1989

December, 1989. Why Are the First Few Puffs the Hardest When You Blow Up a Balloon?
Cost:NA	Difficulty:	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
November, 1989. Colored Segments of a Grid Can Shed a Diffuse Glow Like the Light From a Neon Tube
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
October, 1989. How to Build a Hele-Shaw Cell and Watch Bubbles Playing Tag in a Viscous Fluid
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
September, 1989. A Drop of Water Becomes a Gateway into the World of Catastrophe Optics
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
August, 1989. How to Analyze the Shock Waves That Sweep Through Expressway Traffic
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
July, 1989. What Do Phonograph Records Have in Common with Windshield Wipers?
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
June, 1989. The Mechanics of Rock Climbing, or Surviving the Ultimate Physics Exam
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty: NA	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
May, 1989. How to Stop Worrying about Vibration and Make Holograms Viewable in White Light
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 2: (Minor injury possible)	Utility:
April, 1989. How to Build a Plank-Mass Accelerator in Your Solar System
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
March, 1989. How to Get a Playground Swing Going: a First Lesson in the Mechanics of Rotation
Cost:NA	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
February, 1989. In an Emergency Stop, Should a Car's Wheels Be Locked or Should the Braking Be Controlled?
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
January, 1989. The Colors Seen in the Sky Offer Lessons in Optical Scattering
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:

1988

December, 1988. The Distorted Images Seen in Christmas-Tree Ornaments and Other Reflecting Balls
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
November, 1988. The Caf*-Wall Illusion, in Which Rows of Tiles Tilt That Should Not Tilt At All
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
October, 1988. Drop Two Stacked Balls From Waist Height; the Top Ball May Bounce Up to the Ceiling
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
September, 1988. Shock Front Phenomena and Other Oddities to Entertain a Bored Airline Passenger
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
August, 1988. Some Entertaining Lessons in Optics That May Make Air Travel Easier to Endure
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
July, 1988. Shadows Cast on the Bottom of a Pool Are Not Like Other Shadows. Why?
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
June, 1988. Does Convection or the Bernoulli Principle Make the Shower Curtain Flutter Inward?
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
May, 1988. Icicles Ensheathe a Number of Puzzles: Just How Does the Water Freeze?
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
April, 1988. How to Map Electrically Charged Patches with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
March, 1988. Why Sidespin Helps the Bowler to Keep Scoring Strikes
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
February, 1988. The Feathery Wake of a Moving Boat Is a Complex Interference Pattern
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
January, 1988. What Explains Subjective-Contour Illusions, Those Bright Spots That Are Not Really There?
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:

1987

December, 1987. How to Capture on Film the Faint Glow Emitted When Sticky Tape Is Peeled Off a Surface
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
November, 1987. Fluid Interfaces, Including Fractal Flows, Can Be Studied in a Hele-Shaw Cell
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
October, 1987. Now There Is a Rubik's Magic, a New Puzzle That Provides a Study in Permutation Operators
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
September, 1987. Sticky Threadlike Substances That Tend to Drawn Themselves Out into Bead Arrays
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
August, 1987. Music and Ammonia Vapor Excite the Color Pattern of a Soap Film
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
July, 1987. Why a Fluid Flows Faster When the Tube Is Pinched
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
June, 1987. Puzzles in Two and Three Dimensions and Ways to Simplify Their Solution
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
May, 1987. Concerning Disappearances, Including the Cheshire Cat's Odd Vanishing Act
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
April, 1987. Making a Barometer That Works with Water in Place of Mercury
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
March, 1987. Calculating the Distance to the Sun By Observing the Trail of a Meteor
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
February, 1987. The Secret of a Microwave Oven's Rapid Cooking Action Is Disclosed
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
January, 1987. Reflections From a Water Surface Display Some Curious Properties
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:

