LadyEwok88

I'd go with something from Xump or Borders for a geeky guy... I like the DNA mug, ya never know when you'll be asked for/about some DNA... http://www.xump.com/Science/DNAMug.cfm But I get men gifts from their gift section a lot... http://www.xump.com/Science/ScienceToysGifts.cfm Good luck!

From what I've learned you can't really do it with a 9v battery. It takes a lot of energy to get a spark going, and to do it continuously is pretty difficult. You could try a tazer, running on a 9v but the way those normally work is that they create the spark and then need to recharge for a few seconds. If you have more space than a 9V battery, you can try using a Wimshurst Generator. They create a radical, cool spark. You can check them out at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimshurst_machine and http://www.xump.com/science/WimshurstMachine.cfm?SID=12

Optics are totally my thing. I actually have both, a digital microscope and a 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain. I started with a microscope because I live in a big city as well. Last week my dad, who is a biology teacher got a MicroEye which is basically a handheld microscope that you hook into your computer. Now I want one! It's super detailed and fun to look at any thing from dollar bills to different pieces of cloth. I like it cause it's a microscope with more freedom since it doesn't have a stage. I'd totally recommend a microscope since you won't have weather or time constrictions to get you started. Some things I like to do are pairing it with petri dish experiments and making my own slides. It's always cool to take a solid item and add a liquid and watch reactions happen live. For Christmas I got a GE-5 Digital Microscope from xUmp and they were cool enough to start carrying more lenses and accessories because I called them. That's another thing with microscopes, you can get accessories and hook it into your computer much easier than a telescope. My background is actually a view of a piece of a spring flower from my GE-5. Regardless, both are super awesome toys to have around!

Is there a way of making an experiment that will curve a rainbow coming from a glass prism? Maybe using a fog machine? I'm thinking of creating one for a classroom environment, so it would be pretty large.