Make a Boat Powered by Fire.

Written by: techie

Picture of Make a Boat Powered by Fire.



Step 1: What you Need.

Picture of What you Need.




Step 2: Construction

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A certain amount of intuition is also desirable. 





Step 3: The Circular Fire Boat.

Picture of The Circular Fire Boat.




Step 4: Float Your Boat.

To see the fire boats working to their full potential, they need calm. Calm air and calm water.

We poured shallow pools of water into plastic trays and left them to settle. We also closed all the windows and doors to prevent draughts, and walked slowly so that the breeze of our passing wouldn't disturb the boats.

Place the boat at one end of the tray and light the candle.

As the candle burns, it heats the air around it. As you are probably aware, warm air rises. This is a convection current.

When the rising air hits the sail, it is deflected from its vertical path, which exerts a small, but real, force on the sail. Since the sail is fixed to the boat, the boat moves.

This video shows a couple of the boats my clubbers made: