1. A battery operated digital clock without a plug. It can use two AA batteries, or a round battery. Depending on the connections, you have to rig the wires in different ways, but that’s where the fun starts.
2. Two fairly large galvanized nails. Nails are measured in length (in inches) and in diameter (with designations of 3d, 6d, 8d, 10d, and the like). We used a 16d, 3½ inches—a solid nail. Galvanized nails are a must and we’ll explain why below.
3. Copper wire. Uncoated wire is easier. If your wire comes with a coating, use a wire stripper to remove an inch or two of the covering.
4. Three electrician’s clips.
5. Two lemons, or one very large lemon cut in half.
WHAT YOU DO
In five simple steps, here is how you run a digital clock on a lemon.
Step One: Place the lemons on a plate, or any flat surface that can serve as the base for the clock. Push one nail into each lemon and then, as far away from the nails as possible, also push in a strand of copper wire. Label your lemons one and two. What you’re going to do now is create a closed circuit, so energy can flow from the lemon into the clock and back again.
Step Two: Open up the clock’s battery compartment. Depending on your clock, there are two AA batteries, or a single battery that looks like a button. Remove the battery (you’ll be replacing its energy, believe it or not, with the lemon-nail-and-copper concoction you’ve just created). Notice that the positive and negative points are marked as such.
Step Three: On lemon number one, use the electrician’s clip to connect the copper wire to the positive point in the clock. This may be a challenge; in some cases it is easier said than done.
If you can’t connect your wire to the positive point in the battery compartment, you’ll need to remove the clock’s plastic backing and open up the clock. An adult should help with this, and remember, once you take the clock apart it may not go back together. Inside, you’ll see that the positive and negative points are connected to wires on the inside of the clock. You can remove the wires from the back of the battery compartment, and then use them to make your connections. If you have a two-AA-battery clock, and inside you find two positive wires, make sure you connect your copper wire with both. Once you’ve figured this out, the rest is a breeze.
Step Four: On lemon number two, connect the nail to the clock’s negative point. You may need to move the lemon into a new position so you can clip the nail to the clock.
Step Five: Link the copper wire from lemon number two to the nail sticking out of lemon number one. You’ll see now that you’ve made an entire electrical circuit, from clock, to lemon, to the next lemon, and back to the clock. If all has gone well, the clock now works, because just under one volt of electricity is coursing the circuit.
If the clock does not work, make sure all connections are secure, and then double-check the directions. If several months from now the clock stops, replace the lemons, or the nails, and it should begin ticking once again.
WHY IT WORKS
1. The nail has been galvanized, which means it was coated with zinc to help resist rust. The lemon contains acid. This acid dissolves the zinc on the nail. In chemistry terms, this means that the zinc loses an electron and becomes a positive force. (If you haven’t already read the chapter about the Periodic Table of the Elements, now’s a good time to do so.) The moisture in the lemon functions as an electrolyte, a fluid that conducts electrons—if you will, a swimming pool for electrons.
2. The electron shoots out of the zinc, through the lemon, to react with the copper on the wire. The copper gains an electron and becomes a negative force. The exchange of electrons is a chemical reaction. It creates chemical energy, or charge. All that charge needs is a circuit.
3. The electron exchange buzzes around the circuit you built—zinc/nail to copper wire to clock to copper wire to nail to lemon to copper to zinc/nail to lemon, and so on. That’s the transfer from chemical energy to electricity, and it gets the clock going as well as any manufactured battery.
Snowballs
SNOWBALLS MAY NOT BE ALLOWED in schoolyards, but this shouldn’t stop you from holding a neighborhood snowball fight when school gets canceled because of a big storm. When a snowball fight breaks out, everyone must agree to some ground rules, such as no ice, and all snowballs must always be aimed well below the neck.
There are four basic kinds of snow.
Powder. Likely to be seen on very cold days. It has low moisture content and lots of air. Skiers love it, but not snowball fighters, because it’s too dry to pack well.
Slush. No one likes slush; this mushy, melty waterlogged snow is horrid for snowballs.
Ice. Snow that has melted and refrozen. Leave it alone. You don’t want to be hit by it, and you don’t want to throw it. Ice hurts, and it wrecks the fun.
Snowball Snow. Made in weather that hovers around the freezing mark. You know it when you see it. The snow is airy yet firm, and when you roll some between your hands it sets into a ball that nearly leaps into the air.
To make a snowball, scoop enough snow to fill your hands. Push in, and rotate both hands around your snowball. Pack it. Smooth it. Add more to make it bigger. It’s your choice to stockpile, or make them as you go.
After hours playing in the snow, head inside to warm up, but not before you’ve filled a pan with fresh snow. Bring it inside, where maple syrup—somewhat mysteriously—has been warmed on the stove by a thoughtful parent (to 230° Fahrenheit, if one uses a candy thermometer). Pour the maple syrup in ribbon patterns over the snow, and enjoy Snow Taffy.
