Lesson plan help

[isha]

I need some help coming up with an idea for how to do something. I'm trying to write a lesson plan about finding the speed of a spinning asteroid. I want to spin a potato and have students take pictures of it and find it's rotation speed. But I need to figure out how to make the potato spin. I'd like it to be on a stick and spin about 1 rotation/

Comments

[artrx]

Would a mixer work? Trying to remember whether or not you guys have one...

[artrx]

Or what about just popping it in the microwave? I imagine that would have a rotation speed <1 sec. And that way you end up with a tasty baked potato at the end. :)

[kumasan]

Yep a old hand mixer, break off the beater blades, impale potato. Thrift shops are your friend.

[kumasan]

Or scavenge a small battery motor like out of a cassette deck.

[gwyndlyn]

Oh hey! We have an old cassette deck out for the trash! If you want it gutted say so quick, it'll be gone Friday morning!

[aneyah]

A rotisserie? Although I know you don't have one. Hmmm.