Leonardo da vinci

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The Famous ArtistInventor

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Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15th, 1452 in Vinci, Italy. When he was 15 years old, he became an apprentice in the workshop of a well-known artist. It is here that he learned all about the artist’s trade before going to work on his own.

Before Leonardo died on May 2nd, 1519, he filled more than 100 notebooks with his ideas. The notebooks included machines that would make everyday work easier and more efficient, weapons that could be used against invading armies, vehicles that could fly and theories about mathematics, optics and painting.

Leonardo was more than just an artist. He was an inventor. He had the mind of a scientist and this workbook provides an opportunity to learn about his mind through hands-on building projects that explore his invention ideas.

I hope you will enjoy learning about one of the world’s most remarkable inventors. His inventions are truly amazing!

Introduction

Page Invention

1 Paint

3 Plastic

5 Sculptures

7 Magical Ink

9 Helicopter

11 Parachute

13 Catapult

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the world’s best known artists. He painted the famous Mona Lisa. The mysterious expression on the woman’s face has helped make it a fascinating piece of work. It has been called the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, and the most parodied work of art in the world. Leonardo didn’t paint like this overnight. It was something he could do because he practiced from a young age.

Experimenting With Paint

Background Information

Leonardo enjoyed being outdoors studying the world around him when he was a boy. He found everything interesting and wanted to learn more. He would draw things exactly as he saw them in nature. He would sketch and paint animals and learned about their movements and body structure.

These days we can buy our paints at the shops, but Leonardo had to make his own paints. He mixed a lot of different materials to see what would make the best paint. If a mixture didn’t work well, he would try different combinations. Often, Leonardo was unable to finish his paintings because he was too busy experimenting with his paints.

Mona Lisa, 1503-05.

Study of a horse from Leonardo’s journals.

His painting experiments didn’t always end well. He painted The Last Supper on the wall of a monastery. He tried to put varnish on the plaster to stop the moisture destroying his work, but the varnish reacted with the acid and salt in the walls causing the plaster to fall off. One of Leonardo’s best pieces of work is in very bad condition. A famous masterpiece, The Last Supper.

1

Try this! Make your own crazy paints.

You will need: 3 Tbs. baking soda, 3 Tbs. cornstarch, 3 Tbs. white vinegar, 1½ tsp. light corn syrup, food coloring, bowl, small tubs, paintbrush, water, mixer

1. Mix vinegar, baking soda,cornstarch and corn syruptogether in a bowl. Separate themixture into several small tubs.

3. Use your mixtures to paint apicture.

2. Add 6 drops of food coloring toeach tub and mix. Experimentwith your colors to createcustom-blended colors

Observations: Paint a sample of your custom-blended paints below.

Questions:

1) What did Leonardo da Vinci learn when he sketched and painted animals?

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2) Why did Leonardo find it difficult to finish his paintings?

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3) What did you find interesting about the paints you created?

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2

Some of the best discoveries were made by mistake. If you keep experimenting, you will eventually find an answer to something, even if it is not the result you were initially looking for. Since Leonardo was always experimenting with paints, he accidentally made the very first plastic. He called it “plastic glass.” As he painted with his new paint recipe, he found that as it dried, it hardened. He could carve out different objects with it, such as knife handles, salt shakers and candleholders.

Plastic Glass

Background Information

Leonardo made the discovery when he boiled together glue, eggs, vegetable dyes and a few other materials. He would paint over things, like the leaves of lettuces and cabbages. He also used it to paint on the stomachs of cows or oxen. As the mixture hardened on the object, he would paint on another layer. He would need to paint many layers and it took a long time to do, but it created unbreakable things.

In 2004, an Italian called Alessandro Vezzosi discovered all the ingredients needed to make Leonardo’s plastic glass when he was searching through Leonardo’s writings. When the mixture dried, it turned into Leonardo’s plastic glass. This showed that although Leonardo made this discovery long ago, people are now only beginning to learn about them.

Self-portrait in red chalk.

