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Physics Tug of War
Learners set up books with rubber bands stretched between the books. When two identical books are stretched apart and released, they move back toward each other an equal distance.
Moving Pictures
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In this optics activity, learners create flip books by drawing an image like an eye opening and closing on 24 small pages of paper.

Mirrors and Images
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In this optics activity, learners explore how many objects they can see in a set of mirrors (hinged like a book) at various angles.

Air Lift
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In this physics activity, challenge learners to lift a book with just air using a plastic bag and a straw. This activity demonstrates compressed air and forces.

Dancing Compasses
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Learners use compasses to detect the magnetic field created by current moving through a wire. This is one of four activities learners can complete related to PhysicsQuest 2008.

Magnet Powered Pinwheel
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Learners use the current flowing in a wire to create a magnetic field that turns a magnet. Learners can use this property of electromagnetism to build a magnet-powered pinwheel.

Newspaper Bridges
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In this activity, learners build bridges out of newspaper and tape to explore how structures are designed to bear loads.

Twist & Shout
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Learners examine what happens when a tube spins in two directions at once. They push on a cardboard tube causing it to spin along its length while at the same time turning from end-to-end.

Gumdrop Dome
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In this engineering activity, learners construct sturdy geodesic structures out of gumdrops and toothpicks. Use this activity to explore engineering principles as well as sturdy shapes and triangles.

Bernoulli Obstacle Course
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In this activity, learners create their own obstacle course based on Bernoulli's Principle and try to get a floating ball from the start of their course to the finish line.

Paper Table
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In this design challenge activity, learners use tubes of newspaper to make a table that’s at least eight inches tall and strong enough to hold a heavy book!

Light and Dark
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Learners examine the properties of light by experimenting with an LED-flashlight and polarizing filters. When two polarizers are used, they block all light when they are placed at right angles.

Doughy Physics
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Learners drop two different masses of play dough and observe how long it takes them to hit the ground.

Glow in the Dark
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Learners experiment to see which colors of light will cause a phosphorescent (glow-in-the-dark) material to glow.

Apartment Buildings and More
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In this engineering activity, young learners investigate multi-level buildings.

Watch It Fly
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Learners observe projectile motion by launching wooden balls off of a table top. They set up a rubber-band launcher so that each ball experiences a consistent amount of force.

Disappearing Crystals
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Learners experiment with water gel crystals, or sodium polyacrylate crystals, which absorb hundreds of times their weight in water. When in pure water, the water gel crystals cannot be seen.

Shake It Up!
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Learners drop a magnet through a coil of wire to create electric current in a circuit. LEDs in the circuit allow learners to detect the direction of current flow.

Swinging Yo-Yo
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Learners build a pendulum from a yo-yo, and then design their own experiment to determine what affects the pendulum's period of swing.

Strengthen a Paper Bridge
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In this quick activity (page 1 of the PDF under SciGirls Activity: Tug O' War), learners will test how many pennies a flat paper index card bridging the gap between two stacks of books is able to supp