Ralph J. Coppola --- r_j_coppola@hotmail.com
SAS
Disclaimer
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Probably the average DIY amateur scientist or basement tinkered
would never consider trying to build an internal combustion
or steam engine from scratch. Even the simplest model would
prove too complex for most of us. But is not so with the Stirling
Engine. With a few common items, such as tin cans
and balloons, the experimenter should be able to kludge together
a working Stirling engine in a few hours.
I have assembled a few Stirling related links that should
help to get you started.
The Free Dictionary’s entry on Stirling Engines.
Freeenergynews.com’s
Stirling Engine links.
Will Rausch's Stirling
Engine Links
The Stirling Engine Society
American Stirling Company
Also, see Scientific American’s "The
Amateur Scientist" column:
- "Experiments
with the External-Combustion Fluidyne Engine, Which Has
Liquid Pistons" by Jearl Walker, April 1985.
- "A Backyard
Version of the Stirling Engine Can Be Built with Common
Materials" by Jearl Walker, January 1990.
You should be able to adapt one of the following DIY backpacking
alcohol stoves to power your Stirling Engine.
Also, see Shawn Carlson’s “Lab Notes” from 16 November 2001
describing his DIY alcohol
lamp.
Editor’s Note: Readers who construct functional Stirling
engines are encouraged to send JPEG photographs to the editor
for possible publication in The Citizen Scientist. Please
type “Stirling engine” in the subject line.
See Wikipedia’s answer to the
question What is an experiment?
Dynamic Patterns Research
enables the amateur scientist to explore their creativity
in science.
Jim Darus has a few interesting DIY items on his site. First
he looks at a Hilsch Vortex Tube (see Wanderings 07
May 2004). Then he gives his account of his first
attempts at melting aluminum in his backyard
foundry and his improved design.
The ATM site is a repository for resources
and techniques for the amateur DIY telescope maker. See Roger
Ceragioli’s Refractor Construction
Page for instructions of how to grind and polish a
refractor lens and have it work well.
Canada’s One-Tonne
Challenge asks its citizens to try and reduce
their annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by one tonne.
Discover Circuits
is a collection of more than 8000 electronic schematics spread
across 500 different categories.
Science101.com
is a gateway to more than 20,000 Internet science sites.
PSIgate is an on-line service
offering access to high quality web resources in the physical
sciences.
Paleotechnics provides
a look at the possible pigments
that were used by early people for “rock art”.
Kite Life.com
Magazine is a leading source of on-line information
about kites and kite flying.
The Christian Science Monitor reports that corn and other
common crops are being used to remove heavy metal contaminants
from mining tailings.
One of my favourite tops may be found at The Science
Desk from America's Test Kitchen.
An international consortium has just released the first complete
DNA
sequence of a tree, the black cottonwood or poplar.
The Molecular
Expressions website is well worth a visit. Especially
interesting is Secret
Worlds: The Universe Within. This feature allows you
to view the Milky Way and then zoom towards Earth, in successive
orders of magnitude, until you enter the DNA of an oak leaf
and beyond.
First there was CSI, then CSI Miami, followed by
CSI NY and NCIS. How many cities are left? 8-) While
you are waiting for future spin-offs, you can visit the University
of Leicester’s Virtual Autopsy site.
All kidding aside, this site was designed as an online teaching
and study aid.
Keep an eye on some of the sea critters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium with
their live web cams.
The Virtual
Space-Time Travel Machine site offers a gateway between
art and science and mathematics with more than 1,500 still
pictures and animations.
Space.com reports
that the White House is pulling the Hubble Servicing Mission
funding from its 2006 Budget Request.
Splashdot
--- Science news for nerds
DONUT ----
Direct Observation of NU Tau--aka--Searching
for the Tau Neutrino.
YES Magazine
reports that the 4th
Annual ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) Competition for High
School & College Students, sponsored by The Marine Advanced Technology Education
(MATE) Center, will be held from 17 to 19 June
2005 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory
in Houston, Texas.
A team of three young Canadians women
share top prize at the 2003 ROV Design
Competition at MIT in Boston, 19 to 23 June 2003.
This is the same team that took
3rd place at the 2002 contest, with
another ROV, at the Kennedy Space Flight Center, Florida.
Note: Due to airline security, they had to completely dismantle
their ROV before they were allowed to board the airplane for
Florida.
Yes Magazine has a section devoted
to a collection of simple DIY science projects
and demonstrations.
The Journal of High
School Science is a “paper publication”
containing both student and professional articles.
NASA's Stennis Space Center's Office of Education shows us
how to construct an inexpensive DIY
Kite Aerial Photography set up.
Davidson College (Davidson, North Carolina) has a collection
of on-line virtual
chemistry experiments and exercises.
The Science
News for Kids web site offers timely items
of interest to kids, accompanied by suggestions for hands-on
activities, books, articles, web links, and other useful materials.
The Experiment.com web site contains
links to science fair project ideas and “how to” tips.
A few of George Stimson’s
students constructed a web page of Fun Science Project
Ideas.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center has a nice Beginner's
Guide to Aeronautics.
The Education Office, at Fermilab’s
Lederman Science Center, offers a wide collection
of student and teacher resources.
Being listed here does not constitute an endorsement by SAS
or me of any information, product or service.
Wale Apparatus
Company is a manufacturer and distributor of scientific
glass blowing tools, supplies, equipment and glass.
Sphere Research Corporation
is a source of surplus photomultipliers and phototubes and
other items that may be of interest to the amateur.
Forrest forwarded the Flash Mind Reader
to me. Can anyone figure out how it works?
Are they or aren’t they?
The Farshores.org, Ancient Dimensions
and The Anomalist
contain a lot of interesting reading. Some of it is factual
while other items are definitely “From the Far Side.”
The
Search for Atlantis, A
Skeptic Magazine article by Pat Linse.
The
Zetas are a group of Service-to-Other Beings who are
assisting this planet and its people. Find out all about them
on the Zetatalk web site. 
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