Christmas Gift Guide
by Scott Dutfield · 13/12/2018
Struggling to think of the perfect present? These six gifts are ideal for all science and tech fans!
QuickBuild RAF Red Arrows Hawk
Since 1965 The Red Arrows have been performing their thrilling displays to audiences all over the world. They have appeared in almost 5,000 displays in over 50 countries. To join the Red Arrows display team candidates have to have completed a front line tour as a Royal Air Force pilot, have a minimum of 1500 flying hours and be assessed as ‘above average’ in their current RAF flying role. A maximum of three new pilots are chosen each year so the pilots of the Red Arrows really are the best of the best! The Red Arrows Hawk is a British icon and you can recreate your own at home with an Airfix QuickBuild kit. QuickBuild kits give you the ability to recreate a wide variety of iconic aircraft, tanks and cars into brilliant scale models. No paint or glue is required and the push together brick system is also compatible with other plastic brick brands.
Face In Space
Do you struggle for the gift for someone who’s got everything? The Face In Space team offers something fun and unique! They can send your special message, photo, logo, or even a mince pie, really, really high on a big weather balloon. They film it in HD video, floating with the real blackness of space and curvature of the Earth as a backdrop. Now taking bookings for space flights departing in 2019.
Powerball Gyroscopes
The perfect gift for those who think they have everything. For sports people, musicians, computer users, gadget lovers – anyone at all! Powerball uses gyroscopic forces to build wrist, grip and arm strength. A Powerball rotor can spin faster than a Formula 1 car’s engine at over an incredible 20,000 RPM, making it one the world’s fastest self-powered devices. The spinning Powerball rotor can even use magnetic induction to power a digital counter (tracks how fast you’re spinning the rotor) and lights. Used as training aids for NASA Astronauts in microgravity, find out for yourself what it feels like to hold on to a Powerball when it is spinning faster than a F1 engine!
Motors & Generators
With this kit you can carry out 25 different experiments for hours of fun learning about electronic circuits. Along the way you will also learn about gears, drive-trains and energy with a full-colour, 48-page manual to guide you through each experiments.
OrbGaming Virtual Archer
Unleash your inner Robin Hood with this fun gadget! Simply download the free app and attach your phone to the bow to get started. From target practice to battling dragons, you can shoot your way through a variety of immersive, 360-degree games and become an virtual archery ace in no time.
Haynes Large Hadron Collider Manual
Here is another excellent example of Haynes demystifying a highly complex subject, in this case particle physics. The Large Hadron Collider Manual tells the story of how physicists are seeking answers to these questions using the world’s largest particle smasher – the Large Hadron Collider – at the CERN laboratory on the Franco-Swiss border.
Beginning with the first tentative steps taken to build the machine, the digestible text, supported by colour photographs of the hardware involved, along with annotated schematic diagrams of the physics experiments, covers the particle accelerator’s greatest discoveries – from both the perspective of the writer and the scientists who work there. Here is a full, comprehensive guide to the most famous, record-breaking physics experiment in the world, which continues to capture the public imagination as it provides new insight into the fundamental laws of nature.
For more science and technology articles, pick up the latest copy of How It Works from all good retailers or from our website now. If you have a tablet or smartphone, you can also download the digital version onto your iOS or Android device. To make sure you never miss an issue of How It Works magazine, subscribe today!
