Ok, here’s the situation. You want to blow out a candle. But you’re on the couch and the candle is 15 feet away. How to you do it without getting up? Easy. Use your Pulse Vortex Cannon. Not too many things with names as impressive as this are so simple and easy (and safe) to make. The instructions are simple: Get a box, cut a round hole in one end. Watch the videos:
What is a Vortex Canon?
Vortex: is a spinning, often turbulent, flow of fluid. Any spiral motion with closed streamlines is vortex flow. The motion of the fluid swirling rapidly around a center is called a vortex. The speed and rate ofrotation of the fluid in a free (irrotational) vortex are greatest at the center, and decrease progressively with distance from the center, whereas the speed of a forced (rotational) vortex is zero at the center and increases proportional to the distance from the center. Both types of vortices exhibit a pressure minimum at the center, though the pressure minimum in a free vortex is much lower. [Wikipedia]
Make Your Own Vortex Canon
From Make Magazine. Also check out the vortex canon how to on How Stuff Works.
The thing that is NOT easy to do is generate the smoke they are using to make the vortex visible. I couldn’t find a way that would be safe and easy to do with kids around short of buying an expensive smoke or fog generator. About the best I can think of would be to use some really smoky incense. But that’s kind of a fire hazard. If you know of a cheap, easy and safe way to make your own fog or smoke, please let me know.
-M
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