranium 6. Carburetor
7. Diesel
Make Your Own Pulley
Materials: Wire, spools (from craft store), string, hook, and bucket full of heavy objects
Directions:
ü Bend about 8” of wire into a triangle shape and push the ends into a thread spool. -
ü Find a suitable place to hang your pulley. A hook in the garage or the hook at the end of a planter will do.
ü Tie one end of the string to the handle of the load.
ü Wind the string over the spool.
ü Pull the bucket up. Is it easier to lift the load with the pulley? How much string do you have to use to lift the load one foot?
Make Electricity with a Lemon Battery -
Materials: Lemon, steel wool, copper nail, zinc nail.
Directions:
ü Scrub a copper nail and a zinc nail with a piece of wool until they are clean and shiny.
ü Rinse the nails under the water faucet.
ü Poke the pointed ends of the nails into the center of a fresh lemon. Space the two nails about 1” apart and leave 1/2” of each nail protruding.
ü Take a small LED (light emitting diode) and touch the leads to the two nails. You should see a glow. When I was a Cub Scout, we stick out our tongue and touch the ops of the two nails and feel a tingle. CD
What Happened? You have just made a simple chemical battery and glow you saw or the tingle you felt on your tongue was electricity! Because the lemon contains acid and water, which reacts with the metals, zinc and copper, a slight electrical current was formed and it passed over your tongue from one nail to the other.
Unusual Catapult
Materials: Thin cardboard, colored pencils or markers, long rubber band, scissors
Directions:
ü Draw two separate five sided shapes, tracing the pattern as shown. Cut out. Lightly fold back along dotted lines.
ü Color each of the six separate sections a different color.
ü Overlap the two shapes and loop the rubber band over every other corner to hold the two pieces of cardboard together. The rubber band should be stretched slightly but not too tight.
ü When you let go of the cards, which should be laying flat on the table, the slightly stretched rubber band will contract which will cause your contraption to “leap” into a solid shape.
Why does this happen and is this really a Catapult? The energy in the stretched rubber band pulls the cardboard contraption into the shape. This illustrates what makes a catapult spring in the simplest way imaginable. Explain to your Scouts that some substances, such as elastic or rubber, stretch when you pull them, but spring back into their original shape when released Although most catapults “fling” or “throw” something away from them, this one uses the spring or force of the catapult to “throw: its flat shape “up” into a ball or solid shape. Even though it is very different from a standard catapult, it nevertheless operates on the same principles, only in reverse.
Battery Operated Quiz Board
Materials:
Dry Cell Battery nail miniature
Insulated wire (6 - 6” pieces and 3 - 24” pieces)
Light bulb socket light bulb cardboard
masking tape.
Directions:
ü Use nail to punch 6 parallel holes down each side of the cardboard.
ü Strip the insulation from the ends of the wires.
ü Place the end of one 6” wire in through hole on the left and the other end through hole on the right.
ü Secure ends in place with tape on the backside of the cardboard.
ü Connect a 24” wire between a dry cell terminal and a socket terminal.
ü Connect one end of a 24” wire to the remaining terminal of the dry cell and the third 24” wire to the remaining socket terminal.
ü Put 6 questions down one side of the cardboard and 6 answers on the other side. Be sure these are on opposite ends of the same wire.
ü Ask a friend to take the two free ends of the 24” wires and try to touch the matching questions and answers. With correct matches the light will come on. This works because by touching the question at one end of the wire and the answer at the other end of the wire the circuit has been completed.
Water Turbine
Materials:
Pencil paper plate with ridges water faucet
Sink
Directions:
1.
With the pencil, poke a hole in the center of the paper plate.
2. Insert the pencil through the hole in the plate, wiggling the pencil back and forth so the hole is loose enough that the plate turns easily on the pencil.
3. Turn on the tap water to produce a steady stream of water. Hold the pencil so that one edge of the paper plate touches the water. The plate will spin. If you turn the faucet higher, the late will spin faster.
What did you do? You have just created a primitive waterwheel or water turbine.
Block and Tackle
Materials:
Two boys - similar size,
2 broomsticks (or 1” dowels),
Rope and
An operator who is smaller then first two boys
Directions:
1. Ask the two similar size boys to stand several feet apart from one another and give each of them a broomstick.
2. Tie one end of a rope to one of the broomsticks. Weave the rope back and forth between the sticks several times. Give the “operator” the loose end of the rope.
3. Tell the two boys to try to pull the broomsticks apart. They will find it fairly difficult to do so because of the rope interwoven between the two. Meanwhile, the operator can easily move the two broomsticks together by pulling on the free end of the rope.
Is the “operator” stronger than the two boys? Of course not! You have created a block-and-tackle setup. The force of the operator’s strength is increased each time the rope is looped around the broomsticks. Therefore, the boy operator appears to be stronger than the two holding the broomsticks.
Balance Battle:
Two teams line up at opposite ends of a seesaw. The first person from one team sits on one end of the seesaw at any spot that he chooses. When he has chosen his spot, he cannot move. He must sit perfectly still and cannot shift his weight. A member of the second team must select a spot on the seesaw he thinks will balance it. He must then sit on the seesaw at that point. If it balances, the first player joins his side. If the second player fails to balance the seesaw, he must join the other side. The play continues until everyone has had a turn. The team with the most members at the end of the game wins.
Marble Spin Game:
Make a spinner from two 9” paper plates with a washer between and a paper fastener holding them together. Make eight 1/2” holes in one plate (on top) and two 1 1/2” holes in bottom plate. Number 1 hole in top plate should be 1”. Using a marble placing it in small hole (1/2”); give plate a turn to start marble rolling. Score is determined by where the marble lands. If marble falls through bottom plate, player looses 5 points. If marble flies off plate, player looses a turn. High score after 15 turns wins the game.
