• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Search

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

Menu

The College of Arts & Sciences

Department of Physics

Demonstrations

About Demo Coordinator

Demos Home
      1. Fundamental Quantities - Length
      2. Fundamental Quantities - Mass
      3. Fundamental Quantities - Time
      4. Spring balance
      5. Pan balance
      6. Generic Demo Request
      1. Monkey and Cannon
      2. Vertical and horizontal motion in free fall.
      3. Kinematics, Central Acceleration
      4. Coin and feather tube
      5. Dropped slinky
      6. Free fall - tall ladder and balls.
      7. Motion detector
      1. Inertia blocks
      2. Table Cloth Pull
      1. vector sum of forces
      2. Croquet
      1. Friction of a sliding block
      2. Short Air Track
      1. Tension in a string
      2. Bed of nails
      3. Potato gun
      4. Opposing Forces
      5. Apparently Weightless (Using String)
      6. Apparently Weightless (Using Spring)
      1. Centrifuge
      2. Loop the loop
      3. Central force, equal pressure surface.
      4. Kinematics, Central Acceleration
      1. Loaded beam
      2. Tipping Block.
      3. loaded beam II.
      1. Center of mass and motion
      2. disc rolling uphill.
      3. Center of mass - Unicycle
      4. irregular shapes.
      5. leaning tower of Pisa.
      6. tipping block on incline
      7. weight of a broom
      1. Stability of cone and sphere.
      1. Rolling up hill.
      2. Stopped pendulum
      3. Bowling ball pendulum.
      4. Different kinds of energy
      5. Long Air Track
      6. Simple pendulum
      7. Double pendulum
      8. Pendulation
      9. Action and reaction - fire extinguisher on cart
      10. Pulley system
      11. Gyro-ring
      12. Ballistic pendulum
      1. Dancer with dumbbells.
      2. Baseball player
      3. lawn sprinkler
      4. Stroboscope
      5. Rotational energy - large yo-yo
      6. Tornado lite
      7. Kinematics, Cycloidal motion
      8. Whirling water pail
      9. Falling chimney
      10. Angular Momentum Races
      11. Rotational Inertia Demonstrator
      1. Bicycle wheel
      2. Non-stop top.
      3. Gyro in a suitcase
      4. Spin and rotation
      5. Air bearing gyroscope
      6. Spin flipping
      7. Foucault gyroscope
      8. Simple gyroscope.
      9. Gyroscope with counter weight.
      10. Rotational Inertia Demonstrator
      1. Generator and light bulb.
      2. Solar Power
      1. Falling stick with pennies
      1. Mass on a spring
      2. Damped pendulum.
      3. Coupled pendulum
      4. Wilburforce pendulum
      5. Coupled oscillators.
      6. Torsional pendulum
      1. Oscillating ring
      2. Cork physical pendulum.
      3. Katers Pendulum
      1. Crystal model.
      2. Shear of a big book
      3. Shear of a sponge
      4. Elastic limit
      1. Happy and unhappy balls
      2. Multi-stage vertical collision balls.
      1. Pascal Vases
      1. Crush can with pressure
      2. Magdeburg hemispheres.
      3. Barometer
      1. Archimedes Principle
      2. Loss of weight in water.
      1. Funnel and ball
      2. Floating objects in jet stream.
      3. Venturi tube
      1. Mariotte bottle - velocity of efflux
      2. Manometer.
      1. Oil float above water
      1. Alcohol Thermometer
      2. Bimetal strip.
      3. Ball and ring
      4. Thermopile and Heat Source
      1. Convection apparatus.
      1. Radiant Heat
      2. Infrared Camera
      1. Model of P-V-T surface.
      2. Boyle
      3. Absolute zero device.
      1. Radiometer
      1. Drinking Bird
      2. Heated teeter-totter.
      3. Handboiler.
      1. Rubber at low temperature.
      2. Lead bell
      3. Liquid nitrogen dewar.
      1. Hero
      2. Steam engine.
      3. Stirling engine
      4. Thermobile
      5. Steam generator.
      6. Low Delta T Stirling Engine
      7. Sterling Engine (v2)
      1. Specific heat apparatus
      2. Conductivity Bars
      3. Approaching Thermal Equilibrium
      1. Fire Syringe.
      1. Electrostatic charge
      2. Pith ball
      3. Charge detector.
      4. Electrostatic voltmeter.
      5. Electrostatic repulsion - Pith ball pendula
      6. Deflection of a water stream.
      7. Charge propelled soda can.
      8. Electostatic shielding.
      9. Butterfly net experiment.
      10. Wimshurst Machine
      11. Electrophorus.
      12. Grass seeds in E field
      13. UV light discharge
      14. Plasma ball.
      15. Lightning.
      1. Electostatic pinwheel.
      2. Van de Graaf generator
