Resources by Queen Mary University of London

The red black mind meld

A fun introduction to algebra within computer science via the medium of a card trick. This resource is part of the CS4FN series from Queen Mary, University of London. The resource consists of an introductory presentation and accompanying activity sheet for students.

The Smoking Flask Trick

In this magic trick, a large conical flask contains a light green liquid. When some pellets are dropped in, the solution changes to a yellow, or eventually red, colour while producing huge amounts of mysterious white fog, like something from an episode of Doctor Who. This fog will pour out of the flask and drift...

The Transitioning Beaker Trick

In this magic trick, a glass container filled with clear, colourless liquid is briefly covered and suddenly it has been swapped for a flask full of opaque dark-blue liquid. It can then be changed back without anyone noticing the swap. The trick uses the classic 'iodine clock' reaction.

The Vanishing Bowl of Water Trick

This magic trick uses the superabsorbent polymer sodium polyacrylate to make a bowl of water disappear. The crystals of sodium polyacrylate can absorb around 200 times their mass in water, turning the crystals into a gel, so it can easily soak up and hold all the water you pour in from your glass, even if the...

The Vanishing Head aka Ghost Drink Trick

In this magic trick, based on Pepper's ghost, any object placed in a box becomes transparent or sometimes even vanishes. By controlling the relative amounts of light transmitted and reflected through a piece of Perspex at a 45 degree angle, objects seem to appear or vanish.

Tour Guide (Companion to the Knight’s Tour Activity)

Containing two linked activities, these resources from the CS4FN team introduce graphs to represent inter-related data and algorithms to negotiate them.

Suitable for non-programmers being introduced to algorithms, the two challenges – the Knights Tour and the Tour Guide – are similar. Both use graphs as...