The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science

Stand back! Genius at work!

Encase your little bother in a giant soap bubble. Drop mentos into a bottle of diet soda and stand back as a geyser erupts. Launch a rocket made from a film canister.

Here are 64 amazing experiments that snap, crackle, pop, ooze, crash, boom, and stink. Giant air cannons. Home-made lightning. Marshmallows on steroids. Matchbox microphones. Theres even an introduction to alchemy. (Not sure what that is? Think medieval wizard.) None of the experiments requires special training, and all use stuff found in the kitchen or in the garden shed. Youd be irresponsible not to try them.

ATTENTION, PARENTS: Yes, your kids may need your help with a few experiments. And yes, sometimes it may get a tad messy. But its not pure mayhem. The balloon rocket whizzing through the garden? It demonstrates Newtons Third Law of Motion. That chunk of potato launched across the kitchen from a tube? Welcome to Boyles Law. Every experiment demonstrated real science, at its most memorable.