Make Your Own Balloon Hovercraft

Materials:

• Blank CD or CD you don't want any more.
• Pop-top cap from a water bottle or dish soap bottle
• Balloon
• Glue

Procedure:

1) Glue the pop up lid firmly onto the CD directly over the hole in the CD and let the glue dry.

2) Push the pop-top cap closed. Blow up the balloon, then hold it so that no air escapes, but don't tie it off. Stretch the mouth of the balloon over the bottle cap
3) Place it on a flat surface and let it go.

What Happened:

Air from inside the balloon escapes through the hole in the pop up top and flows out and under the CD. The CD has a flat surface with an even weight. So the airflow flow from the balloon creates a thin layer of air between the surface of the floor and the bottom of the CD. This reduces the amount of friction between the CD and floor and the hovercraft easily floats and glides on the pocket of air. This is the same way in which a hockey puck table game works! You can make up all sorts of games!

For more information go to: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Aero_p033.shtml