Thursday, February 27, 2014

Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew...

Or you could make a potato clock.

I've been wanting one of these little miracles of science for a while now.  Why does the potato power the clock?  How long does the energy last?  Do different potatoes produce different energy levels?  What else can we power with potatoes??

I finally found a potato clock kit when I was at Hobby Lobby one day.  They also have them in other stores with crafts/kids activities, such as Michaels.

We decided to build our clock in the morning to relieve stress about an upcoming meeting.

The finished product:
We put the potato clock and manual out in the Science annex (the space between our offices) so students could see what time it was.  Unfortunately, the wires aren't very secure, so the clock resets every time you jiggle the wire.

My next goal is to bury the potatoes and see if I can grow a potato plant while still running the clock.  Or to make some other device run on potato energy.  Will we see a potato computer?  Maybe!

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