Every Girl’s Toolbox
WITH TOOLS you can make stuff, and that is a powerful feeling. You can help your grandfather finish that dollhouse he’s been tinkering with for years. You can make a swing for the backyard, a bench for your clubhouse—or make the whole clubhouse.
Experiment with wood, nails, screws, hammers, screwdrivers, and drills. After a while, you’ll start to think in tools and materials, and you’ll see how screws and nails hold wood together. Then you’ll begin to come up with your own projects. Trial and error are the best teachers, and it doesn’t take long to feel comfortable.
VISITING THE HARDWARE STORE
Before we turn to the basic tools, a word on hardware stores. You might be intimidated by them, as many people are. Especially those antiquated-looking, small hardware stores, with their dusty shelves filled to the brim with unfamiliar, scary-looking objects, usually guarded by men who are burly and possibly gruff.
Fear not, we are here to tell you. Said hardware stores mark the entrance to a world in which you can create and repair anything imaginable. And the hardware store’s burly guardians? The truth is, they may look gruff, but usually they’re very nice, and they love to problem-solve and to find the perfect nail or wire for you. Ask for help when you’re matching bolts and nuts. Get their advice on what kind of drill bit will attach a wood plaque to the stone wall outside your house. They’ll show you where to find hardware store exotica, and they know fix-it secrets you’ll never learn in books.
Besides, many of them have daughters, too, and you can bet they’ve taught their girls a thing or two about what to do with a hammer and a box of nails.
CREATING YOUR TOOLBOX
Every girl needs her own toolbox. You can get a decent toolbox, with a latch and an organizing tray, for as little as ten dollars. Here are the basics to fill it with.
1. Safety Glasses
These are an absolute must when hammering, drilling, or sawing.
2. Claw Hammer
The flat side of the hammer bangs nails into wood; the V-shaped claw side pulls them out.
To hammer, grip the handle solidly, near the bottom. Hold a nail with your thumb and forefinger, and tap it in to the wood, gently, until it stands on its own. Then move your fingers away and hammer harder, from your forearm (that is, don’t use your entire arm), and keep your wrist straight. Keep your eye on the nail, and trust your eye-hand coordination.
3. Nails
The measurements for nails derive from the British custom of selling 100 nails for a certain number of pennies. Nails are thus described in pennyweights, except the resulting abbreviation is not p, but, oddly enough, d, in reference to an ancient Roman coin, the denarius.
Once upon a time you could walk into a store in Yorkshire and purchase one hundred 1½-inch nails for 4 pence, and because of that, they are now labeled 4d nails. Much of the world, it must be said, uses the metric system for a more systematic and reasonable way to measure nails.
4. Screwdriver
The screwdriver not only gets screws where they’re going and takes them out, it can be used in a bazillion creative ways to do almost anything. Try a 6-in-1 screwdriver (which has six changeable heads). To get jobs done faster, we recommend a battery-operated screwdriver.
5. Screws
Screws and bolts live in those mysteriously thin cabinets in the back aisle of the hardware store, along with their friends, bolts, nuts, and washers. Tighten a nut on a bolt to keep things ultrasecure. A washer—that’s a flat circular object that slips on the bolt between the nut and the surface—protects the surface and helps tighten the nut.
Remembering the saying “righty-tighty, lefty-loosy” will help you recall which direction to turn a screw.
6. Wrench
Wrenches tighten and untighten the nuts that go at the end of bolts. They come in the openend (fixed size) variety, and the adjustable. A small set of open-end wrenches, or one adjustable wrench, should start you off well.
7. Pliers
For gripping objects, like a stuck faucet, get a versatile groove-joint pliers. Also handy is a needlenose pliers to grab small objects, like wire. It often has a little wire cutter built in (peek at the intersection of the handles and you’ll find it).
8. Glue Gun
When you can’t use screws, bolts, or nails, a glue gun saves the day, and is quite fun to operate. A small one should do, and don’t forget plenty of glue sticks to melt in it.
9. Tape Measure
A 16-foot retractable tape measure that can lock in place is a good start.
10. Saw
A saw is not for the very young, of course, but it’s a necessity for cutting wood to size and making shapes. A handsaw is a flat hand tool. A modern jigsaw is a power tool, activated by a trigger. All power tools are extremely dangerous if they are not used exactly as specified in their instructions, and you should always have adult supervision when operating them.
Hold long strips of wood on a sawhorse (a beam connected by four legs); cut small pieces of wood off the edge of a work table. Be careful, ask for help, and, as always, use your safety glasses.
11. Drill
To drill, start with an awl or center punch (hand tools that look like small spikes) to make an indentation in your surface so the drill bit won’t slip. Bits are the small cutting pieces you fit into your drill for each project.
A battery-operated power drill is very handy. It will come with a basic set of bits, or you can get a set if it doesn’t. There’s an art to matching up the right drill bit to the size of the hole you’ll need for the screw. If you know the size of the bolt or screw, that helps. Otherwise, the best we can tell you is to peer closely at the sizes and when in doubt try the smaller bit first. Experience will make it all the more clear. As always, keep the twirling drill bit far from your body, or anywhere it can do harm.
