Tater Cannon

Brett Mahoney

A Block

Our last project of the year was the potato cannon. With a partner, we designed our own potato cannon that we thought would work the best. After researching a design, our class went to a hardware store to get the prices of all the parts we would need to build this thing because we wanted to build the most cost-effective cannon. We then used a computer program called SketchUp to create a 3D picture of our cannon designs. The cannon was constructed using mostly different components of PVC piping. The cannon used a flint ignitor to shoot the cannon after the potato was inserted and hairspray was sprayed into the combustion chamber. I learned that the cannon was much like a combustion chamber of a car. The chamber of the cannon contained a pocket of air and flammable hairspray which when ignited, the air expanded at a high rate which pushed the potato out of the barrel. We ended up using Joslin's cannon for the firing so I never knew if my design was successful because it was never built. But I did learn about the basics of a combustion chamber which I know will come in handy sometime in my life. I now can build a potato cannon whenever I please.