Austin Peay State University (APSU)
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University hosted several pre-K and elementary-aged children recently at a science demonstration at the school’s Sundquist Science Complex.
The children first slipped into the University’s planetarium as Dr. J. Allyn Smith took them on a spin through the night sky.
Then the kids journeyed down the hall and took in several laboratory demonstrations led by Bryan Gaither, the APSU Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy’s lab manager.
The children watched (or took part in) demonstrations such as a vacuum cannon firing pingpong balls over 450 mph; a Tesla coil sparking a hydrogen-filled balloon to burst into flames; liquid nitrogen-chilled balloons re-inflating as the air inside them warmed; and liquid nitrogen-dipped roses, lettuce and onions shatter like porcelain.
Gaither put together the event following the success of similar demonstrations at this summer’s APSU Governor’s School for Computational Physics.