Buzz
Making your own stopwatch can be a great and enjoyable project with friends. Yevgen Romanenko / Getty ImagesCreating a one-minute timer is an exciting and rewarding project. Here are two different methods to make your own one-minute timer:
Materials Needed:
- Two 2-liter soda bottles with their caps
- A funnel
- Water
- A small drill
- A small screw and bolt
- Stopwatch [source: Schultz]
Steps:
- Place the bottle caps together with their tops touching, then drill a hole through the center of the caps. Secure the caps with a screw and bolt.
- Make a few small holes in the secured caps.
- Drill a hole in the middle of the side of each bottle.
- Attach the bottles to the caps, positioning one upside down on top of the other.
- Fill the top bottle with water through the side hole.
- Track the time it takes for the water to flow through the caps into the bottom bottle. Adjust the amount of water until the flow takes exactly one minute [source: Schultz].
Timer Method 2
Materials Required:
- Two plastic bottles of the same size
- 2 to 3 cups of fine sand
- Measuring cup
- Funnel
- Scotch tape
- Pencil, scissors, hole punch
- One piece of cardstock
- Stopwatch [source: wonder]
Steps:
- Using a funnel, pour 2 cups of sand into one of the bottles.
- Place the second bottle's opening on the cardstock and trace its outline.
- Cut out the circle and punch a hole in the center of it.
- Secure this circle over the bottle containing the sand with tape.
- Position the bottles with their necks together, placing the cardstock in between, and tape them in a way that allows for adjustments.
- Set the bottles upright so that the sand is in the top bottle.
- Time how long it takes for the sand to flow from the top bottle to the bottom one. Adjust the sand amount until it flows in exactly one minute.
- Firmly tape the bottles together to keep them in place [source: wonder].
