Truman Kids Put Physics Knowledge to the Test, Build Catapults

Provided by the Bristol Township School District:

Students at Harry S. Truman High School recently put their physics knowledge to the test.

Juniors and Seniors at the high school competed against each other to see whose catapult could launch the farthest. The contest was preceded by six weeks of learning and catapult construction.

“Some students worked a few days. Some worked over a month,” assistant principal George Harwick said. “But it’s nice to see the students’ creativity.”

Students were given very little instruction and had few restrictions. They used the information they learned in their physics class to help guide the catapult-building process. Students were responsible for the research, purchase of materials, and construction of the catapults.

“It was fun because we didn’t know what to do going in. It was a lot of experimentation,” Nirali Patel, a creator of a Shrek-inspired catapult, said.

The students admitted that creating the catapults had its difficulties.

“It wasn’t as easy as ‘nail, nail, nail,’ and then shoot,” Valeria Ochoa, co-creator of the Shrek-inspired catapult, said. “It was challenging. We thought about everything in terms of technicalities.”

The physics students spent the afternoon comparing their catapults’ launch distances. The team with the farthest launch was the Blood Thirsty Tarantula catapult created by Daphne Werz, Jasmyn Wilson, and Angel Rodriguez.

“It was a lot of trial and error,” Wilson said. “When it finally works. It’s the best feeling ever.”