While studying the physics behind the classic drinking bird can be a challenging task, as far as science toys go this little guy can’t be beat. This thermodynamic toy (sometimes called a dippy bird) has been around for at least five decades. If you’ve never seen one in action, do a quick search on youtube and you’ll find a few video clips. The Wikipedia page has a few references where it can be seen in popular culture. One memorable reference was when Homer Simpson used it to click a key on his keyboard over and over at the nuclear reactor where he works. And an even more interesting cultural reference was from a Tom and Jerry cartoon from sometime in the 1950s.

I’ve had one of these drinking birds on my office desk for the last several months and all he needs to keep dipping is for me to top off his water cup every couple of days. If you’re looking for an interesting demo for a physics classroom this is a nice choice. You can explain various physical properties such as capillary action, thermodynamics, Boyle’s Law, the ideal gas law and a few more. You can pick one of these up wherever science kits are sold and if you don’t know where that might be, just click on the link in this sentence.