Science Archive
Cliff’s Wimshurst Machine
Cliff writes: Thanx for the information and plans. I built this out of salvaged parts from work and purchased lamp finds, the wood pulleys and parts were turned by me. The guys I work with love it. By the way I work at a power plant. Nothing makes me
Jigsaw and Science
This St Patrick's Day, Jigsaw held a fundraiser for the space called St Maker‘s Day. We planned on maklng potato clocks. Because, you know, lt‘s an Irlsh holiday, and we all know the Irish looove thelr potatoes (I'm Irlsh, so I guess that means I can say these things). It was my
Make: Magazine – Build a Wimshurst Influence Machine
Look what I found in my mailbox today! Sometime during Maker Faire last year Gareth Branwyn mentioned to me that he would be editing a "Lost Knowledge" issue of Make: Magazine and that I should consider writing an article. Of course, I immediately replied: "Dude! count me in!" UPDATE: Plans
Instruments for Natural Philosophy
Long before I got into Steampunk, in fact long before that name had been coined, I had a love for scientific instruments. I would rescue the catalogues of instruments and demonstrations from the dumpster behind our school at the end of each year when the science teachers would discard
Orrery (kit?) from Japan
I am not quite sure what is going on here, but as near as I can tell this is an offer for a beautiful brass orrery kit. An orrery is a mechanical simulacrum of the Solar System with clockwork designed such that the planets of the orrery move in
Geissler Tubes
Geissler tubes were made primarily at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th as curiosities. They came in a great variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. From Wikipedia: Geissler tubes were mass produced from the 1880s as entertainment devices, with various spherical chambers and decorative serpentine
Captured Lightning Scuplture – Lichtenberg Figures
Stoneridge Engineering creates these Lichtenberg figures by using a particle accelerator to create a charge cloud inside of a highly insulating block of acrylic and then discharging that cloud by poking it with what is essential a nail in a board connected to ground. This grounding probe causes the
Captain Nemo’s Telescope
Most of the things that I make, with the possible exception of the Wimshurst Machine I recently completed for an article in Make: Magazine, best fit under the category of "prop" rather than "instrument." That is clearly not the case for this telescope as it is surely as capable
Ada Lovelace Day – Woman in Technology
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"I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same." — Suw Charman-Anderson Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women’s