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[F935]Fun And Easy Experiments

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It is really quite fun and easy to build a minnow trap to use to catch your minnows anytime you wish, rather than having to go to the bait shop and buy minnows each time you want to fish. It is a good exercise to do with your little fishermen and fisherwomen as well. It is also a great rainy day activity and simple enough that you probably have all you will need just lying around your house.

All you will need is:
2 cola bottles (the plastic 3 liter kind work best, but you may use the 2 liter ones if you don't have a 3 liter)
1 large nail (approximately a 6 penny nail, but any large size will work)
Cotton string such as twine
*Adult supervision for your littler fishermen
You will also need some common household tools:
Heavy duty scissors
Vise grip pliers
regular pliers
Utility knife
a stable flame such as a gas burner or candle

Begin by cutting the bottom third of one bottle off, and discard it. Be sure to leave the cap on the part you are keeping. Cut off the neck and shoulders of the second bottle, about half an inch below where the bottle begins to straighten out. Discard the bottom and the bottle cap from that bottle. Get a large bowl of cold water ready, and have it nearby.

Also have your flame going and have all your materials nearby. Fit the uncapped bottle into the capped bottle so that it acts like a funnel.

Hold the two bottles together in one hand, while you hold the nail tip into the flames until it is very hot make holes in the bottle and the funnel in about a dozen places, and then put the nail into the cold water. Use the twine to sew it together, and fasten securely.

It seems to work best if you use a section of twine for each set of holes, and tie each individually rather than stitching the whole thing together. It is important that it be well fastened and secure, so that it does not come apart.

Reheat your nail and poke lots of holes in the bottle.To bait your trap, put pet food (dog or cat food works well) cracker, or bread crumbs through the funnel. Lower your trap into minnow rich waters such as a pond or lake, and leave it over night.

Be sure it is tied to something stable, so that it will not float away. The next morning, the minnows will have found their way into the trap, but will not have been able to find their way out, and you can just open the bottle cap, and pour the minnows into your minnow bucket.

Another way to create a minnow trap is to use screen such as wire window screen. This method is much less kid friendly, and should be reserved for fishermen old enough to complete it safely. For this minnow bucket, you will need:

A Large piece of wire screening
Thin cord or wire
Ice pick
Some fishing sinkers
Wire snips or very strong utility scissors

Robot hobbyists, come aboard. Lego has come up with the next generation Lego Mindstorm, NXT. The real easy way of forming, programming, and manipulating your very own robotic Lego creation. Don't be intimidated. You need not be a true blue robotics expert to enjoy the Lego Mindstorm NXT. Amateurs and professionals, kids and adults alike would definitely enjoy the collection spontaneously.

The same concept in Lego building is followed. You need to have the usual Lego building blocks that come with the kit. The kit includes about 519 parts that you piece together. You can either follow the instructions on the guide that comes with it or add your creativity and construct your own robot creation The Lego Mindstorm NXT guide contains easy to follow guides and pictures. You can deviate from the design as you wish. Since it's easy to follow, kids will find it simple and enjoyable to do. Big kids would look forward to the programming part of the Lego Mindstorm.

The Lego Mindstorm's robotic ability to execute commands is because of the NXT main data controller named the "intelligent brick". There it contains the firmware, the memory and the program needed for it to work. This is the big yellow Lego brick that you'd construct the robot on. You'll build around this piece. The heart of the new system is the NXT brick, an autonomous 32-bit LEGO microprocessor that can be programmed using a PC, or for the first time in the retail offering, a Mac. After building their robots, users create a program within easy-to-use yet feature-rich software, powered by LabVIEW from National Instruments.

The addition of sensors to the Lego Mindstorm NXT give user's creations a whole new level of awareness. Ultrasonic sensors allow robots to "see", sound sensors enable robots to react to sound commands including sound pattern and tone recognition. Improved light and touch sensors allow your robot to see colors and feel or touch objects.

When it comes to programming, this will be the fun part. Programming gurus would definitely have a kick out of it. Novices will find it simple and easy. There's a series of commands that you can select, drag and drop into your set of commands. Click a button and watch your creation perform the task.

You can select a series of preset commands in there. This means that no programming knowledge is required whatsoever. Codes are already in there, ready for you to select and activate. Good for newbies. The robot can go different directions, reverse, or roll over. There's also an option to create your own chain of program codes which professionals will find appealing. The robot can do plain or complicated tasks depending on the user.

This program will then be beamed from the computer via Bluetooth or the included USB 2.0 cable to your Lego Mindstorm NXT robot. Then just sit back and watch your Lego Mindstorm NXT robot execute your commands. The Lego Mindstorm is simply not just a toy. It is actually used by universities teaching robotics. The simple robotic logic and design will be good for students to understand the basics of robotics. Lego Mindstorm NXT will enhance your creativity, skills, and technical background. Highly recommended to hobbyists out there. It's very technical yet simple. Right on for anyone's taste.

Article Source : How To Learn Programming

Jonathan Brunet has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Management, Modelling and Programming. For a ,Roomba and Metapo Robot Vacuums, Robot Toys, Robot Kits or the new. Jonathan Brunet's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.