Students use vegetable to study chemistry, math, physics
By Denise Dick
youngstowN
High school students throwing food usually is a bad thing, but it’s all part of learning at Youngstown State University’s Summer Honors Institute.
Potato Cannon
Potatoes were fired from a cannon as part of YSU's Summer Honors Institute for high school students.
The Institute, which runs through this week, provides hands-on learning for about 70 gifted high school students from throughout the region.
Twelve of those students are participating in the potato-cannon course taught by Doug Price, an associate professor of civil/environmental and chemical engineering.
“It teaches chemistry and math,” Price said.
Students take regular Idaho potatoes, cut them to fit in the cannon and weigh them. They place the potato in the cannon, add acetylene and blast them into the air.
The spuds often break into pieces upon hitting the ground.
Based on the length of time it takes for the tuber to land, students can calculate the energy used.
The weight of the potato and the amount of gas used varies, allowing participants to determine how those changes affect the potato’s height.
“As you used more mass of the potato, the hang time is going to be a lot less for the same amount of fuel,” Price explained.
Why a potato as opposed to an eggplant or a rutabaga?
One reason is potatoes are relatively inexpensive.
“Also, potatoes have a lot of moisture content,” the professor said, adding that the moisture provides a lubricant. “You can use other types of fruit,” he said.
Lauren Misik, a junior at Niles McKinley High School, was talking about bringing in a sweet potato to see how it would work in the cannon.
Lauren has an interest in science and is contemplating a career in either medicine or engineering. She chose potato cannon as her morning class at the honors institute and rapid prototyping as her afternoon session to try to get exposure to various scientific fields.
Rapid prototyping involves the use of data to create a 3-D model.
Lauren said she enjoys the hands-on aspects of the potato cannon class.
Travis Clark, a senior at Beaver Local High School, is participating in the potato cannon course in the morning and a music class in the afternoon.
He picked the potato cannon because of his interest in chemistry and physics.
Amy Cossentino, director of the Summer Honors Institute, said the program, which is funded by the university, allows gifted high school students the opportunity to use the facilities at YSU.
“It allows them to experience things, like the potato cannon, that are hands-on,” she said. “It gives them the opportunity to be challenged intellectually and to study and learn with kids who are like themselves.”