3D Printed Science Projects

Ideas for Your Classroom, Science Fair, or Home

verfasst von: Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron

Verlag: Apress

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This book describes how to create 3D printable models that can help students from kindergarten through grad school learn math, physics, botany, chemistry, engineering and more. Each of the eight topics is designed to be customized by the reader to create a wide range of projects suitable for science fairs, extra credit, or classroom demonstrations. Science fair project suggestions and extensive "where to learn more" resources are included, too. You will add another dimension to your textbook understanding of science.
In this book, you will learn:
To create (and present the science behind) 3D printed models.To use a 3D printer to create those models as simply as possible.New science insights from designing 3D models.
Who this book is for:
This book shows parents and teachers how to use the models inside as starting points for 3D printable explorations. Students can start with these models and vary them for their own explorations. Unlike other sets of models that can just be scaled, these models have the science built-in to allow for more insight into the fundamental concepts.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. 3D Math Functions

Abstract

Since so much scientific visualization starts with looking at underlying mathematics, we are beginning this book on 3D printing for science projects with a chapter on 3D printing mathematical functions. The basic code in this chapter is intended to be a starter set that you alter to 3D print whatever function you like, within the boundaries we will get to in a later section.

Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron

Chapter 2. Light and Other Waves

Abstract

When someone says “waves,” the first thing that may come to mind is the kind of waves that crash onto a beach. Water waves (and waves in air) are actually pretty complicated, because the waves are moving over complex terrrain, experiencing friction and effects of the water’s viscosity and a lot of other things. The equations that govern the realities of water waves and their interaction with waves require that you know about a type of math called, which even scientists and engineers might not work with much until graduate school.

Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron

Chapter 3. Gravity

Abstract

No one questions the existence of gravity in everyday life. When we put something on a table (astronauts excepted), typically we expect it to stay there. Gravity is mathematically a little subtle, though, and in this chapter we look at the gravity field around the Earth and Moon, as well as that inside the trinary system that we see as the star Algol.

Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron

Chapter 4. Airfoils

Abstract

Orville and Wilbur Wright’s pragmatic, low-budget approach will be very familiar to today’s makers. David McCollough’s The Wright Brothers (Simon and Schuster, 2015) explores their approach, which could give you some ideas on the type of experiments you might want to do. Or you might just find it inspiring to see how two people with limited resources solved problems that defeated large, well-funded traditional institutions.

Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron

Chapter 5. Simple Machines

Abstract

Simple machines are devices that change the amount, or magnitude, of force or the direction of a force being exerted on something. The standard list of simple machines (at least as far as school science standards define them) are the pulley, screw, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, and lever. Most of these are very old—the wheel’s origin is lost in antiquity, Archimedes knew about the lever, screw, and pulley about 2,300 years ago, and the rest were used to build the pyramids (but not included in Archimedes’s list of machines).

Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron

Chapter 6. Plants and Their Ecosystems

Abstract

When we think about plants, dynamic is not usually a word that comes to mind. Plants are part of the landscape. Unless you are a gardener, you might never give the trees and smaller plants around you a second thought. The fact that plants are, well, planted in place has some evolutionary implications, though. If you are a life form that cannot move (other than by growing vertically or spreading horizontally), and the evironment around you changes, your offspring have the options of adapting or dying out. This means that plants have developed a wild array of forms to follow their ecological niche function.

Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron

Chapter 7. Molecules

Abstract

A lot of the art of chemistry involves being able to visualize abstract descriptions of activities that are occurring on the atomic or molecular level. Often these abstractions can be described mathematically with very complex equations that most people will not see until later years in college, if then. In this chapter we show you how to create a few minimalist models that may help you develop intuition about these interactions.

Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron

Chapter 8. Trusses

Abstract

This, our final chapter in this book, explores simple structures that make up a lot of the infrastructure around us. A truss is a structural element that uses the strength of a triangular structure to carry loads with relatively little structural material. Trusses are used just about everywhere that a heavy load has to be carried—bridges, roof supports, and the like.

Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron

Backmatter

Titel: 3D Printed Science Projects
verfasst von: Joan Horvath
Rich Cameron
Verlag: Apress
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4842-1323-0
Print ISBN: 978-1-4842-1324-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-1323-0