Thursday 6 October 2011

'Volcanic eruption' challenge

One of the members of our support group from the British Geological Survey reports that he has been using the ELI 'Party time for volcanoes: how much force does it take to set off a party popper 'volcano'? at the World Skills 2011 event in London. He thinks a new world record has been set! Tori from Esher High School managed to load 3.5kg on one popper before it 'erupted'. He adds that he does not think there's anything particularly robust about the poppers that were being used; the others have given results from 400g to 1900g with an average of about 1150g. This just shows that accurate prediction of a volcanic eruption remains almost impossible and it is seldom possible to give precise timings of anticipated events, to allow the evacuation of populations to safety.
So - 3.5kg is the record so far unless - - - - - ?

2 comments:

Peter from the UK said...

The most I've had was 3.3 kg in Enniskillen, I think! And the least was
about 250g, so there!

Earth Learning Idea said...

This seems to be the record for the lowest number!