Austin Peay to provide science demonstrations at Clarksville’s Movies in the Park

(Published May 20, 2019)

Mr. Incredible and his super-suit wearing colleague Frozone could learn a trick or two this Saturday from Austin Peay’s scientists and students.

Before the first frames of “Incredibles 2” start rolling at Movies in the Park at Clarksville’s Heritage Park, the Austin Peay representatives will crush two 55-gallon steel drums. And they’ll use only a cooler full of ice cubes for the feat.

Austin Peay’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is partnering with Clarksville Parks and Recreation to provide free and interactive science demonstrations during the city’s Movies in the Park series, which starts this Saturday and runs through October.

The partnership starts May 25 with “Incredibles 2.” The movie starts at sunset, which will be shortly before 8 p.m. on Saturday, but Austin Peay (and other vendors) will have demonstrations and activities before the show.

In addition to the barrel crush, Austin Peay staff and students will lead other science activities, such as this interactive balloon-in-a-bottle demonstration of air pressure.

Here’s the schedule of Movies in the Parks films accompanied by Austin Peay’s planned science demonstrations:

May 25, “Incredibles 2” at Heritage Park: APSU scientists will heat up two sealed steel drums then put them in an ice bath. Within seconds, the drums will implode, like you crush a Coke can.
June 8, “Beauty and the Beast” at Heritage Park: Ever shattered a rose by throwing it on the ground? Austin Peay scientists will show you how dipping them in liquid nitrogen can help.
June 29, “Aquaman” at Heritage Park: Walk on water! APSU scientists will add some corn starch to water, et voila! The mixture acts like a solid when you walk around on it and acts like a liquid when you don’t.
July 13, “Black Panther” at Heritage Park: Austin Peay’s Bryan Gaither, lab manager for the Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy, will bring out the school’s massive pingpong cannon, which can fire the plastic balls more than 700 mph through cans, plywood and maybe even some fruit.
July 27, “The Grinch” at Liberty Park: Austin Peay scientists will show you how to make snow using polymers. No frozen water needed to make the light, fluffy stuff.
Aug. 17, “Ready Player One” at Liberty Park: APSU’s GIS Center staff have the perfect accompaniment to this blockbuster movie about a virtual world – virtual reality gadgets of all kinds. You can play around in Google Earth VR, take a virtual tour or ride virtual roller coasters.
Sept. 21, “Mary Poppins Returns” at Liberty Park: How do you freeze your homemade ice cream? Austin Peay scientists skip the freezer and use liquid nitrogen. It’s way faster. Come grab some before the movie. They use spoonfuls of sugar!
Oct. 12, “The Karate Kid” at Liberty Park: Austin Peay scientists will lie on a bed of nails and have cinder blocks broken on their chests! It’s science, not magic! “Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine.”

The free movies start at sunset. Science demonstrations happen before the movies and are subject to change. For weather cancellations, visit the Clarksville Parks and Recreation Facebook page at www.facebook.com/clarksvilleparksandrecreation.

TO LEARN MORE

For more about Austin Peay’s College of STEM, go to apsu.edu/costem.
For more about Clarksville Parks and Recreation’s Movies in the Park, go to cityofclarksville.com/433/Movies-in-the-Park.

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