Dynamic Earth launches pumpkins from compressed air cannon

Morning North6:00The Science North pumpkin cannon

Science North unveiled it's pumpkin cannon for the first time at the Anderson Fall Fair in Lively this past weekend. Markus Schwabe was there.. and you know Markus and pumpkins... so naturally, he couldn't resist finding out all about it.

A lot can be done with pumpkins, from carving them to baking them into pies. Ascience centre in Sudbury is doing something a bit different: launching them out of a cannon.

JulieMoskalykis a senior manager at Dynamic Earth.

Lopes Limited, who are our very good friends at Dynamic Earth and Science North, built this compressed air cannon, she said.

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The cannon was originally built for the Discovery Channel whena few episodes about pumpkin cannons were featured a few years ago, Moskalyk said.

The company adapted the cannon for Dynamic Earth, including painting it orange, and now it will be featured at Halloween events put on by Dynamic Earth and Science North.

People love it

To launch a pumpkin, Moskalyk said the first step is to put a plastic cap in the cannon, followedby the pumpkin.

This cap helps to launch it out of the cannon safely and it just kind of pops out the end of the cannon, she said.

The trick to it is to get it in there snugly so that theres no air that escapes on the side because then you get maximum pressure.

After that, a small pumpkin is loaded into the cannon and then a small pressurized air hose is attached that is hooked up to a compressor, she said.

During testing, 100 PSI resulted in pumpkins being shot a kilometre in distance, Moskalyk said.

At Dynamic Earth, weve got about half that, so 45 PSI.

That air pressure results in the pumpkinbeing launched about a third of a kilometre down a secure pathway, she said.

I could not believe it the first time I saw it go, she said.

Theres some great science in this thing, but when you marry it with launching stuff at targets, its fun. People love it.

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