Leonardo’s sketch showing a man walking on water.

Another example of someone trying Leonardo’s inventions was a Frenchman called Remy Bricka. He copied Leonardo’s idea for walking on water. Leonardo sketched a man walking on top of the water using what looked like snowshoes and holding poles. Remy used this idea and walked 1 km on water in just over 7 minutes.

Remy using Leonardo’s idea to walk on water.

Leonardo’s notebooks are still being studied.

3

Try this! Make your own plastic-like material.

You will need: 1 tsp. borax, 120 mL water, 1 Tbs. white glue, 3 drops of food coloring, 2 cups, 1 Tbs. cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon, spoon

1. Mix 1 tsp. of borax in 120 mL ofwater until it is dissolved in onecup. In another cup, mix 1 Tbs.white glue with food coloring.

3. Take out the concoction andknead it with your hands until itloses the sticky feeling. Addanother 1/2 tsp. of borax if it staystoo sticky.

2. Add 1/2 tsp. of the boraxsolution and 1 Tbs. cornstarch tothe glue cup. Wait about 30seconds. Then, stir until youcan’t stir it anymore.

Observations: Describe the plastic-like substance you made.

Questions:

1) Why did Leonardo make plastic?

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2) What could Leonardo do with the plastic he made?

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3) Why do you think people are trying to recreate Leonardo’s inventions?

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4

Leonardo’s love for painting led him to an interest in the human body. The more he learned the more he wanted to know. He went to hospitals to watch doctors operate on people. He also dissected more than 30 human bodies and studied the organs, bones, vessels and muscles using new illustrative techniques, which were the first such detailed scientific drawings of the human body.

Sculptures of the Human Body

Background Information

He began to use many of his theories about anatomy to his work in art and science. With his knowledge about the human body, he could paint and sculpture people more realistically.

Leonardo noticed that humans generally have standard proportions. These included things like the following:

• The span of a man’s outstretched armsis equal to his height.

• The distance from the elbow to the tipof the hand is a quarter of the heightof a man.

Leonardo’s anatomical study of the heart in 1513.

The Vitruvian Man drawn around 1490.

When the ruler of Milan wanted Leonardo to make a giant bronze monument of a horse and a rider to show his family’s power, Leonardo used his knowledge of anatomy to create a realistic design.

He made molds and tested many different materials to use for his statue. However, Leonardo only got to reveal a wax model of his monument and never finished the real statue.

Horse and Rider is thought to be Leonardo’s only surviving sculpture.

5

Try this! Make your own model clay.

You will need: tape measure, calculator, salt, flour, cream of tartar, food coloring, heater, bowls, wooden spoon, measuring cylinder, water, teaspoon

1. Get a friend to measure yourbody proportions. What is yourtotal height? How long are yourlegs, body and head? Whatpercentage do these parts makeup of your total height?

3. Put the mixture on a hotplate andstir until it turns into a thickdough. Allow it to cool, and thenuse your body proportions tomake a scaled model of yourselfwith the dough.

2. Mix 100g of salt, 100g of flourand 4 teaspoons of cream oftartar in a bowl. Mix in 100mL ofwater and add a few drops offood coloring.

Observations: Record your measurements and calculations below. Make a sketch to show your body proportions.

Questions:

1) Why did Leonardo want to study the human body in great detail?

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2) What was so special about his human body sketches?

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3) What is an observation you made about human body proportions?

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6

Leonardo was known to his friends as a prankster. He would make stinkballs out of rotting animal parts and set them on fire while his friends were in the room. He even pumped air into a sheep’s intestine so that it filled up like a balloon and squashed his friends against the walls of the room. He also told his friends he had a dragon inside a box. As he took off the lid, it revealed a scary looking dragon that shocked everybody, but it was actually just a lizard that Leonardo glued wings and a horn onto.

