Potato Chip Science: 29 Incredible Experiments

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Overview

Snack on science! Make a science of snacks! Potato Chip Science is the book and kit that’s an irresistible introduction to science for 8- to 12-year-olds. Here are 29 incredible experiments—plus one edible project—that use potato chips, potatoes, potato chip bags, tubes, and lids. Included in the bag are a 96-page two-color book and a dozen items that kids can use for the following “snacktivities”:

Bag Blaster - Bird Feeder - Chipmobile - Chip Analyzer - Chip-Ship Challenge - Chip-Tube Gobbler - “Color” Wheel - Compass - Composter - Confetti Can-non - CSI Detective Kit - Dancing Chips - Electric Wave - Flipper - Hydrofoil - Kissing Tubes - Kite - Mini Extermi-tater - Potato Bender - ...

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More About This Book

Overview

Snack on science! Make a science of snacks! Potato Chip Science is the book and kit that’s an irresistible introduction to science for 8- to 12-year-olds. Here are 29 incredible experiments—plus one edible project—that use potato chips, potatoes, potato chip bags, tubes, and lids. Included in the bag are a 96-page two-color book and a dozen items that kids can use for the following “snacktivities”:

Bag Blaster - Bird Feeder - Chipmobile - Chip Analyzer - Chip-Ship Challenge - Chip-Tube Gobbler - “Color” Wheel - Compass - Composter - Confetti Can-non - CSI Detective Kit - Dancing Chips - Electric Wave - Flipper - Hydrofoil - Kissing Tubes - Kite - Mini Extermi-tater - Potato Bender - Potato Chip Crunchies - Potato Battery - Saucer Tosser - Shrunken (Potato) Head - Signal Mirror - Sound Spinner - Spud Crud - Spuddy Buddy - Walkie-Talkie - Windmill

Product Features:
- 96-page book providing step-by-step instructions
- Bag that can be turned into a kite, compass, or “hydofoil”
- Digital sound chip that plays “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” . . . powered by a potato! (spud not included)
- 6-inch propulsion pipe that launches spud pellets 50 feet!
- Biodegradable starch base (makes a great Chipmobile chassis!)
- 6 optical stickers
- 6 chip lids (the wheels of the Chipmobile!)
- Spud-powered digital clock (once again, potato not included)
- 4 zinc and copper electrodes
- Googly eyes (Yeah!)
- Wire connectors
- Eco-friendly starch knife (to carve the Spuddy Buddy and Shrunken Potato Head)
- Packing “chips” (used as ammunition for the Confetti Can-non!)

Manufactured in the United States of America.
Potato Chip Science received the Gold Medal from The National Parenting Publication Awards, and a Gold "Brain Child" Medal from Tillywig.

  • Potato Chip Science
    Potato Chip Science  

Editorial Reviews

American Chemical Society
If the little chemist in your life prefers experiments to coloring, try out Potato Chip Science.
CBS-TV (Philadelphia)
There’s a science-deficit among America’s young and one man’s cure comes packed in a potato chip bag.
More Reviews (10) Fewer Reviews
Chicago Tribune
What a brilliant concept! Author Allen Kurzweil followed up on a suggestion from son Max and uses everyone’s favorite vegetable as the basis for this 96-page book. Complementing the book is a potato chip bag that includes items used in the 29 delightful experiments in the book (a digital clock that can be powered by a potato, googly eyes, a biodegradable lab knife, etc.)
Entertainment Weekly
Perfect for kids. (I would have gone nuts for this as a child! And who am I kidding? I’m in my twenties and I still think it’s pretty cool!)
Geekdad.com
Do you like potatoes? Do you like science? Well, Allen Kurzweil has the book for you. The most obvious and coolest project in the kit is the potato battery...Other experiments include spud guns, compasses made out of Pringles can tops, and even a shrunken head made out of potatoes. You can even make a kite out of a potato chip bag and a Chia Pet out of a potato, some peat, and some grass seed. [But] the real value is the instillation of the tinkering spirit. As a parent, I see the value in teaching science and conservation through something fun like potatoes and potato products. Considering my five year old only wants to eat fries anyway, he might as well learn about composting and electricity through Idahos.
Publishers Weekly
A hit with booksellers.
Techcrunch.com
If you have a wee one with an interest in science... check out Kurzweil’s latest project, the science kit in a potato chip bag.
The Washington Post
This was one of a few games that kids rated as a 10+ on a scale of 1 to 10 (in our annual toy test). Third-graders tested this bag of fun and easy science experiments, all involving the lowly—but amazing—potato. Even the bag becomes a fun activity: the Bag Blaster. “We loved it!” the kids said.
ThinkGeek.com
Holy potato chips! Batman. There’s something about the crinkle of a bag of chips that is like a geek siren song.
Time Out (Chicago)
School’s in session, which means—deep breaths, parents—science fairs are just around the corner. Get kids motivated early and find some simple-to-implement, innovative ideas with Potato Chip Science.
Washington Post
This was one of a few games that kids rated as a 10+ on a scale of 1 to 10. Third-graders tested this bag of fun and easy science experiments, all involving the lowly—but amazing—potato. Even the bag becomes a fun activity: the Bag Blaster. “We loved it!” the kids said.
Kirkus Reviews

