Resources & Links - Science Tool Kits for Young and Hobbyist

[RamaY]

This thread is to collect information & links about various science tool kits that can help the young and hobbyists alike in expanding their scientific temperament.

If possible, kindly add the following headers so it will be easy to search

Field: Math/Physics/Biology/Chemistry etc.,
Cost: <10/50/5000 etc.,
Type: Kit/Machine/Software

[RamaY]

Field: Aeronautical
Cost: ~$1000
Type: Kit/Machine

Micro Jet Engine Kits

http://www.modeljetclub.co.uk/turbines.htm

Is it possible to get these things to India or are there any export controls? Any idea?

http://www.modeljetclub.co.uk/turbines.htm

pliss to check with UMS first. They are based in coimbatore, assam.

UMS turbine
http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2003 ... 800200.htm

http://www.umstech.in/static.php?name=Payment

Looks like their home page was hacked by a tsp group.

[RamaY]

All science fields, Lab kits, <$100-$300

eScience Labs

[ArmenT]

Electronics:

I learned a lot about electronics around 8th or 9th grade, thanks to a kit like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Sports-Ca ... B00005K2SY
Mine was a Science Fair 160 in 1 kit, which is only available on ebay these days, but it was similar to the one above. They are great for learning and encourage experimentation.

Another good thing is to get some of the Adafruit kits (like their arduino based kits) from: http://adafruit.com/

[RamaY]

Chemistry S/W Freeware resources

http://www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry/ch ... ware.shtml

[pradeepe]

Aurdino boards and shields are very good to get teens and those in college exposed to the world of electronics. We use them in our work place as well to validate our SW algorithms and build quick and dirty prototypes.

http://www.arduino.cc/

Mouser, Digikey, Sparkfun are good sources to get components.
https://www.sparkfun.com/

If you want to ARM processors instead of Atmel then I have heard good things about Raspberry pi
http://www.raspberrypi.org/

[RamaY]

Open Chemsoft : Open Source chemistry software

PCC allows to search and view chemical structures and associated scientific data.
PCC supports structure based searches including exact match, substructure searches and similarity searches.
PCC allows to perform combined structure based searches and text or numerical searches.
PCC is a generic application that allows , without extensions, to access corporate data.
PCC is targeted for handling small to medium sized compound datasets (up to 5'000 compounds).
PCC is targeted to be used by either a personal scientist, a workgroup or a small company.

[RamaY]

Open Source Bioinformatics Software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_op ... s_software

[RamaY]

Molecular Workbench

http://mw.concord.org/modeler/showcase/

[RamaY]

NetLogo

NetLogo is a multi-agent programmable modeling environment. It is used by tens of thousands of students, teachers and researchers worldwide. It also powers HubNet participatory simulations. It is authored by Uri Wilensky and developed at the CCL. You can download it free of charge.

http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/

[RamaY]

SHORE TOUR, Living Responsibly On The Edge Of The Ocean

SHORE TOUR, Living Responsibly on the Edge of the Ocean. Five units teach students how their actions affect ocean environments. This blend of classroom discussions and activities apply equally to those living in urban, rural, or shore settings. Topics include an introduction to coastal ecosystems, impacts of shoreline development, effects of marine debris (litter) and impacts of oil spills on coastal environments. Perfect way to incorporate hands-on environmental science activities into any curriculum. Materials for 40 students,

[ramana]

NeuroScience for Kids

Uty of Washington links to NeuroScience with experiments page etc.

[RamaY]

Astronomy software

Stellarium - http://www.stellarium.org/
Voyager - http://www.carinasoft.com/voyager.html

A related post and thread link - http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 4#p1375924

[Multatuli]

Description (not by me):

A 6502 emulator in JavaScript, visualizing the actual core and its electric flow during operation, cycle by cycle, instruction by instruction.

You can see the result of painstaking work to recreate the MOS6502 - visually. You can run 6502 code on it and see just how the different parts of CPU interact in executing your code. It is very neat, since it gives a view of how early CPU's work which is hard to put in words.

It is also very accurate, because the team involved build this 6502 simulator by creating a polygon model of the actual CPU die, which they scanned at very high resolutions. Then, they created a simulation which could use said polygons to act as if they where the actual transistors and other components in a CPU. The result is that the simulation executes the code you enter just like a real 6502 would, in the same order.

This is very different from how 'ordinary' emulators go about things and apart from being very accurate, it's also very interesting to see in motion.

http://www.visual6502.org/JSSim/

Jssim User Help

http://visual6502.org/wiki/index.php?ti ... imUserHelp

[RamaY]

For those still able to do calculations etc:

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com

self explanatory.

[ramana]

MTM Snap is CNC mill that can be put together for $500. If Indian mech engineers can come up with desi version it will change the way small machine shops in India and other places will run.

http://blog.makezine.com/2011/05/29/mtm ... ether-cnc/

[shaardula]

actually MIT media labs had setup some some labs in india called fablabs. similar ideas.

