Mysterious, Kinetic, Noisy, Do-It-Yourself Science Projects that Entice Scientific Investigation
The French Pop Pop Connection
(Note: This article was originally published in May 2006) In the 1991 I heard about an international association of pop-pop boat enthusiasts based in France. I wrote a letter expressing interest and described my efforts to create an engine design that was easy to make. A few weeks later I received 3 journals entirely devoted to pop pop boats and a note of encouragement from Professor Jean Le Bot. Even though I don't read or speak French, the journals were amazing. I treasure them to this day and it provided a lot of inspiration to me.
Professor Le Bot with some of his marine model test equipment.
More than a decade had passed when I finally had a good design to share. Alas, Professor Le Bot was elderly by then and the association had become inactive. However, I am fortunate to know another French man who is carrying the torch. He is Jean-Yves, an early-retired marine engineer who is still very active experimenting with pop pops. He is developing apparatus that measures the thrust of various pop pop engine designs, and with that he can calculate total engine efficiency. His English is excellent. Here is a wonderful write-up with pictures of a visit Jean-Yves had with Professor Le Bot. Here is an interesting article he wrote about making a pop pop engine. And here is a really well done article about pop pop engine efficiency.
Jean-Yves with test equipment. About the pop pop shirt he says that he was visiting the U.S. and “I found this T shirt totally by chance last October in a shopping mall in Annapolis.”
This test stand uses a baby bottle heating resistor to provide a consistent and reliable heat for the engine so as to make accurate measures of efficiency.
A clever yet simple way to measure thrust.
Jean-Yevs' Links and more
Although it is written in French, I encourage you to check out the this extraordinary web site eclecticspace.net. (Note: Now the site has an English language option)If you type "eclecticspace.net" into Google, it will offer to translate the page, and it will continue to translate the linked pages. There is a section about pop pop boats, and within that, a section by Jean-Yves. It is my understanding that there is a plan to reprint updated parts of the classic journals mentioned above in the eclecticspace pages--something you might encourage him to do.
