Physics students put their knowledge of angles, gravity, and velocity to the test in the annual catapult competition.
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On April 19, Physics students from all of Physics Teacher Nelson Vore’s class periods show up at the soccer field to show off their catapults and try to break an egg on a pedestal.
The students had from the week before Spring Break to build a launching mechanism to fire some spherical projectile of their choice at an egg from varying distances. The catapult had to have a base smaller than one square meter and larger than thirty square centimeters. Other than that, the students were given free reign to build as they pleased. Materials used ranged from wood and screws to PVC pipe and duct tape. Some catapults were small enough that they could be stored inside of a backpack, while others so massive they had to be brought inside in pieces.
Not only were the size of the catapults so varying, but also the method that they fired and aimed was up to the creative minds of the students. The students came up with a plethora of ways to try and get the egg to crack. There was the classic pull back arm to a bar, or the riskier trebuchet-swinging arm. Others tried the slingshot-like elastic cords with a small net pulled back, or a launch pad style of rocketing the round object into the air.
Aiming was also something that the young engineers took in stride. Besides just facing their devices of destruction in the direction of the egg, students took in to account how far away they were and made adjustments accordingly, which ranged from pulling the arm further back to adding more weight in the counterbalance to changing the angle the projectile was released.
Then came to the actual items that went flying through the air. Students used objects from golf balls to baseballs. All the different calculations that the young physicists went through were to make sure that the weight, size and shape of their projectiles traveled right at their target.
When all the parts were put to the test, Vore directed all of the catapults to the soccer field and began the competition. The pupils tried to hit an egg from the distances of 6.5 meters, 10 meters, 11 meters, 5.5 meters and 8.5 meters twice. Physics student Jaki Waring, working with a tiny catapult, managed to smash the egg at 10 meters, earning herself a nice bit of extra credit. In the end though, first place went to Amanda Koziol & Broody Bills, whose trebuchet managed to remain the closest to the egg consistently. For a bit of fun at the end of the competition, the students had a farthest shot contest, with Junior Ben Smiley coming out on top, shooting almost 100 yards.