1986

December, 1986. Methods for Going Through a Maze Without Becoming Lost or Confused
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
November, 1986. The Hyperscope and Pseudoscope Aid Experiments on Three-Dimensional Vision
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
October, 1986. Cracks in a Surface Look Intricately Random but Actually Develop Rather Systematically
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
September, 1986. Rainbow Holograms, Unlike Conventional Ones, Can Be Observed in Ordinary Light
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
August, 1986. Retracing the Steps By Which Aluminum Metal Was Initially Purified Back in 1886
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
July, 1986. Exotic Patterns Appear in Water When It Is Freezing or Melting
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
June, 1986. Mirrors Make a Maze So Bewildering That the Explorer Must Rely on a Map
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
May, 1986. Wire That "Remembers" Its Shape Is Put to Work Running an Engine
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
April, 1986. Wonders with the Retroreflector, a Mirror That Removes Distortion From a Light Beam
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 2: (Minor injury possible)	Utility:
March, 1986. Methods and Optics of Perceiving Color in Black-and-White Grating
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
February, 1986. A Homemade Device for Testing Particle Scattering; Experiments in Zero Gravity
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
January, 1986. An Inexpensive Homemade Polarimeter Can Analyze Optically Active Compounds
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:

1985

December, 1985. The Kaleidoscope Now Comes Equipped with Flashing Diodes and Focusing Lenses
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
November, 1985. How Best to See Halley's Comet While It Is in View During the Next Few Months
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
October, 1985. Strange Things Happen When Two Pendulums Interact Through a Variety of Interconnections
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
September, 1985. What Forces Shape the Behavior of Water As a Drop Meanders Down a Windowpane
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
August, 1985. Cooking Outdoors with Simple Equipment Demonstrates Aspects of Thermal Physics
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 2: (Minor injury possible)	Utility:
July, 1985. Fly Casting Illuminates the Physics of Fishing
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
June, 1985. How the Sun's Reflection From Water Offers a Means of Calculating the Slopes of Waves
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
May, 1985. Cat's Cradles and Other Topologies Formed with a Two-Meter Loop of Flexible String
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
April, 1985. Experiments with the External-Combustion Fluidyne Engine, Which Has Liquid Pistons
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
March, 1985. A Field Formula for Calculating the Speed and Flight Efficiency of a Soaring Bird
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
February, 1985. Bidwell's Ghost and Other Phenomena Associated with the Positive Afterimage
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
January, 1985. Searching for Patterns of Rainfall in a Storm
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:

1984

December, 1984. Edge Waves Form a Spokelike Pattern When Vibrations Are Set Up in a Liquid
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
November, 1984. A Ball Bearing Aids in the Study of Light and Also Serves As a Lens
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
October, 1984. The Troublesome Teapot Effect, or Why a Poured Liquid Clings to the Container
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
September, 1984. Success in Racquetball Is Enhanced By Knowing the Physics of the Collision of the Ball with Wall
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
August, 1984. Deep Thinking on Dominoes Falling in a Row and Leaning Out From the Edge of a Table
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
July, 1984. People Listening to a Bell Can Perceive Sounds the Bell Does Not Really Make
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
June, 1984. Gismos That Apply Non-Obvious Physical Principles to the Enjoyment of Cooking
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
May, 1984. In Which Heating a Wire Tells a Lot about Changes in the Crystal Structure of Steel
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 4: (POSSIBLY LETHAL!!)	Utility:
April, 1984. The Physics of Grandmother's Peerless Homemade Ice Cream
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
March, 1984. What Is a Fish's View of a Fisherman and the Fly He Has Cast on the Water?
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
February, 1984. How to Stop a Spinning Object By Humming and Perceive Curious Blue Arcs Around the Light
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
January, 1984. The Spectra of Streetlights Illuminate Basic Principles of Quantum Mechanics
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:

1983

December, 1983. Funny Things Happen When Drops of Oil or Other Substances Are Placed on Water
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 2: (Minor injury possible)	Utility:
November, 1983. Looking into the Ways of Water Striders, the Insects That Walk (and Run) on Water
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
October, 1983. Thinking about Physics While Scared to Death (on a Falling Roller Coaster)
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
September, 1983. Caustics: Mathematical Curves Generated By Light Shined Through Rippled Plastic
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
August, 1983. In Which Simple Equation Show Whether a Knot Will Hold or Slip
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
July, 1983. The Physics of the Follow, the Draw and the Mass* (in Billiards and Pool)
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
June, 1983. What Causes the Color in Plastic Objects Stressed Between Two Polarizing Filters?
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
May, 1983. What Causes the "Tears" That Form on the Inside of a Glass of Wine?
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
April, 1983. How Lenses Can Be Made Out of Ice, and What Happens When Coffee Is Brewing in the Ibrik
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
March, 1983. How to Analyze a City Traffic-Light System From the Outside Looking in
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
February, 1983. Thermal Oscillators: Systems That Seesaw, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
January, 1983. Simple and Vivid Demonstrations of Advanced Concepts in Physics
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:

