Quantcast
The Explositivity of Fruit
Purpose: Science has long been intrigued by the distances things will travel after they have been blown up. This week, Scientific AmeriKen will take this intrigue, and investigate whether unripe fruit or ripe fruit can better withstand the forces of an explosive device.

Hypothesis: The Hypothesis of this experiment is that the younger fruit will be more dense, and therefor be able to hold together against the strain of the fire cracker. Henceforth, the hypothesis is that the ripe fruit will have it's explosive pieces fly further then the unripe fruit.

Equipment: Used in this experiment were two m-90 fire crackers, and 2 blackcat fireworks, which had no more then 50 milligrams of gun powder. 4 oranges were used, two ripe two unripe, matches, tape measure, and pen and paper.

 
Procedure: The first step is to make a circular incision on the bottom of the orange, roughly the diameter of the fire cracker being inserted. Then 
insert the fire cracker so the the wick is just above the surface of the orange. Place one of each of the types of fire cracker into the ripe and unripe orange. Then light. observe any changes and mark all distances of pieces traveled.

Results:
 
Orange used
Fire cracker type
Observations
Ripe Orange
Black Cat
 The Orange had a 1 inch crack along the side. Orange did not move as a result of blast.
Green Orange
Black Cat
 The Orange received 3- 1 inch cracks along the sides, however did not move from it's original position.
Ripe Orange
M-90
Green Orange
M-90

Conclusion: Regardless of the fire cracker used, it was apparent that the green oranges received more damage as a result of the explosion. This contradicts the hypothesis, and one explanation that arises is that perhaps the fluids of the ripe orange acted as a buffer in protecting the orange. Scientific AmeriKen would like to state that though this experiment gains little knowledge for the benefit of humankind, it does provide a good scientific reason to blow things up.

Return to Scientific AmeriKen