      3. Electric field lines.
      1. Field and voltage of a moveable plate capacitor
      2. Energy stored in a capacitor.
      3. Capacitor discharging.
      4. Ball bounces between two charged plates.
      1. Lead Acid Storage Battery
      2. Two potato clock.
      3. Bio-electricity - copper and Al plates with a meter
      1. Model of resistance.
      2. Ohms Law
      3. Characteristic resistances.
      4. Temperature dependence of resistance.
      1. Series and parallel light bulbs.
      1. magnetic field around a wire.
      2. Magnetic field around a vertical wire.
      3. Field of a solenoid.
      4. Field of a toroid.
      5. Magnetic force on a wire.
      6. Torque on a current loop.
      7. Crookes Tube
      1. Forces due to induced current.
      2. Currents and forces by induction.
      3. Direction of induced current.
      4. Induced currents due to changing currents.
      5. Jacobs Ladder
      6. Induction coil.
      7. Ring Launcher
      1. Damped pendulum.
      2. Eddy Currents in a Pendulum
      3. Eddy current in a tube.
      4. Eddy Current in an Aluminum Block
      5. Levitating Disk Above Rotating Disk
      1. Variable inductance.
      2. Incandescent bulb connected to a variac.
      3. RC Circuit
      4. LR Circuit
      5. LRC Circuit
      6. RC Circuit with AC
      7. LR Circuit with AC
      1. Ohms Law
      2. Kirchoffs Voltage Law
      3. Continuty of current.
      4. Equivalent parallel resistance.
      5. Superposition of current.
      6. Equivalent series resistance.
      1. Fluorescent light bulb in radiation field.
      2. Radiation from a dipole.
      3. Hand cranked generator.
      4. Energy efficiency - compact fluorescent light.
      1. Field of magnet.
      2. Lodestone.
      3. Compass.
      4. Dip needle.
      5. Levitation of magnetic discs.
      6. Interaction between bar magnets
      7. Curie point.
      1. Magnetic field
      2. Electro-magnetism with small battery
      3. Solenoid with iron core.
      4. Demonstration motor and generator.
      5. Moving coil galvanometer.
      6. E/M tube and Helmholtz coils.
      7. Earth inductor.
      8. Tesla coil.
      9. Energy transmission - bulb in microwave oven
      10. Super conductor.
      11. Spectrum tubes
      12. Microwave Standing Waves
      1. Wave pulse on a rope.
      2. Wave machine, Bell Lab.
      3. Waves on an air track.
      4. Slinky spring.
      5. Metal sine waves.
      6. Interference model.
      1. Chladni plate
      2. Forced nodes and loops in a vibrating plate.
      1. Siren disc - Seebeck
      2. Quadrupole nature of tuning fork.
      3. Frequency generator - amplifier - loudspeaker.
      1. Helmholtz resonator.
      2. Musical goblets.
      3. Organ pipes.
      4. Tuning forks with resonators.
      5. open and closed tubes
      1. No sound through vacuum.
      2. Low frequency tuning fork.
      3. Precision sound-level meter and anlyzer.
      4. shattering beaker with sound
      1. Doppler shift.
      2. Coupled pendula.
      3. Beats with Tuning Forks
      1. String instrument.
      1. Sand track Lissajous figures.
      2. Lissajous figures on a oscilloscope.
      3. Combinations of harmonic motions.
      1. Metronome.
      2. Ball in grooved parabolic track.
      1. Position of image.
      2. Mirrors at an angle.
      3. Perversion.
      4. Blackboard optics - plane mirror.
      1. Blackboard optics - concave mirror.
      2. Blackboard optics - convex mirror.
      3. Image with a concave mirror.
      4. Find the object.
      5. No image with a convex mirror.
      1. Blackboard optics - plane refraction.
      2. Seeing a coin.
      3. Broken stick.
      4. Laser light
      1. Light pipe.
      1. Thin convex lens.
      2. Thin concave lens.
      3. Blackboard optics - thin lenses.
      4. Micro bank - shrink coin.
      1. Syntheses of colors.
      2. Magic elixir.
      3. Rainbow with prism.
      4. Rainbow with Diffraction Grating
      5. Spectrum Tubes
      1. Light polarizing discs.
      2. Brewster
      3. Unpolarized PC Monitor
      1. Single slit diffraction pattern.
      2. Adjustable slit.
      3. Interference pattern of two slits.
      4. Number of slits.
      5. Newtons Rings
      6. Interference Model
      1. Light scattering.
      1. Radiological survey meter.
      2. Fluorescence.
      3. Electron diffraction tube.
      4. Crookes Tube
      5. Solar power - cells and motor.
      6. Fire maker.
      7. Solar Cell Array
      8. Diffusion Cloud Chamber
      1. Thermopile and heat source.

