Coming to school on a weekend to work on a catapult with the capability to throw a 10-pound cabbage 400 feet or more for an A in physics is what senior Tyler Easley hammered away on his last weeks of as a high school student.
“The project was very fun, and it was a nice break to be outside of the classroom for a while applying what we had learned,” said Easley.
The physics project started April 16. Physics teacher Greg Simpson started this catapult project three years ago and shared the idea with all the physics teachers. Coach Simpson supplied his classes with wood and other materials. He bought some of the material with the money he gathered from labs.
Some of the students did bring their own tools; but some classes such as Ms. Lara Irvin’s bought their own supplies. Each member of the group could not put more than $10 to buy supplies. Students also recycled old scraps from the construction class and reused the old weights from the football team.
“It was a project where the students could apply mathematics and techniques that we learned in class. It’s basically to see if they believe in the math,” said Coach Simpson. “This is probably the best year we have had; we end up building three trebuchets. They did a very good job.”
The physics students are graded in three portions. A lab report includes the research they did in the first week on this project and how they built their group catapult.
The second portion of the student’s grade would be the construction of the catapult and participation. Last would be on how far the cabbages went. For an A they their catapult must land 400 feet or farther.