This bestselling DIY handbook now features new and expanded projects,
enabling ordinary folks to construct 16 awesome ballistic devices in
their garage or basement workshops using inexpensive household or
hardware store materials and this step-by-step guide. Clear
instructions, diagrams, and photographs show how to build projects
ranging from the simple match-powered rocket to the more complex
tabletop catapult and the offbeat Cincinnati fire kite. The classic
potato cannon has a new evil twin--the piezo-electric spud gun and the
electromagnetic pipe gun has joined the company of such favorites as the
tennis ball mortar. With a strong emphasis on safety, the book also
gives tips on troubleshooting, explains the physics behind the projects,
and profiles scientists and extraordinary experimenters such as Alfred
Nobel, Robert Goddard, and Isaac Newton. This book will be indispensable
for the legions of backyard toy-rocket launchers and fireworks fanatics
who wish every day was the fourth of July.