How Many Hammer Hits to Knock a Potato Off a Stick?
How Many Hammer Hits to Knock a Potato Off a stick?
Hey, welcome back to Kids Fun Science! Today's experiment is a potato, wooden dowel, and hammer, a safer version of a common science project. This easy experiment demonstrates physics principles and is a great homemade experiment for stem for kids, showing potato tricks in action. It's a fun physics experiment anyone can try at home!
Made for parents and teachers
Chapters
00:00 Intro
0:04 What you need
0:13 How many hits will it take to knock off the potato?
0:22 Thank my special subscriber Dakkan
0:45 Experiment
1:03 Science behind this
What’s actually going on in the potato + dowel+ hammer experiment:
When you place a dowel on top of a potato and hit it with a hammer, the dowel can slide into the potato instead of just bouncing off or pushing the potato away. This comes down to inertia and friction working together.
1. Inertia (the big idea)
The potato resists motion because of inertia (from Newton's First Law of Motion).
When the hammer hits the dowel, the dowel gets a quick downward force.
The potato doesn’t move right away—it “wants” to stay at rest.
Because the potato stays still for a moment, the dowel pushes into it.
👉 Think of it like pulling a tablecloth quickly—the plates don’t move much because of inertia.
2. Friction
There are 2 types of friction here static and dynamic friction
Static friction (before sliding) is usually higher
Kinetic (dynamic) friction (while sliding) is usually lower
In this experiment:
At first, static friction helps “hold” the potato in place
Once the dowel starts moving into the potato, friction inside the potato resists it—but not enough to stop it
Simple explanation
When you hit the dowel, it moves fast. The potato stays still for a moment because of inertia, so the dowel goes into it. Friction helps a little, but inertia is the main reason it works.
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#potato #potatophysics #physcis #potatoknifehammer
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