Leon and the Champion Chip

Potato Chips: A Scientific Primer

Here’s a list of the experiments mentioned in the book:

1. Dichotomous Classification

   Identifying differences in potato chips. (Explained in chapters 12, 25, and 26.)

2. Exothermic Reaction

   Testing if potato chips burn. (Explained in chapter 14.)

3. Electrolytic Energy

   How to turn a potato into a clock battery. (Explained in chapter 16.)

4. Aerodynamics

   How to make a kite out of recycled potato chip bags. (Cited in chapter 19.)

5. Spore Growth

   Monitoring the eyes on a first-edition Mr. Potato Head. (Cited in chapter 19.)

6. Optics

   Constructing a pinhole camera out of a potato chip can. (Cited in chapter 20.)

7. Spectral Analysis

   Making a potato chip color wheel. (Cited in chapters 22 and 26.)

8. Microscopy

   Gazing on starch granules magnified 400 times. (Cited in chapter 22.)

9. Static Electricity

   The power of a potato-chip-factory drive belt (Cited in hair-raising chapter 23.)

10. Observational Analysis

    Measuring the thickness of potato chips. (Cited in chapters 22 and 25.)

11. Liquid Nitrogen: An Unconventional Application

    How to Make Instant Potato Chip Ice Cream (Described in Chapter 34.)

12. pH Analysis

    The acidity of potato chips. (Described in chapter 38.)

13. Radio Frequency

    How to build a wireless receiver using a potato chip can. (Cited in Chapter 39.)

14. Recycling Technology

    Potato chip bags as wearable art. (Cited in Chapter 39.)

15. Trajectory & Combustion

    Constructing an Extermitater. (Cited in Chapter 39.)

16. Cosmology

    The Potato Chip Theory of the Universe. (Cited in Chapter 40.)

17. Energy Transfer

    The observation of Sparks in motion. (Cited in Chapter 44.)