Potato gun

Mechanics > Force / Pressure / Tension > A6-3
PIRA: Unknown
Potato gun
Potato gun

Two pieces of potato are pressed into the two ends of a PVC pipe. A rod with diameter nearly the same as the inner diameter of the pipe is used as a piston of the gun. Use the rod to push the potate on one end of the pipe so that the air in the pipe between the two pieces of potato is compressed. The pressure of the compressed air is high enough to shoot the potato on the other end of the pipe to a very far distance.

Equipment & Storage
Equipment Storage
RodSW 008D
PVC pipe and potato

Unfortunately, there are no media for this demo. :(

Potato gun 1
10564_0.JPG
  • Faculty + Staff Intranet

Department of physics social media channels

  • Facebook
  • College of Arts & Sciences
  • Department of Physics
  • Demonstrations

The College of Arts & Sciences

Fulfilling the Promise

Indiana University

Copyright © 2019 The Trustees of Indiana University

Accessibility | Privacy Notice

Loading...
Demos Home
      1. Fundamental Quantities - Length
      2. Fundamental Quantities - Mass
      3. Fundamental Quantities - Time
      4. Spring balance
      5. Pan balance
      6. Generic Demo Request
      1. Monkey and Cannon
      2. Vertical and horizontal motion in free fall.
      3. Kinematics, Central Acceleration
      4. Coin and feather tube
      5. Dropped slinky
      6. Free fall - tall ladder and balls.
      7. Motion detector
      1. Inertia blocks
      2. Table Cloth Pull
      1. vector sum of forces
      2. Croquet
      1. Friction of a sliding block
      2. Short Air Track
      1. Tension in a string
      2. Bed of nails
      3. Potato gun
      4. Opposing Forces
      5. Apparently Weightless (Using String)
      6. Apparently Weightless (Using Spring)
      1. Centrifuge
      2. Loop the loop
      3. Central force, equal pressure surface.
      4. Kinematics, Central Acceleration
      1. Loaded beam
      2. Tipping Block.
      3. loaded beam II.
      1. Center of mass and motion
      2. disc rolling uphill.
      3. Center of mass - Unicycle
      4. irregular shapes.
      5. leaning tower of Pisa.
      6. tipping block on incline
      7. weight of a broom
      1. Stability of cone and sphere.
      1. Rolling up hill.
      2. Stopped pendulum
      3. Bowling ball pendulum.
      4. Different kinds of energy
      5. Long Air Track
      6. Simple pendulum
      7. Double pendulum
      8. Pendulation
      9. Action and reaction - fire extinguisher on cart
      10. Pulley system
      11. Gyro-ring
      12. Ballistic pendulum
      1. Dancer with dumbbells.
      2. Baseball player
      3. lawn sprinkler
      4. Stroboscope
      5. Rotational energy - large yo-yo
      6. Tornado lite
      7. Kinematics, Cycloidal motion
      8. Whirling water pail
      9. Falling chimney
      10. Angular Momentum Races
      11. Rotational Inertia Demonstrator
      1. Bicycle wheel
      2. Non-stop top.
      3. Gyro in a suitcase
      4. Spin and rotation
      5. Air bearing gyroscope
      6. Spin flipping
      7. Foucault gyroscope
      8. Simple gyroscope.
      9. Gyroscope with counter weight.
      10. Rotational Inertia Demonstrator
      1. Generator and light bulb.
      2. Solar Power
      1. Falling stick with pennies
      1. Mass on a spring
