At New Tech High @ Coppell (NTH@C) one of the most intimidating projects for most students is the physics class’s “Pumpkin’ Chunkin’” project. This is because of the limited time that they have to build a completely functional catapult and it tests the ability of people to collaborate for long periods of time. I was also afraid of starting this project because I had not idea how to do everything for this project. I could design and do the math, but I not real experience with power tools or working with large piece of wood. Before the project officially started I talked with a group of friends who shared a similar work ethic to try to form a group for the project. We talked with my physics teacher about the group choice and he approved it.
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The catapult was already at the launching site behind NTH@C and was ready for the event. My group’s catapult was launching around halfway into the competition so I spent some time talking with other groups and making sure the catapult was ready. My physics teacher called for my group to ready our catapult. We all felt tension as we readied the catapult and even the catapult itself was under tense pressure due how tight we made the rope after twisting it around the arm. The pumpkin was loaded into the catapult and we counted down. As the catapult’s arm released the pumpkin it felt as if time slowed down as the pumpkin soared through the air before making contact with ground. When we went to measure the distance we discovered that we had achieved the largest distance and nearly doubling the team previously in first. What surprised me even more was that the pumpkin was completely was undamaged, only the paint and we covered the it in had been removed from its outside. We returned to our catapult victorious at a successful job making our catapult. As the event continued on I watched the remaining teams and we remained in first place for the rest of the competition until the final launch of the day. The final team built a floating arm trebuchet and spent around sixty hours building it. There total distance bested my groups and they won it total distance. I was not disappointed or frustrated that I did not win. I was glad that the project was over and that my group’s catapult was one of the most advanced competitor in the
The catapult was already at the launching site behind NTH@C and was ready for the event. My group’s catapult was launching around halfway into the competition so I spent some time talking with other groups and making sure the catapult was ready. My physics teacher called for my group to ready our catapult. We all felt tension as we readied the catapult and even the catapult itself was under tense pressure due how tight we made the rope after twisting it around the arm. The pumpkin was loaded into the catapult and we counted down. As the catapult’s arm released the pumpkin it felt as if time slowed down as the pumpkin soared through the air before making contact with ground. When we went to measure the distance we discovered that we had achieved the largest distance and nearly doubling the team previously in first. What surprised me even more was that the pumpkin was completely was undamaged, only the paint and we covered the it in had been removed from its outside. We returned to our catapult victorious at a successful job making our catapult. As the event continued on I watched the remaining teams and we remained in first place for the rest of the competition until the final launch of the day. The final team built a floating arm trebuchet and spent around sixty hours building it. There total distance bested my groups and they won it total distance. I was not disappointed or frustrated that I did not win. I was glad that the project was over and that my group’s catapult was one of the most advanced competitor in the