Introduction

            For our project, we focused on taking high speed photographs of food items, after being frozen in liquid nitrogen, in collision with the ground.  We hoped to see differences in using hollow foods, such as peppers, and solid foods, such as oranges.  To complete this experiment, we obtained some liquid nitrogen from the chemistry department.  The food was supplied by our school’s cafeteria.  Incidentally, this is the first time that anyone has ever found a use for the cafeteria food.  We dropped the food from approximately 2 meters high through a cardboard tube.  A laser photogate and a delay unit were used to capture the images, at the instant of collision.

            Overall, the experiment was a success.  We got some cool photographs of cracking, shattering, and exploding foods.  Some of the photographs were out of frame, and time constraints prevented us from exploring further, but we essentially achieved our goal.  Indeed, the peppers provided large, and almost violent collisions, while the oranges did not break apart as much.

All pictures are copyright
Trevor Shannon, Carl Schissler, and Donovan Patterson.