Don't try this at home
Scott POWELL LEDGER STAFF WRITER

Jack, my 10-year-old nephew, proudly informed me about his new toy while standing on the front porch on a cold Friday evening in Edisto Beach. My mother received a free weekend stay at a couple's beach house when she won a raffle at a charity bike ride last fall.

My older brother Greg and his family traveled from their home in Hartsville so the eight-member Powell clan could spend a January weekend on Edisto Beach. Located in the middle of nowhere, there was no Internet access and cell phone service was marginal at best.

So what is a young boy to do in these circumstances?

My nephews Jack and Joey did what many young boys did years ago. They built something, and were pleased when it went boom!

"You gotta see the potato gun we made," Jack said. "It's really cool."

Of course, this was all done under the supervision of their father.

The project originally started as a Cub Scout project for Jack. It was an entertainment activity at the beach.

The potato gun consisted of PVC pipe shaped in the form of a bazooka, and rigged with a friction spark igniter. We set the contraption on the second floor deck and immensely enjoyed jamming potatoes and onions at the top of the PVC pipe.

My brother would spray a "small" amount of hair spray on the bottom and light a match.

The potatoes and onions exploded out the potato gun like a cannon, reaching heights of 30 to 40 feet in the air before landing out near the beach. The onions seemed to launch better than the potatoes in this unscientific experiment.

There were few people around. The noise wasn't terribly loud, and no one was harmed.

I think we frightened a dog once when an onion landed a couple feet away from where the animal was sniffing.

We felt bad about the dog so we went to a supermarket and bought supplies to build a tennis ball mortar.

For a tennis ball mortar, you take Pringles® potato chip canisters and wrap them tightly together in duct tape. All you do is spray lighter fluid, light it and watch a tennis ball go bye-bye.

These projects are described in a book called "Backyard Ballistics" by William Gurstelle. He has developed a supplement with lesson plans teachers can use to help students discover the joys of science.

My brother bought a copy over the Internet so he could help his son with the Cub Scout project.

The book explains the physics behind the projects with clear instructions, diagrams and photographs.

Any ordinary person can use this book to build projects with names like the Cincinnati Fire Kite, the Dry Cleaner Bag Balloon, the Water Rocket and Pneumatic Missile (a custom made stomp-rocket that uses an air bladder.) The operating instructions for the Pneumatic Missile are simple - jump, stomp and launch!

The Cincinnati Fire Kite is a hot air-powered airship made from specially folded newspaper. A mint candy placed in a bottle with carbonated water will create a geyser.

This hearkens back to the days when young boys entertained themselves outside by building things from household materials.

Orville and Wilbur Wright learned how to make a plane fly by running up and down hills in Kitty Hawk, N.C.

After months of planning and plane crashes, the Wright Brothers introduced the world to flight. Our world has never been the same since.

My nephews attempt to build a tennis ball mortar didn't work at Edisto Beach. After several attempts to light it, my brother discovered he needed to get a different type of lighter fluid.

I have not heard if the nephews have the tennis ball mortar working properly yet. If you happen to hear a loud boom, call me.

Scott Powell (spowell@gaffneyledger.com) covers

education issues for The Gaffney Ledger.