Home made air pump

This is perhaps the simplest and most efficient Air Pump in the world. With this pump you can inflate a balloon with air. To make it you need a 1-litre empty plastic bottle, two balloons – one big one small, scissors and tape. First make two holes midway on the surface of the plastic bottle. The two holes are marked with red. Next make a small 5-mm diameter hole in the lid with the pointed end of the scissors. Stretch out a small balloon on the flat surface of the lid. Tape the ends of the balloon on the rim of the lid. Nip off the extra ends of the balloon. The stretched balloon acts like a VALVE. On being pushed from below the stretched balloon lifts and allows air to pass – ONLY FROM BELOW. No, air can pass the other way. The lid and balloon make a screechy whistle. On blowing through the lid air escapes and makes a very screechy noise. Air can only pass ONE WAY through this valve. Screw on the bottle lid with the stretched balloon valve on the bottle mouth.
This is the Pump action. Shut the holes with both thumbs and press the bottle. Then open the thumbs to let the flattened bottle inflate itself. Press and Release – repeat this process several times to inflate the balloon. Now stretch out a big balloon on the bottle lid. Now shut the bottle holes with both your thumbs and press the bottle. Air will enter the yellow balloon. The air in the balloon cannot escape because of the valve. Repeat the pressing and releasing of the bottle to inflate the balloon. Your thumbs also act as valves. Air cannot get IN when you press the bottle as the holes are shut. Air gets in when the bottle holes are open. This is a fabulous; five star Air Pump which anyone can make in a jiffy.

This work is supported by IUCAA (www.iucaa.in) and TATA Trust (http://www.tatatrusts.org/) and (www.tata.com/aboutus/sub_index/Tata-trusts)

TATA Trust: Education is one of the key focus areas for Tata Trusts, aiming towards enabling access of quality education to the underprivileged population in India. To facilitate quality in teaching and learning of Science education through workshops, capacity building and resource creation, Tata Trusts have been supporting Muktangan Vigyan Shodhika (MVS), IUCAA's Children’s Science Centre, since inception. To know more about other initiatives of Tata Trusts, please visit www.tatatrusts.org

Credits:,Ashok Rupner, Manish Jain, Pradnya Pujari, Shivaji Mane, Jyoti Hiremath, Arvind Gupta