      2. Damped pendulum.
      3. Coupled pendulum
      4. Wilburforce pendulum
      5. Coupled oscillators.
      6. Torsional pendulum
      1. Oscillating ring
      2. Cork physical pendulum.
      3. Katers Pendulum
      1. Crystal model.
      2. Shear of a big book
      3. Shear of a sponge
      4. Elastic limit
      1. Happy and unhappy balls
      2. Multi-stage vertical collision balls.
      1. Pascal Vases
      1. Crush can with pressure
      2. Magdeburg hemispheres.
      3. Barometer
      1. Archimedes Principle
      2. Loss of weight in water.
      1. Funnel and ball
      2. Floating objects in jet stream.
      3. Venturi tube
      1. Mariotte bottle - velocity of efflux
      2. Manometer.
      1. Oil float above water
      1. Alcohol Thermometer
      2. Bimetal strip.
      3. Ball and ring
      4. Thermopile and Heat Source
      1. Convection apparatus.
      1. Radiant Heat
      2. Infrared Camera
      1. Model of P-V-T surface.
      2. Boyle
      3. Absolute zero device.
      1. Radiometer
      1. Drinking Bird
      2. Heated teeter-totter.
      3. Handboiler.
      1. Rubber at low temperature.
      2. Lead bell
      3. Liquid nitrogen dewar.
      1. Hero
      2. Steam engine.
      3. Stirling engine
      4. Thermobile
      5. Steam generator.
      6. Low Delta T Stirling Engine
      7. Sterling Engine (v2)
      1. Specific heat apparatus
      2. Conductivity Bars
      3. Approaching Thermal Equilibrium
      1. Fire Syringe.
      1. Electrostatic charge
      2. Pith ball
      3. Charge detector.
      4. Electrostatic voltmeter.
      5. Electrostatic repulsion - Pith ball pendula
      6. Deflection of a water stream.
      7. Charge propelled soda can.
      8. Electostatic shielding.
      9. Butterfly net experiment.
      10. Wimshurst Machine
      11. Electrophorus.
      12. Grass seeds in E field
      13. UV light discharge
      14. Plasma ball.
      15. Lightning.
      1. Electostatic pinwheel.
      2. Van de Graaf generator
      3. Electric field lines.
      1. Field and voltage of a moveable plate capacitor
      2. Energy stored in a capacitor.
      3. Capacitor discharging.
      4. Ball bounces between two charged plates.
      1. Lead Acid Storage Battery
      2. Two potato clock.
      3. Bio-electricity - copper and Al plates with a meter
      1. Model of resistance.
      2. Ohms Law
      3. Characteristic resistances.
      4. Temperature dependence of resistance.
      1. Series and parallel light bulbs.
      1. magnetic field around a wire.
      2. Magnetic field around a vertical wire.
      3. Field of a solenoid.
      4. Field of a toroid.
      5. Magnetic force on a wire.
      6. Torque on a current loop.
      7. Crookes Tube
      1. Forces due to induced current.
      2. Currents and forces by induction.
      3. Direction of induced current.
      4. Induced currents due to changing currents.
      5. Jacobs Ladder
      6. Induction coil.
      7. Ring Launcher
      1. Damped pendulum.
      2. Eddy Currents in a Pendulum
      3. Eddy current in a tube.
      4. Eddy Current in an Aluminum Block
      5. Levitating Disk Above Rotating Disk
      1. Variable inductance.
      2. Incandescent bulb connected to a variac.
      3. RC Circuit
      4. LR Circuit
      5. LRC Circuit
