Monday, June 7, 2010
Largest piece of chalk
- Bishop
Canevin students sets world record
PITTSBURGH, PA, USA -- Terry Dougherty
, Matt Durbin
and Nick Sylvester
, 11th-grade students
at Bishop
Canevin High School
, made a 270 pounds piece of chalk
from plaster of Paris and water , setting the world record for the Largest
piece of chalk
. 
Photo: Terry Dougherty, with classmates
Matt Durbin and Nick Sylvester behind him, checks the weight
of the Largest
piece of chalk in The World
they made for history
teacher Joseph Romano at Bishop Canevin High School. Photo
by Darrel Sapp
( enlarge
photo
)
"[The World's
Largest
piece of chalk
] writes and everything," Mr. Sylvester
said. "But it's 270 pounds, so it's pretty hard to write with."
Typical blackboard chalk is manufactured from
gypsum, which is a kind of calcium sulfate. Sidewalk chalk
is also manufactured from gypsum, but it can be made from
plaster of Paris and water, the method chosen by the Bishop
canevin students.
Nick Sylvester of Kennedy wanted to make
the World's
Largest
piece of chalk
in a 32-gallon trash can, and so he
purchased enough plaster of Paris to fill the can more than
halfway up. He bought 125 pounds of plaster from Home Depot
for around $60.
Working with classmates Matt Durbin of Robinson
and Terry Dougherty of Crafton, he mixed the plaster with
14 gallons of water in the trash can.
It took them about 15 minutes to adequately stir
the mixture using a golf club and a metal rake, and it took
three days before the mixture set.
The World's
Largest
piece of chalk
is white, weighs about 270 pounds,
and looks much like a normal piece of chalk except for its
unusually large size and the patterning caused by grooves
in the trash can.
To compensate for their time and
effort, Mr. Romano will give the boys 15 to 20 extra credit
points.
Meanwhile, the Largest
piece of chalk in The World
has found a permanent
home in his classroom. "I'll probably chip away at it," Mr.
Romano said.
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rubber band chain - Allison Coach
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Concrete Gnome - Iowa State University
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gum wrapper chain - Gary Duschl
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string of beads - Shipwreck Beads
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Ball of Paper - nrique Miramontes and Ricardo Granados
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rubber band ball - Joel Waul
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Ball of Plastic Wrap - Jake Lonsway
Monday, June 7, 2010