Magical Ink

Background Information

Some of his tricks used his understanding of scientific concepts to make it seem like he was a magician. For example, he would lick the end of a stick and make it write in black ink. No one knows exactly how he did this trick, but it could have involved the use of acids and bases and how they react with each other. Leonardo could have coated a piece of paper with a base, like baking soda. He could have then had some wine in his mouth, which is acidic, when he licked the stick. As he wrote on the piece of paper, the wine would react with the base to make it look like the stick wrote.

When Leonardo wrote, he would write backwards. His messages and notes were written in mirror writing. No one knows why he did this, but some believe it was to stop other people reading about his scientific ideas. Other people believe writing left handed from left to right was messy because the ink just put down would smear as his hand moved across it, so writing backwards avoided this problem.

Leonardo sketched dragons.

Leonardo was left-handed.

Leonardo’s study of the arm and hand with notes written in mirror writing.

7

Try this! Make your own magical ink.

You will need: a mirror, baking soda, water, measuring cups, spoon, cotton bud, grape juice, paintbrush, white paper

1. Write the English alphabet uppercase letters below in mirrorwriting. Use a mirror to checkyour letters if necessary. Then,practice writing a short message.

3. Wait until the message dries.Then, dip a paintbrush in somegrape juice and paint over thepaper. The message shouldmagically appear.

2. Mix 1/4 cup of baking soda with1/4 cup of water. Then, use acotton bud to write a messageon a white piece of paper inmirror writing.

Observations: Write the English alphabet upper case letters below in mirror writing and practice writing a short message.

Questions:

1) Why do you think Leonardo wrote in mirror writing?

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2) Why does your message magically appear when you paint on grape juice?

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3) Leonardo enjoyed playing pranks. What prank have you done before?

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8

Leonardo drew many sketches of flying machines. He began to think about flying with a wing that lifted up off the ground like a screw. Around 1480, he began experimenting with the idea of using spin to lift a vehicle off the ground. In 1482, he drew a diagram of a machine that looks a lot like a helicopter. He called it the Helical Air Screw and wrote, “I have discovered that a screw-shaped device such as this, if it is well made from starch linen, will rise in the air if turned quickly.”

Leonardo’s Helicopter

Background Information

Leonardo used his knowledge of bird anatomy to design his Helical Air Screw. Birds have hollow bones. His plans for the structure called for it to be made from hollow reeds, so that it would be lightweight but also rigid and strong. He also wanted four men to run around the central shaft, holding on to a bar sticking out of the shaft. His theory was that their combined energy would make the spiral turn and create enough force to make the helicopter rise through the air like a screw.

However, his design wouldn’t work. The men couldn’t provide enough power and eventually the men were flung away.

Leonardo’s Helical Air Screw design. His design was based on a simple machine known as a screw.

Leonardo used his knowledge of birds to help with the design.

The idea for the helicopter wasn’t entirely Leonardo’s. Many of his inventions were improvements of something that already existed. However, in this case, it wasn’t until 1907, that a Frenchman actually designed a helicopter that managed to “fly” a few inches off the ground. Frenchman Louis Breguet designed a

gyroplane, the forerunner of the helicopter.

9

Try this! Make an improvement on Leonardo’s helicopter..

You will need: 20 cm x 20 cm construction paper, pencil, scissors, ruler, spool, white glue, tape, kite string

1. Design the blades for yourhelicopter on some constructionpaper. Cut it out and bend downone side of the blades.

3. Wrap 1 m of kite string around thebottom of the spool. Put a pencilthrough the middle of the spool.Quickly pull the string and watch itfly.

2. Glue an empty spool to thebottom of the blades. Waitabout 1 hour for the white glueto dry. Add some tape forstrength.

Observations: Make notes about how your helicopter worked.

Questions:

1) What type of helicopter design did Leonardo think would work?

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2) How did his understanding of the bird’s anatomy influence his design?

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3) Why didn’t Leonardo’s helicopter design work?

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10

One of Leonardo’s most famous quick sketches is of a stick figure suspended from a parachute. He drew it more than 500 years ago, but it looks somewhat similar to the parachutes that are used today. Leonardo described his parachute as follows: “If a man is provided with a length of gummed linen cloth with a length of 12 yards on each side and 12 yards high, he can jump from any great height whatsoever without injury.”

