Skip to main content

This might win the award for best STEM candle.


I bought the cake but totally forgot about candles! How can you have a birthday cake and not have candles?

Just before we cut the cake I recalled that I had one special candle left from a pack I bought maybe a year ago. I am still amazed at the level of engineering it took to make this thing work.



Thoughts I had:
  • How do they get the big flame to work without totally melting all the smaller candles?
  • Why does the wire stretch across the big flame?
  • Could you make a different candle to play a customized song?
  • How many version did they need to make before they found one that worked flawlessly?
  • How did they come up with this idea?
  • How much math was involved in making this?
  • Could you use different chemicals to produce a different colored flame?
UPDATE:
We took it apart to find the electronics inside. We found two batteries, a simple speaker and a tiny circuit board. The best part was the small strip of metal that was tightly wound which provided the power to rotate the flower. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Like your ELMO but with an iPad (elementary classroom teachers)

I used AirServer to create the infinity mirror effect. We were in a meeting today and Dominic told us about this fantastic idea. As we discussed all things technology he explained one method of using the iPad as a portable ELMO. It was too cool not to share. Step 1 Make sure you have AirServer running on your laptop. 1. Click the Windows key on your keyboard or click the icon in the lower left of your screen. 2. Just start typing AirServer. 3. Click AirServer. Don't see it? Contact technology or your building tech person. Step 2 Connect your teacher iPad to your laptop. 1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Start by swiping in the bezel, the black plastic part surrounding the screen. 2. Click AirPlay Mirroring. 3. Click your name. Step 3 Open the camera app and instant portable ELMO! Anything you see in the camera's len will be broadcast to the big screen. I just used this method to take a picture of my notebook as a demonstration of how co

Who is emailing me? The Blue Man Group??? (Add an image to your Google account.)

WHY It is always nice to put a face with a name. Sometimes we need a tiny little reminder of what someone looks like because we don't see them very often. Follow these steps to add/change the image associated with your Google account. HOW Open your email. Click your image. It might just be a blue circle if you have not added something already. Click Change . Find an image you like. Your amazing new image will appear. From now on everyone can put a name to a face!

Annotate PDF? How might I do that?

So I have a PDF and I need to edit it. Here is one method that works pretty well for me. Open Word. Click File .  1. Click Open . 2. Click Browse . 3. Find the PDF you want to annotate. 4. Click Open . Click OK when you see this box. Bam! Your PDF now opens in Word. Note: you maybe have to click Enable Editing at the top of the screen. Finished editing and want to turn it back into a PDF? Click File . 1. Click Save As . 2. Click This PC . 3. Pick a location. I usually save things to my desktop. 4. Click Save as type - and choose PDF. 5. Click Save .