Leonardo on Water

Eli Whitney Museum

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2017 Summer Program

Everything excited Leonardo da Vinci’s imagination, but nothing more than water. It runs through the background of the Mona Lisa; it fills his drawings and science. Encounter nature’s perfect teacher with Leonardo.

Build and test an artful experiment each day:

A Floating Barge: Organize and transport the tools you will make this week.
Pumps: Lift and splatter water.
A Working Mill: Construct the Mills spinning energy to twist, rock, push and pull workers.
A Fountain: Sculpt figures to pour or spit and basins to catch and return the water.
A Paddlewheel Boat: Invent oars to push it great distances.

Each afternoon choose from a catalog of simple experiments that Leonardo noticed:

• spin vortexes • make waves • make a squirt gun
• make a submarine • make a rainbow • make a water walker
• shoot water(air) rockets • trace stream currents • master siphons
• pop bubbles underwater • make water lenses • explore spray science

Compile your notebook to rival Leonardo’s.


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