Potatoes, potato chips and their packaging provide the materials for this entertaining, pun-filled collection of 29 science demonstrations and experiments plus one crunchy cookie recipe. The potato experiments will be familiar to science teachers but intriguing for young readers; the others offer creative uses for chip bags, lids and tubes. They include making rockets and kites, spinners demonstrating properties of sound and light, even a birdcall. The authors include explanations of the scientific principles involved, information about growing potatoes and making chips and their bags, oddities and curious facts. Recipe-style instructions and illustrations are reasonably clear. This book-with-stuff is packaged in an imitation potato-chip bag with a large number of packing peanuts, chip lids, googly eyes, stickers, a sound chip and a digital clock that can be powered by a potato and more. Although some of the plastic is labeled biodegradable, the whole of the packaging contradicts the message encouraging REuse of such materials. Though aimed at the book-as-toy market, this would be an appealing addition to a craft or science-fair shelf. (Informational gamebook. 8-14)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780761148258
  • Publisher: Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
  • Publication date: 9/10/2010
  • Pages: 96
  • Sales rank: 129,875
  • Age range: 8 - 12 Years
  • Lexile: IG1050L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 8.75 (w) x 12.25 (h) x 3.38 (d)

Meet the Author

Allen Kurzweil is the author of Leon and the Champion Chip—the second in a series of young-reader novels—in which he first explored the idea of a science curriculum based on the potato chip. Mr. Kurzweil has also written two award-winning novels for adults, A Case of Curiosities and The Grand Complication. Currently a fellow at the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization at Brown University, he lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife and son, Max, his potato chip science collaborator and beta-tester.

Interviews & Essays

An Interview with Allen Kurzweil, inventor of Potato Chip Science

What led you to cook up Potato Chip Science?
I blame my son. When he was nine years old, he asked me why I wrote books about useless stuff like pocket watches and player pianos and antique furniture. I asked him what he would prefer me to research. He said: “Potato chips.” At first, I resisted the implicit challenge. But hesitation gave way to mild interest, and mild interest yielded to obsession. In the end, the chip off the old block turned the old block into a chip fiend.

When people think of science, they generally don’t think of potato chips.
True. Then again, when people think of potato chips—which happens much more often—they generally don’t think of science. That’s one reason I cooked up this kit. Wouldn’t it be great if hands-on experimentation approached the popularity of deep-fried, thin-sliced tubers?

What kinds of skills can kids learn from Potato Chip Science?
Hmm. Let’s see, kids can learn the joy of discovery. The challenges of trial and error testing. The practical business of keeping a science journal. They can discover the environmental payoff of using the recycling bin as an experimental supply house. They can gain dietary awareness. They can learn about the physics of kites, cars and boats (by actually making kites, cars and boats!). They can guide themselves through the field of navigation, dose themselves with chemistry, and, thanks to the Chip Science Institute (more commonly known as CSI) they can uncover the principles of crime scene forensics. Other dividends include: all sorts of mathematical knowledge (from the simple addition needed to bake potato chip cookies to the complex geometrical formula required to graph a saddle-shaped potato chip). There’s a reason every bag has to carry the warning: HIGH IN SATURATED FACTS!

What role did your son play in creating the book?
Max—the “& Son” portion of the collaboration—was the kit’s principal beta-tester and beta-taster. He read through all the write-ups, and signed off on all the illustrations.

What are some of your favorite projects from Potato Chip Science?
I’m a sucker for any experiment that launches stuff, so I like the propulsion pipe, the bag blaster and the confetti can-non. I’m also keen on the Shrunken (Potato) Head because it spells out, for klutzes like me, exactly how to carve a head. That’s a useful skill to have.

What’s your advice for parents who want to get their kids interested in science?
Show your children that science projects lurk everywhere, esespecially in the recycling bin.

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