Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am a portuguese teachers. A group of students is trying to make the candle carousel project.

They followed the given instructions but the the carousel doesn't spin.

I suspect that the problem may be in the aluminium blades. In the materials list there is only the reference to "Aluminum pie pans, 8 3/4 inch in diameter". We used a pan available in the portuguese market but when I compare our carousel blades with the project photos it seems there is a considerable difference in its thickness.

Do you have any information about the aluminum thickness requirements?
Are there any frequent problems in doing this project that we could consider?
Do you have a video clip of the carousel spinning?

Thank you very much for your help

Anabela


[Administrator note: Project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... e-carousel]

Hi Anabela,

Sorry, but I don't have a thickness specification for the aluminum. The type of pie pan described in the project is quite thin. The following article describes this type of pan and quotes thicknesses ranging from 0.05 mm to 0.2 mm:

https://www.thermofisher.com/blog/metal ... nksgiving/

As an alternative to the pie pan, you might try using aluminum soda cans to make the “spinner”. The following link shows one way to make spinners from flattened cans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtVhbD7SYvA

I'm not aware of any frequent problems with this project.

The following video shows a candle carousel that appears similar to the one from the Science Buddies project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCn48Mu5jo4

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman