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    You are here: Home / Learn / Science / Inertia Zoom Ball: Super Fun S.T.E.A.M. Project!

     

    Inertia Zoom Ball: Super Fun S.T.E.A.M. Project!

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    Have you ever heard of an inertia zoom ball? Yeah, me neither! When researching the theme "react" for this week's S.T.E.A.M. based project (did you see our diy indoor boomerangs last week?) I happened across this activity. It looked exactly like something my boys would enjoy doing. Plus, let's face it, anything with the words "zoom" and "ball" is going to get the attention of my kids.

    Inertia Zoom Ball science project for kids.

    If you are looking for a science project that is perfect for ACTIVE kids this is the one. No need to worry about spilled chemicals or sticky messes, lots of prep time or hunting around for all those elusive materials. This science experiment can be done right now, indoors or out.

    How to Make an Inertia Zoom Ball

    What you need:

    • 2 plastic 1 L bottles. Um, if you don't drink soda you might get them from your neighbor's recycling. Just sayin'. There are benefits to apartment living.  (Yes, I washed them!)
    • Scissors
    • String
    • Craft supplies (optional)

    Instructions:

    Cut the bottoms off the plastic bottles. I found this to be difficult and had to really jab a sharp point into the plastic to get it started. So, this is probably a job for grown-ups unless your kids are quite a bit older.

    How to make an inertia zoom ball

    Either tape the bottles together, end to end, or slip one end inside the other, which is what we did. This will be the base of your inertia zoom ball.

    Optional: decorate your zoom ball. My bird loving son jazzed his up to look like a hyacinth macaw.

    Decorating an inertia zoom ball project

    Thread two lengths of string through the inertia zoom ball. Make these quite long at first, so your kids can experiment with the effect that shortening the strings may have on the reaction of the ball.

    How to operate the zoom ball: 

    (I tried to make a video but it was too pathetic to share with you. Watch the video below to see how it works! Trust me, your kids will figure it out in two seconds.)

    You need two people. So grab the neighbor you stole the plastic bottles from, or tell your kids to stop fighting and get it together so they can do a little science.

    Each person takes a hold of one end of each string and pulls them taut. First hold the strings together and move the ball to one end. The person closest to the ball snaps the strings apart and the ball zooms toward the opposite end! The receiver then snaps his string ends open as his partner closes his hands to zoom it back.

    Tip: Hold on tight! As  long as either partner doesn't let go, you can get some super zooming action in.

    Tip: A fast moving plastic bottle can hurt when it bumps against your hands! Wear mittens.

    Tip: We kept forgetting to bring our hands back together after the ball had zoomed away, so we started shouting "Open! Close" Open! Close!". Yes, we did sound a bit dorky.

    Tip: Experiment with longer or shorter strings. Talk about the difference!

    What's the science?  As the strings push apart, the ball reacts by zooming down the strings. The ball's motion can be halted in several ways: bumping against the hands of the receiver (ouch!), losing momentum when a string goes slack when it is accidentally dropped (as you know, we love learning about science through failure), or, if the reaction of the snapped strings was not strong enough, the ball loses speed as it enters the "straight string zone". (Don't you love my technical language? I was a drama major, people.)

    By the way, we found this project is the fantastic and highly useful book, Gizmos & Gadgets: Creating Science Contraptions That Work (& Knowing Why) (affiliate link). Apparently, zoom balls are a hot item in occupational therapy right now, so... BONUS!

    See more easy science projects you can do in a tiny apartment:

    • Indoor boomerang
    • Homemade compass
    • Simple pulley play
    • Balloon rocket race
    • Preschool science lab
    • Acid and base color changing

    Happy Science Play!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Ana says

      March 03, 2015 at 3:27 pm

      I love this project! and your post is so funny too! I love your wry sense of humor 🙂

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        March 05, 2015 at 10:00 am

        Ha! More like my obvious and painful sense of humor.

        Reply
    2. Anne says

      March 03, 2015 at 3:54 pm

      Always have mittens available for science projects 🙂 Love this. Will have to go dumpster diving later for soda bottles.

      Reply
    3. Meri Cherry says

      March 03, 2015 at 11:12 pm

      How fun! My husband would love this one. He's always trying to get our girls into things that zoom.

      Reply
    4. Rachelle | TinkerLab says

      March 04, 2015 at 1:50 am

      This is sooo fun! I love your advice to ask for help from the neighbor whose bottle you're using 🙂 My kids will love this.

      Reply
    5. :Donna says

      March 09, 2015 at 10:45 pm

      Erica, does this have any relation to this book by Paul and Peter Reynolds? http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sydney-simon-paul-reynolds/1117737094?ean=9781580896757

      I did a search and got several different sites, one of them being (unfortunately) gaming.

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        March 10, 2015 at 10:53 am

        No. I did get the idea from a science book but it's a classic science project. You can find a few you tube videos of how to make the project, too.

        Reply
    6. Jim Kirk says

      July 22, 2015 at 12:57 am

      Interesting project. I may do it with my students. Just one thing... Although inertia is definitely something that comes into play with this project, I don't think it's really the main focus. This activity more explores the concept of force and reaction.

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        July 22, 2015 at 6:13 am

        Yes, I agree with you. If I was to re-do it, I would have just called it a "zoom ball."

        Reply
    7. Dawn says

      November 03, 2015 at 4:13 pm

      I had a toy that worked like this as a child. I think the trick is to stop the rocket by pulling your hands apart before it gets to you. It takes some practice.

      Reply
    8. Emily says

      May 05, 2017 at 11:53 am

      This is awesome! I wonder if it would work with regular sized water bottles and string. I'm leading a summer camp for preschoolers this year and I'm looking for fun projects that i can duplicate times 10 lol

      Reply
      • Erica says

        May 08, 2017 at 12:06 pm

        I'm sure that will work!

        Reply

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