[Multatuli]

MIT App Inventor for Android

If you aren’t interested in programming as a profession (at least at the moment) it may be worth looking at using the MIT App Inventor for Android. It requires no coding, but will teach you how programmers think and provide knowledge on some concepts in computing. Plus, you’ll end up being able to make Android apps once you’ve mastered it!

More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/App_Inventor_for_Android

And the actual site: http://appinventor.mit.edu/

[Multatuli]

Codecademy

From Wikipedia

Codecademy is an online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in programming languages like Python, PHP, JavaScript, and Ruby, as well as markup languages including HTML and CSS.

Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codecademy

The Codecademy site: http://www.codecademy.com/

[Multatuli]

Take the world's best courses, online, for free.

https://www.coursera.org/

There are also free courses here, though not all of them.

https://www.udacity.com/

[panduranghari]

instructables


The seeds of Instructables germinated at the MIT Media Lab as the future founders of Squid Labs built places to share their projects, connect with others, and make an impact on the world. One of these early places was a blog Zeroprestige, which was an open source hardware experiment for kitesurfing. Here they documented their hand-sewn kites, plywood boards, and other general mayhem that happens when PhDs and high winds collide.

As a result of freely sharing our work, we met a ton of great people, received great opportunities, and were smacked in the face with the need for a web-based documentation system.

Instructables became that documentation system in 2005, as an in-house project of Squid Labs. When they weren't solving interesting problems like solar panels for driveways, efficiently harnessing human power, or strain sensing ropes, you could find them sharing Instructables from the workshop. From cooking to 3d printing, to making just about anything fly, Instructables became the recipient of countless hours of tinkering, soldering, stitching, frying, and fun, making just about anything.

[Amber G.]

A good resource, IMO
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/
(Founded by a close friend)
(It has many ideas, resource links, very good experts ready to answer/help/mentor youngsters in their forums - I know some personally ( )

[ramana]

From Science Daily

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 102245.htm

DIY and Save: A Scientist's Guide to Making Your Own Lab Equipment
Nov. 18, 2013 — Joshua Pearce is not one for understatement. "This is the beginning of a true revolution in the sciences," says the author of "Open-Source Lab." For cash-strapped researchers, he could be right.


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His new book, published by Elsevier, is a step-by-step DIY guide for making lab equipment. The essential tools are a 3D printer, open-source software and free digital designs. "It's a guidebook for new faculty members setting up labs," he said. "With it, they can cut the cost by a factor of 10, or even 100 for research-grade equipment. Even in the classroom, we can do a $15,000 educational lab for $500."

In keeping with the open-source concept, parts of "Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs," will be freely available at different times on the Elsevier Store. Chapters one and two are free now.

Pearce, an associate professor at Michigan Technological University, began printing out lab equipment in earnest after a seminal moment, when he priced a lab jack at $1,000. "All it does is move things up and down," he said. Using a printer and open-source software, his team made a utilitarian replica for about five dollars.

Pearce hasn't looked back. On his desk is a dual-purpose gadget: it can measure water turbidity, like a nephelometer; and it can do chemical analysis based on color, like a colorimeter. "We've shoved two devices into one, and it's completely customizable," said Pearce. To buy them both with equivalent accuracy would have cost over $4,000. To make this hybrid on a 3D printer cost about $50 including the cost of an open-source microcontroller, sensors and LEDs.

Saving money is just the half of it. "This lets faculty have total control over their laboratory," he said. Because designs are fluid, "devices can evolve with your lab rather than become obsolete."

The technology goes beyond slashing costs; it can also result in better science, says Pearce. Replicating another researcher's work becomes much easier and cheaper. "Equipment designs can be shared as easily as recipes," he said. "Scientists from all over the world are contributing designs." And it may change the dynamic of graduate education. "We get a huge influx of students from China, India and Africa, in part because they have so few good labs," Pearce said. "If they could print their own equipment, they wouldn't have to leave their home to study unless they wanted to, and many more talented people could contribute to experimental science. We could have a truly global scientific community."

But for Pearce, perhaps the best thing about open-source 3D printing is the open-source part. Makers, as 3D printer aficionados are called, not only use designs posted on the Internet. They also post their own and provide feedback. "It creates positive scientific karma," he said. "You can share your ideas and get help from the community, and it speeds things up so much. It's like having a global R&D team dedicated to your work ."

"Open-Source Lab" is written for a wide audience, from novices to those who are "at one with the force of open source," who can skip the introductory material and get right to work printing their own equipment.

At the close of the Acknowledgements section, Pearce cautions the reader not to rely too heavily on existing designs. The whole point of open-source printing is to join the community and share, share, share. "If the hardware is not good enough for you or your lab, remember, it is free, so quit whining and make it better!"

[RamaY]

Interactive simulations!

https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation ... ry/physics