tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, science, education
Nick with his potato gun,
on the downtown-bound A Train.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 June 2009.
Today as I was riding the A Train to the library so I could use their free wifi, I ran into Nick and his friend who are high school students in NYC. Their hobby is science. Physics, to be precise. In the above picture (blurry -- the train provides a very bumpy ride), you can see Nick with one of his physics experiments, a potato gun that he designed and built using PVC pipe. Since I have designed and built a few items from PVC myself (mostly aquarium filters and pumps, although I have also worked with filters and pumps for reflecting ponds and swimming pools), my natural curiosity overcame my New York-acquired reticence.
Nick, his friend and I had a fun conversation about science, and I learned a few things that made me jealous on behalf of my inner-kid-self. For example, Nick got a Geiger Counter as a gift on his most recent birthday, which he and his friend used to test the Inverse Square Law, using a lead pipe and a naturally-occurring stone that is 53% uranium (of course, I forgot the name of this stone).
Unfortunately, even though I do have one year of university-level calculus-based physics in my educational profile (and yes, I scored As for the entire year, so I did well), it has been awhile since I've gotten to play with tinker with various physics-based experiments.
Nick's potato gun shoots a variety of vegetable projectiles over a long distance. According to his calculations, his potato gun shoots small vegetables as far as 200 meters. (Of course, I had to ask him if he had accounted for friction -- a small joke from my physics classes where we would have long discussions about the effects of friction on our experiments and how we might calculate this.) The best vegetable projectiles tested so far are shallots (I had guessed that small, very round red potatoes might be best -- it is a potato gun, afterall!).
Nick also told me a little bit about a Tesla Coil that he designed and built that is sitting in his bedroom -- it's the third incarnation and he claims it produces 500 kilowattsvolts (did I get that right, Nick?).
Both Nick and his friend are planning to enter next year's Intel Science Talent Search. Just before my subway stop, I learned from Nick's friend (sorry, I didn't catch your name!) that for his Intel project, he is designing a group of robots that will use Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to self-assemble a group of objects without being provided with precise assembly instructions. The RFID tags are meant to approximate pheromones and the robots are meant to be similar to ants.
I gave them both my ScienceBlogs card and hope they'll be in touch soon, since I hope to interview them and share their story with all of you.
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Jeez, I am jealous, I wish my high school would provide that sort of physics education. ^_^
I would tend to agree with the above comment. Although regarding getting in touch with my inner kid: I might have to go out and buy some PVC just to build one of these things...
In response to the first poster (and as a friend of Nick's) my high school doesn't provide that sort of physics education.
This post hit home with me; I played with all those things in high school except for the Geiger counter (but I did try to get one). I even played with RFID tags and MCU s and sumo bots.
I feel obligated to also mention that I also got lead poisoning (noting the mention of lead pipe). It pisses me off absolutely no end that there is no warning label on lead products. It is absolutely absurd - the truth is that lead is a very potent neurological toxin. Nick, look into this.
Also, you can make a high explosive with high test peroxide and flour.
And I had to smile with Daniel - no the school doesn't provide this.....
Awww, we used to call 'em "spud guns", it's much easier for us rednecks to spell.
Perhaps you mean a 500 kilovolt Tesla coil. "kilowatt" makes no sense unless you're talking of energy consumed or energy transferred somewhere. 500kilowatts is an awful lot of power to be radiating; that's on par with huge VHF TV broadcast systems (UHF stations are built to pump out up to about 5000kilowatts) and would make it extremely dangerous to get near the Tesla coil. Now at 500KV (rather than KW), you should be able to get a spark of about 50cm length - rather impressive. I restored a beast once which only put out a 10cm spark; I also got a nasty radio-frequency burn because I accidentally touched the thing while it was on. They're such great fun - I wonder if I should build one.
Also, PVC has been known to shatter upon ignition, use of ABS is generally advised.
I got mugged on the A train once many moons ago. Got my front teeth knocked out. That was back in the late 70's.
In my high school nerd days, I used to experiment with my own rockets and rocket engines. Had many catos and the occasional real success. I used to also try to make my own explosives - Plaster of Paris and magnesium powder were two favorite ingredients. When not blowing ship up (intentionally or otherwise), I used to make Super-8, stop-motion animated movies involving aliens or other creatures that would go around and blow things up (not that there is any theme here mind you).
This all led to a rather varied career that, right now, involves using a computer to build virtual buildings and other things and having virtual aliens blow them up. Again, no theme here, I assure you.
It is great to see that there are high school kids who are actively pursuing science like these two guys are. It is, after all, us nerds who wind up doing the heavy lifting when it comes to inventing, building, designing, discovering, creating, and yes, blowing things up.
I suspect that the Tesla coil produces 500 Kilo-volts, 500,000v. Such coils are pretty commonly known for very high voltage output. Less so for the power, wattage, of their output.
This is great! Nick was (is) one of my star science students and I am so happy to see him caught in the act of science. He is a great kid and has helped me with our science club this year as a junior advisor (co-advisor, really). All I ask is that he invite me to his Nobel Prize award ceremony. ;-)
As I was reading the comments I see danny had the same immediate response I did. Nicks Pursuit of this sort of thing is not something the school teaches but is capable of helping provide. It is not bound into the curriculum but certain classes and teachers can be great aides in helping achieve your goals.
Also as a peer of nicks I say i'm happy to see him recognized.