Newton's cradle

I've previously described a Newton's cradle, a desktop toy that demonstrates the conservation of momentum. Derfel Cadarn has built another LEGO version.

Lunniy Korabl

The LK Moon Lander (here by Kei_Kei_Flic) was a planned Soviet landing vessel in the late 60's, roughly the equivalent of the Apollo LM. After Americans were the first to reach the moon, and following setbacks in their own space program, the Soviets decided to scrap the mission and instead to focus on orbiting space stations.

Leonardo

Leonardo da Vinci (here by Legopard) was the ultimate Renaissance man. Of course he is known for his art, but he was also a scientist. His notebooks are full of his observations of anatomy and botany, his inventions in many areas, and his writings on geometry, the formation of fossils, the flow of rivers and the reflection of light off the moon.

LEGO math fun

I spent some time doing LEGO math with my 4-year-old today. Phase 1, numbers - build stacks for each number 1-9 and put them in order. Phase 2, addition - combine stacks and see what they make. Phase 3, subtraction - take away bricks from a stack.




BTW, that's 1-year-old's hand just behind her brother in the second picture, and that's her artwork on the wall. Each kid has gone through this write-on-the-wall stage. Time to paint the kitchen again. :(

Simple machine: screw

A screw is a machine that transforms rotational motion to linear motion. When you turn a wood screw, for instance, you are adding torque, or rotational force, but the screw translates this to a forward force, pulling the screw into the wood. An Archimedes screw (known since at least the third century BC and attributed to the Greek mathematician) uses this concept to lift water. Here are two LEGO versions of Archimedes screws to move little balls up a slope, both by Akiyuky. BTW, these were built as modules in Great Ball Contraption layouts. The GBC is a collaborative LEGO project where people build different modules that move balls from point A to point B. These modules all get strung together to make huge mechanism that are fascinating to watch.

Simple machine - wedge

Another machine that is so simple that it is easy to overlook is the wedge. The idea of a wedge is that due to the angled shape, as it is pushed forward, force is exerted outward (at right angles to the path of the wedge. Think, for instance, of a log splitter - you put the log splitter in the top of the log and hit downward with a sledgehammer. You are exerting force downward on top of the log splitter, but the result pushes the two halves of the log outward. Or even just an axe is a simple example of a wedge, with really the same idea. Axe by Demonhunter.



You killed Kenny! You b... by dm_meister

Simple machine: inclined plane

I got sidetracked from my series on simple machines. The next classical machine is perhaps the simplest of all, the humble inclined plane - a flat surface set at an angle connecting levels at different heights. I can see why some might not refer to a ramp as a 'machine,' but it fits the definition of changing the direction or magnitude of some force. When you push forward on a load sitting on the inclined plane, the slope of the surface translates part of that force into upward motion. Also, as anyone who's ever moved some heavy furniture into a U-Haul knows, it takes less force to move something along a ramp than it does to move it straight upward. You don't get something for nothing, though. To get this advantage you have to move the load over a longer distance, as the ultimate amount of work (force times distance) is the same. We see this in action in a moving truck by DadventureDan.

God speed, John Glenn

BMW_Indy made this great rendition of the launch of Friendship 7, taking John Glenn aloft to be the first American to orbit the earth.

Breaking Bad, the video game

As a chemist, Breaking Bad is a pretty fun show to watch. Not only is the protagonist a chem teacher, but they sneak in little nuggets of real science here and there. Brian Anderson made this parody of a Breaking Bad video game based on the style seen in the various LEGO games.

Pulley

Our next simple machine is a pulley (here by Evilnurn). A simple pulley changes the direction of a force transmitted by a cable as that cable moves around the circumference of the pulley. For instance, you could attach a rope to a rock and loop the rope over a pulley above you. If you pull down with a force of ten pounds, the result will be an upward force of ten pounds on that rock.


If you loop back and forth between two or more pulleys, you create a block and tackle (here by Louise Dade). This gives you a mechanical advantage. For instance, if there are two parallel stretches of rope, as in the model below, if you apply ten pounds of force in pulling the rope, twenty pounds of force will be exerted to lift the load. BTW, you never get something for nothing - you have to pull the rope twice as far to get double the force.

Lever

I was going to move on to the next simple machine, but Bobofrutx just posted this great example of a lever.

Wheel and axle

Next up in our look at simple machines is the wheel and axle. As with the lever, there is a relationship between the amount of force applied along the edge and the radial distance. Therefore a large wheel can be turned with relative ease, and yet be used to lift a large weight, as seen in this medieval crane by Stephle59.

Simple machine: lever

A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. Classical and Renaissance scientists defined six different ones. A lever (here by Linda Hamilton) is a rigid rod that pivots on a point called the fulcrum. In a class 1 lever, when a downward force is applied on one side of the fulcrum, an upward force results on the opposite side.



It also makes a difference how far the point of force application is from the fulcrum, as the actual term to be considered is torque, defined as the amount of force times the distance. The longer the lever, the greater torque can be produced, so that very large objects can be moved, as shown here by Ringleader. Archimedes supposedly said he could lift the earth if he were given a long enough beam and a place to set the fulcrum.

LEGO math fun

LEGO is great for teaching kids math concepts. I've used stacks of Duplo bricks to practice addition - i.e. 'put the stack of two bricks together with the stack of three bricks, and how tall is the tower?' And I've previously noted helping my daughter learn her 2x multiplication table. Here Erin from the So you call yourself a homeschooler blog is using stacks of bricks to teach fractions.

Apollo 13

CustomBricks has a look back at the Apollo 13 service module as the astronauts leave in the command module for their return to Earth.

Gear up

A gear is a simple machine, where two or more wheels have teeth, or cogs, that fit together so that when one turns, the teeth fit together so that the other turns as well. In this way, rotational torque is transferred from one axle to another. These axles can be parallel to each other, or, as in this case by Legohaulic, at an angle. If the gears have different diameters, they will rotate at different speeds.

Argon

Argon (here by the One and Only Mr R) is an element with the atomic number 18. It is a noble gas, which means it does not enter into reactions to form compounds with other elements (hence the name, derived from the Greek word for lazy). Argon is the third most abundant gas in the earth's atmosphere, after nitrogen and oxygen.

Breaking Barium

As a chemist I really like the show Breaking Bad, whose logo (here by Lego Junkie) involves the atomic symbols for Bromine and Barium. There are a little over a hundred different types of atoms, known as elements. What differentiates one element from another is the number of protons in the nucleus, and the arrangement of electrons and bonding properties are related to this. Bromine is an element with 35 protons in the nucleus. In the elemental form (that is, when it's just by itself and not combined with other elements to make compounds) it forms diatomic molecules - two bromines connected to each other. Br₂ is largely a liquid at room temperature. It reacts readily with other compounds in a number of ways, including both radical and ionic reactions. Barium has 56 protons in the nucleus and is a metal. It easily loses two electrons to become a positively charged species in various ionic compounds.

Greenhouse effect

TheBrickAvenger teaches us about the Greenhouse effect. Light energy from the sun (in yellow) hits the earth, warming it. The earth then radiates heat (red arrows), but rather than directly escaping into space, a good portion of this heat energy coming up from the earth is absorbed by gases such as CO2 in the atmosphere. These gases then radiate energy - some up into space, but other energy back down towards the earth.

Happy Pi Day

Man, I've got to turn in my geek card. I completely missed that today was Pi Day. In my defense, I never know what the date is. MCLegoboy built this pi. It'd be really cool if he used exactly 314 bricks.