      6. RC Circuit with AC
      7. LR Circuit with AC
      1. Ohms Law
      2. Kirchoffs Voltage Law
      3. Continuty of current.
      4. Equivalent parallel resistance.
      5. Superposition of current.
      6. Equivalent series resistance.
      1. Fluorescent light bulb in radiation field.
      2. Radiation from a dipole.
      3. Hand cranked generator.
      4. Energy efficiency - compact fluorescent light.
      1. Field of magnet.
      2. Lodestone.
      3. Compass.
      4. Dip needle.
      5. Levitation of magnetic discs.
      6. Interaction between bar magnets
      7. Curie point.
      1. Magnetic field
      2. Electro-magnetism with small battery
      3. Solenoid with iron core.
      4. Demonstration motor and generator.
      5. Moving coil galvanometer.
      6. E/M tube and Helmholtz coils.
      7. Earth inductor.
      8. Tesla coil.
      9. Energy transmission - bulb in microwave oven
      10. Super conductor.
      11. Spectrum tubes
      12. Microwave Standing Waves
      1. Wave pulse on a rope.
      2. Wave machine, Bell Lab.
      3. Waves on an air track.
      4. Slinky spring.
      5. Metal sine waves.
      6. Interference model.
      1. Chladni plate
      2. Forced nodes and loops in a vibrating plate.
      1. Siren disc - Seebeck
      2. Quadrupole nature of tuning fork.
      3. Frequency generator - amplifier - loudspeaker.
      1. Helmholtz resonator.
      2. Musical goblets.
      3. Organ pipes.
      4. Tuning forks with resonators.
      5. open and closed tubes
      1. No sound through vacuum.
      2. Low frequency tuning fork.
      3. Precision sound-level meter and anlyzer.
      4. shattering beaker with sound
      1. Doppler shift.
      2. Coupled pendula.
      3. Beats with Tuning Forks
      1. String instrument.
      1. Sand track Lissajous figures.
      2. Lissajous figures on a oscilloscope.
      3. Combinations of harmonic motions.
      1. Metronome.
      2. Ball in grooved parabolic track.
      1. Position of image.
      2. Mirrors at an angle.
      3. Perversion.
      4. Blackboard optics - plane mirror.
      1. Blackboard optics - concave mirror.
      2. Blackboard optics - convex mirror.
      3. Image with a concave mirror.
      4. Find the object.
      5. No image with a convex mirror.
      1. Blackboard optics - plane refraction.
      2. Seeing a coin.
      3. Broken stick.
      4. Laser light
      1. Light pipe.
      1. Thin convex lens.
      2. Thin concave lens.
      3. Blackboard optics - thin lenses.
      4. Micro bank - shrink coin.
      1. Syntheses of colors.
      2. Magic elixir.
      3. Rainbow with prism.
      4. Rainbow with Diffraction Grating
      5. Spectrum Tubes
      1. Light polarizing discs.
      2. Brewster
      3. Unpolarized PC Monitor
      1. Single slit diffraction pattern.
      2. Adjustable slit.
      3. Interference pattern of two slits.
      4. Number of slits.
      5. Newtons Rings
      6. Interference Model
      1. Light scattering.
      1. Radiological survey meter.
      2. Fluorescence.
      3. Electron diffraction tube.
      4. Crookes Tube
      5. Solar power - cells and motor.
      6. Fire maker.
      7. Solar Cell Array
      8. Diffusion Cloud Chamber
      1. Thermopile and heat source.

The College of Arts & Sciences