Leonardo’s Parachute

Background Information

It is believed that Leonardo never got to try his parachute, but in the year 2000, a sky diver called Adrian Nicholas made a replica. He used canvas and wood, which were materials that Leonardo would have had access to. The final parachute weighed about 85 kg. The parachutes used today weigh about 12 kg.

Leonardo’s parachute sketch.

Adrian Nicholas using Leonardo’s parachute design.

Many people thought the parachute wouldn’t work because it was so heavy. As a safety measure, Adrian wore a modern parachute just in case the heavy parachute didn’t work, but Leonardo’s design did work. Adrian jumped out of a hot air balloon 3 km above the ground and floated through the skies for 10 minutes using the parachute. He said that Leonardo’s parachute gave a much smoother ride than modern parachutes. At 600 meters above the ground, he cut himself free because he was afraid the heavy parachute would injure him upon landing. However, this jump proved that Leonardo designed the first working parachute. A modern parachute.

11

Try this! Make Leonardo’s parachute.

You will need: 4 pieces of A4 paper, ruler, scissors, colored pencils, tape, fishing line, metal washers

1. Draw a line from the middle ofthe page to the bottom cornersto make a triangle. Do this on all4 pages and cut out the triangles.

3. Tape 30 cm of fishing line to thecorners. Tie a washer to thebottom of the lines. Throw yourparachute off a high place. Makemodifications to your parachuteand see how this changes its flight.

2. You can add a design to yourtriangles. Then, tape the edgestogether to make a pyramid.

Observations: Make notes of the modifications you made and how it affected your parachute’s flight.

Questions:

1) What materials would have been used to make Leonardo’s parachute 500years ago?

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2) What was one worry people had about Leonardo’s parachute design?

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3) How does Leonardo’s design compare to modern parachutes?

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12

Leonardo made drawings for catapults, giant crossbows, slingshots and other war inventions. These things weren’t entirely his ideas, since many of them had been used for thousands of years. For example, catapults had been used since the time of ancient Greeks. However, Leonardo tried to make improvements on these inventions. His machines were designed to work with as little manpower as possible. He also tried to make machines do several different tasks.

Leonardo’s Catapult

Background Information

Leonardo designed a multiple-barreled machine gun that was arranged almost like an organ on wheels. Eleven of the barrels would fire, then the carriage would move forward, and another set of barrels would move into place and fire again.

Leonardo’s catapult design.

Right: Leonardo’s multiple-barreled machine gun design.

Below: Leonardo’s crossbow design. He also made the crossbow almost completely automated. One person would turn a crank, which would both fire the crossbow and reload the arrows one after another.

Although Leonardo was not experienced with weaponry or warfare, he enjoyed the challenges it brought.

13

Try this! Make your own catapult.

You will need: 9 craft sticks, duct tape, 4 clothespins, 7+ rubber bands, 3 small binder clips (19 mm), plastic spoon, paper

1. Tape together the craft sticks asper the picture above.

3. Tape the spoon to a binder clip.Add the other binder clips as perthe picture above. Try launchingscrunched up paper.

2. Clip on the 4 clothespins as perthe picture above. Use rubberbands to make the catapultstronger.

Observations: Make notes on how you could launch your piece of paper longer distances.

Questions:

1) What are some examples of weapons Leonardo designed?

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2) How was Leonardo’s catapult design different to previous versions?

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3) Why do you think Leonardo made designs for weapons?

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14

da vinci cover pageda vinci contents pageda vinci 1 paint1da vinci 2 paintda vinci 1 plasticda vinci plastic 2da vinci sculpture 1da vinci sculpture 2da vinci invisible ink 1da vinci invisible ink 2da vinci helicopter 1da vinci helicopter 2da vinci parachute 1da vinci parachute 2da vinci catapult 1da vinci catapult 2