1982

December, 1982. What Happens When Water Boils Is a Lot More Complicated Than You Might Think
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
November, 1982. Simple Optical Experiments in Which Spatial Filtering Removes the "Noise" From Pictures
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
October, 1982. Delights of the "Wobbler," a Coin or a Cylinder That Precesses As It Spins
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
September, 1982. When Different Powders Are Shaken, They Seem to Have Lives of Their Own
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
August, 1982. Walking on the Shore, Watching the Waves and Thinking on How They Shape the Beach
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
July, 1982. In Which a Lifesaver Lights Up in the Mouth and Light Takes Funny Bounces Through a Lens
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
June, 1982. The Essence of Ballet Maneuvers Is Physics
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
May, 1982. What Makes You Sound So Good When You Sing in the Shower?
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
April, 1982. Floaters: Visual Artifacts That Result From Blood Cells in Front of the Retina
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
March, 1982. Motors in Which Magnets Attract Other Magnets in Apparent Perpetual Motion
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 2: (Minor injury possible)	Utility:
February, 1982. The "Speckle" on a Surface Lit By Laser Light Can Be Seen with Other Kinds of Illumination
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
January, 1982. Why Do Particles of Sand and Mud Stick Together When They Are Wet
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:

1981

December, 1981. Reflection on the Rising Bubbles in a Bottle of Beer
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
November, 1981. The Pleasure of the Pin Hole Camera and Its Relative the Pinspeck Camera
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
October, 1981. The Aerodynamics of the Samara: Winged Seed of Maple, the Ash and Other Trees
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
September, 1981. Why Do Honey and Syrup Form a Coil When They Are Poured
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
August, 1981. Interference Patterns Made By Motes on Dusty Mirrors
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
July, 1981. Anamorphic Pictures: Distorted Views From Which Distortion Can Be Removed
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
June, 1981. The Physics and Chemistry of Lemon Meringue Pie
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
May, 1981. About Phosphenes: Luminous Patterns That Appear When the Eyes Are Closed
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
April, 1981. The Charm of Hydraulic Jumps, Starting with Those Observed in the Kitchen Sink
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
March, 1981. The Physics of Spinning Tops, Including Some Far-Out Ones
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
February, 1981. How Can the Amateur Detect Metals in Air, Liquids or Solids. Sam Epstein Discourses
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
January, 1981. More about Edifying Visual Spectacles Produces By Laser
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:

1980
 

December, 1980. The Physics of the Patterns of Frost on a Window, Plus an Easy-to-Read Sundial
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
November, 1980. More about Random-Dot Displays, Plus Computer Programs to Generate Them
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
October, 1980. A Homemade Mercury-Vapor Ion Laser That Emits Both Green and Red-Orange
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 4: (POSSIBLY LETHAL!!)	Utility:
September, 1980. Billows in the Ionosphere Are Tracked with Transistor Radios
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
August, 1980. Dazzling Laser Displays That Shed Light on Light
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
July, 1980. In Judo and Aikido Application of the Physics of Forces Makes the Weak Equal to the Strong
Cost:NA	Difficulty: NA	Danger 0: (NA)	Utility:
June, 1980. Mysteries of Rainbows, Notably Their Rare Supernumerary Arcs
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
May, 1980. Illusions in the Snow: More Fun with Random Dots on the Television Screen
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
April, 1980. Visual Illusion in Random-Dot Patterns and Television "Snow"
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 1: (No hazards)	Utility:
March, 1980. Stalking the Fossil Trilobite, Crinoid, and Seed Fern in Ohio
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
February, 1980. Easy Ways to Make Holograms and View Fluid Flow, and More Funny Fluids
Cost:$0-100	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility:
January, 1980. A Homemade Spectrophotometer Scans the Spectrum in a Thirtieth of a Second
Cost:$100+	Difficulty:	Danger 3: (Serious injury possible)	Utility: