Materials Adult supervision is once again a must for this project!
-CD (one you don’t mind getting scratched or damaged)
-Balloons
-Hot Glue Gun
-A pull up/push down cap from a bottled sports beverage or bottled water
Procedure
Ready your hot glue gun! Once you know the glue gun is hot you can begin the construction of your hovercraft.
- Remove the pull up/push down cap from your sports beverage. Clean the cap out nicely and dry it with a paper towel.
- Hot glue the pull up/push down cap to your CD. Set aside to dry for a few hours.
- Once the glue has dried and the pull up/push down lid has set to the CD you can now test the craft! Be sure the cap is in the closed position.
- Inflate a balloon and then carefully place the balloon’s opening onto the bottle cap.
- Keeping the balloon’s opening sealed or pinched, pull up on the bottle cap to open the valve. Release the balloon. Now push the CD across the floor watching it hover ever so slightly off the ground.
What happened?
As the balloon deflated it pushed its air through the water bottle or sports beverage cap. The air then flowed outward creating a thin layer of air between the CD and smooth surface. The disk then floats and hovers just above the ground. Try the experiment again using different volumes of air within the balloon. You can even try different shaped balloons.
