Backyard Ballistics By William Gurstelle. This step-by-step guide enables ordinary folks to construct 13 awesome ballistic devices using inexpensive household or hardware store materials. Clear instructions, diagrams, and photographs show how to build projects ranging from the simple-a match powered rocket-to the more complex-a tabletop catapault-to the classic-the infamous potato cannon-to the offbeat-a Cincinnati fire kite. With a strong emphasis on safety, this book also provides troubleshooting tips, explains the physics behind each project, and profiles such scientists and extraordinary experimenters as Alfred Nobel, Robert Goddard, and Isaac Newton, among others. pb 164 pages