Potato Irish Famine

After spending the week of St. Patrick's Day learning about the historical Irish Potato Famine, which in part brought many Irish to the United States, we connected it to some science. Students were posed with the question: How much of a potato is the pulp? Students peeled and weighed to calculate. In addition, students learned that adding up the peelings and the pulp don't add up to the total weight of the original potato due to moisture loss and evaporation.