Today I wanted to revisit “Flying Potatoes” and test my hypotheses.Unexpectedly, we woke up this morning with icy snow on the ground and church canceled but I still wanted to do something. I was desperate to satisfy my science craving. I realized that I had a bit of preparing to do.
I looked over the procedure (once again), discussed it with my parents, and looked up videos of Mr. Spangler performing the experiment. Now I have a better and more complete understanding of the process and what I might’ve done wrong. I observed in the videos that the dowel rod should be pretty long before the stopper stops it. It really needs to be longer than 6 inches. I moved it down to about twelve and a half inches.
My finger is where the duck tape stopper was and you can see there at the bottom where it is now.
Now the more challenging part, the PVC pipe. I first took the orange utility knife and further “sharpened” it. Although it was working, it was not easy.
My dad then stated, “Cut down the pipe most of the way and I will get the sander out.”
After my part was done I got my safety glasses, coat, and shoes and headed out to the garage which is where Daddy showed me how to work the sander. You learn something new every day!
It was honestly fun to learn but it vibrated so vigorously, it tickled my knees! At the end of the day I had a pipe with two (truly) sharp ends.
Now I am ready to shoot some potatoes across the yard very soon!
