Hover-craft Project

The kids watched an old episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy a few weeks ago. The show talked about how air is a fluid and used a hover-craft as one of the many examples. Joe was intrigued with the thought of making a personal hovercraft, powered by a leaf blower. He's been nagging me to build one ever since.

We've been a little busy trying to complete projects on the new (to us) home we bought in September, so making a hover-craft was not high on my priority list. After putting Joe off for a short time, I realized that this was a great educational experience and should be encouraged. So I gave permission for the project. Joe spent some time researching the project on the internet and then made a materials list. We had some wood in the garage that Joe decided to use instead of purchasing a larger piece.

Joe (with minimal help from Mike) spent a few hours cutting out the circular base and air hole, stapling heavy plastic to hold the air, and using duct tape to anchor the plastic around the air hole. They finished the project two nights ago. Joe tried to use the hover-craft that evening and discovered that he needed the larger piece of wood to lift his weight. The hover-craft filled with air, but couldn't get him off the ground.

Yesterday morning, the kids decided to try the hover-craft with some of their smaller siblings. Allie was able to get off the ground and move slowly around the driveway. Everyone was excited by the discovery and plan to purchase wood this weekend to make a few more hover-craft for the larger children. There is even talk about having hover-craft races as part of our New Year's Eve activities. Hmmmm, children racing down the dark street on hover-crafts, drunk drivers behind the wheels of cars, icy streets. Not my idea of a fun New Year's Eve. Fortunately, I don't need to make the decision for another month!