Properties of a pickle

Suzie Harrison

Pickles, put them on sandwiches, grocery shelves and even watch them

evolve from a cucumber, sure, but electrocute them? That’s something

new to students in Jennifer Merritt’s Laguna Beach High physics

class.

“We’re taking a regular whole kosher dill pickle and we’re going

to put it between the two metal nails,” Merritt said. “Using 115

volts, the electricity is going to want to travel through that

pickle.”

She explained to her students Friday, that to some, the experiment

was known as the pickle fryer, whereas she liked to call it the

electric pickle.

Showing the effects of the pickle smoking and turning a bright

orange as it is clearly aflame, she examined the inside of the pickle

observing that the electricity caused some burning of the flesh.

“The electricity still wants to get through,” Merritt said. “It’s

going to have all these channels, going to have to jump -- whenever

it goes through a nonsolvent it jumps, one solid to another solid,

you see that spark.”

She explained that charges going through a liquid or a gas would

cause it to spark and the fact that the pickle is made of a salty

solution makes it ignite.

“Because of the sodium you’re going to see an orangish color

through our pickle,” Merritt said.

This was a lesson in equilibrium, focusing on electric force.

Previously the students did an experiment using balloons,

Styrofoam, a soda can, bits of paper and salt and pepper.

“We’re charging up balloons to see what is attracted to them and

what is repelled,” Lauren Bosworth, 16, said. “When the balloon is

negatively charged it attracts to positive charged things such as the

soda can and pieces of pepper.”

Julianne Butler, 17, said she enjoys Merritts’ physics class.

“It’s fun, we get to play with balloons and it’s interesting to

see why things happen and to know why,” Butler said. “For example

when you’re little and playing with balloons and it causes static

electricity, now you know why it happens.”

Other experiments the class has participated in include learning

velocity by skateboarding and other important concepts by making ice

cream or playing basketball, learning that physics is everywhere

explained Jonathon Bernard, 17, and Alana Brazenton, 18.

“Her teaching style is pretty creative with a lot of hands-on

work,” Jonathon said.

Jason Kimball, 16, said his favorite experiment thus far was the

egg drop.

“We constructed a container with Styrofoam and tooth picks,”

Kimball said. “We put the egg inside the container and threw it off

the balcony and the best constructed ones didn’t break. We wanted to

increase impact time so there’s less force so it wouldn’t break.”

* SUZIE HARRISON is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot.