The fictional game of Quidditch is not only popular in the world of Harry Potter; there is a real world version as well. While the real world version does not involve flying, brooms play a central part in each. The Harry Potter version of the sport includes rapid acceleration, quick turns and a large amount of strategy. Determine how fast a player would need to travel to overcome the forces of gravity. Explain how Newton's laws of motion apply to the game, looking in particular at how the broom's rider would need to constantly change his balance or equilibrium as the broom's center of gravity changes. You can also explore the types of energy -- kinetic and potential -- that occur during a game.
Most fantasy relies on the use of magic and supernatural events. Ask students to select one or more magic tricks performed by well-known magicians, and explain the science behind their choices. Scientific principles underlie even the simplest sleight-of-hand tricks. Students can determine and demonstrate how to perform these illusions.
Fire-breathing dragons are part of numerous legends and works of fantasy. Yet if dragons have a digestive system similar to that of cattle, fire breathing would be in the realm of possibility. Each day cattle belch up large amounts of methane as part of their normal digestive process. Since methane is very flammable, a single spark could cause it to ignite. If dragons belched up methane, a quick rubbing of the teeth could ignite it through friction during exhalation or immediately after, much like a fire breather in a circus belches fire. Ask students to come up with other possibilities to ignite the methane and to list adaptations a dragon would need if it ignited the methane inside his body, such as excretion of large amounts of saliva to protect the mouth and throat.
Vampires, werewolves and other supernatural beings are part of the world of fantasy, but the legends may have sprung from natural causes. The disease of porphyria, a genetic disorder that results in a lack of heme in the body may have been responsible for the legends of vampires. Lycanthropy is a psychological condition that causes people to believe they are turning into wolves. Ghosts and the feelings they cause may be the result of infrasound. Infrasound is too low for humans to hear, but it can still produce feelings of dread and the sensation of chills down the spine. Scientists are also using infrasound to detect tornadoes, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A project on these can explore the history of these legends and the scientific explanations for them.