Mini Hovercraft

Time: 15 minutes

Materials:

• 1 balloon

• 1 disk

• Hot glue gun & hot glue

• Pop-up bottle cap or a plastic bottle cap with a hole in the center

What you do:

1. Close the pop-up bottle cap.

2. Hot glue the bottle cap over the hole on the disk. Make sure to glue all around the cap so that it is air-tight.

3. Place your disk on a table.

4. Blow up your balloon.

5. Put the balloon over the bottle cap.

6. Hold the bottle cap with one hand and twist open the top with other hand.

7. Watch what happens to your hovercraft!

Questions to ask:

1. What happens to the hovercraft when you let it go?

2. Are there any ways you could make the hovercraft move more smoothly?

3. What could you do to control the hovercrafts direction of movement?

What's the science?

When air from the balloon is released through the bottom of the disk, the friction between the disk and the table is significantly reduced. This allows the disk to move easily in whatever direction the balloon's air guides it, similar to the disks on an air hockey table. This is a demonstration of Isaac Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.