Once you have your own toolbox, you might begin to truly love the hardware store. You’ll stand for hours looking at the display of unique drill bits to make holes in metal, brick, plastic, or stone; at the sander attachment that can remove paint or brush wood’s rough edges clean; at the buffer that smoothes it to perfection. You’ll handle each one carefully, and after much deliberation with the burly hardware store guy about the pros and cons of each, take some home to try out on a project of your own imagination.
Going to Africa
TRAVELING TO DISTANT COUNTRIES and experiencing different cultures is extremely daring. It can sometimes be disorienting at first, as you adjust to the language barriers and foreign foods and customs, but the rewards often more than make up for the challenges. A well-planned trip to Africa offers incredible history, mind-blowing sights, and once-in-a-lifetime adventures. Before you go, make sure to read up on the facts, like the ones below.
ALGERIA
Declared independence in 1962 from France
Languages: Arabic, French, Berber dialects
Adventures: The 400,000 palm trees of the Sahara oasis town of Timimoun, and El-Oued, the Town of a Thousand Domes
ANGOLA
Declared independence in 1975 from Portugal
Languages: Portuguese, Bantu, and other African languages
Adventures: The Calendula waterfalls
BENIN
Declared independence in 1960 from France
Languages: French, Fon, Yoruba, and six other tribal languages
Adventures: Elephants and baboons at the Pendjari wildlife park
BOTSWANA
Declared independence in 1966 from the United Kingdom
Languages: English, Setswana, Kalanga, Sekgalagad
Adventures: Chobe game park
BURKINA FASO
Declared independence in 1960 from France
Languages: French, African languages
Adventures: Wild elephants at Nazinga Reserve
BURUNDI
Declared independence in 1962 from Belgium
Languages: French, Kirundi, Swahili
Adventures: Drumming in Gitega, Bujumbara, a port on Lake Tanganyika
CAMEROON
Declared independence in 1960, from French administration of a United Nations trusteeship
Languages: English, French, 24 African languages
Adventures: The Royal Palace at Foumban
CAPE VERDE
Declared independence in 1975 from Portugal
Languages: Portuguese, Crioulo
Adventures: The fishing village of Tarrafal
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Declared independence in 1960 from France
Languages: French, Sangho, African languages
Adventures: The rainforest surrounding M’Baïki
CHAD
Declared independence in 1960 from France
Languages: French, Arabic, Sara, over 120 languages and dialects
Adventures: Prehistoric cave paintings in the Ennedi desert
COMOROS
Declared independence in 1975 from France
Languages: French, Arabic, Shikomoro
Adventures: The active volcano at Mount Karthala
REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Declared independence in 1960 from France
Languages: French, Lingala, Monokuluba, and Kikongo
Adventures: Hundreds of gorillas, elephants, and monkeys at Odzala National Park
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Declared independence in 1960 from Belgium
Languages: French, Lingala, Kinguana, Kikongo, Tshiluba
Adventures: Pygmy chimp orphanage at the Chutes de Lukia
CÔTE D’IVOIRE (IVORY COAST)
Declared independence in 1960 from France
Languages: French; 60 native dialects, of which Dioula is most widely spoken
Adventures: Stained glass windows at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix
DJIBOUTI
Declared independence in 1977 from France
Languages: French, Arabic, Somali, Afar
Adventures: Tadjoura, Djibouti’s oldest town
EGYPT
Declared independence in 1922 from the United Kingdom
Languages: Arabic, English, and French
Adventures: Ancient Egyptian pyramids
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Declared independence in 1958 from Spain
Languages: Spanish, French, pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo
Adventures: Beaches with black volcano sand
ERITREA<
br />
Declared independence in 1993 from Ethiopia
Languages: Afar, Asmara, Tigre, Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages
Adventures: The ruins of the old town of Koloe, in Qohaito
ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia has been independent for at least 2,000 years.
Languages: Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, other local languages, English
Adventures: The caves of Sof Omar
GABON
Declared independence in 1960 from France
Languages: French, Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi
Adventures: The river rapids in the Okanda region
THE GAMBIA
Declared independence in 1965 from the United Kingdom
Languages: English, Mandinka, Wolof, Fula
Adventures: Cruise through the Abuko Nature Reserve and see crocodiles, monkeys, birds, and antelopes
GHANA
Declared independence in 1957 from the United Kingdom
Languages: English, African languages such as Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, Ga
Adventures: 600 butterfly species at Kakum National Park and a walkway 98 feet above the forest floor
GUINEA
Declared independence in 1958 from France
Languages: French, and each ethnic group has its own language
Adventures: Malinke music on the streets of Conakry, and Les Ballets Africains
GUINEA-BISSAU
Declared independence in 1973 from Portugal
Languages: Portuguese Crioulo, African languages
Adventures: Winding streets of the old Portuguese quarter of Bissau
KENYA
Declared independence in 1963 from the United Kingdom
Languages: Kiswahili, English, African languages
Adventures: The Gede Ruins, a Swahili village abandoned in the 12th century, and baobob trees
The Daring Book for Girls Page 9
