Eggsperiment Ferris Sophomores Construct Egg-Hurling Catapults For Science Class
Splattered yokes and bits of eggshell littered the Ferris High School courtyard Monday, after a mob of sophomores completed what on any other occasion surely would have been viewed as a delinquent prank.
The gooey mess was actually the culmination of a science project that challenged the science students to construct egg-lobbing catapults that could hit a target at 10 paces. At the target’s center sat a rubber chicken - a nod to the upcoming spirit competition against Lewis and Clark.
Despite the clean-up afterward, teachers Bethany Hopkins and Darci Nelson said the project was a “smashing” success.
“We wanted to do something different, and I think it worked,” Hopkins said. “It showed the students that physics can be fun.”
Students Sara Bick and Lindsey Hoover certainly had fun, throwing themselves exuberantly into the exercise. They dressed up as research and development scientists - complete with white lab coats and dust masks - and decorated their wood catapult with silver spray paint and the words, “Sweet Lady,” in red paint along the front.
“Fire in the hole!” Bick shouted as she and Hoover drew back Sweet Lady’s arm and released. They covered their heads in mock protective crouches as the egg whizzed through the air and over the target, … way over the target.
“We were going for power and distance anyway,” Bick said later.
Students received the assignment last week while studying the history of catapults. They learned that catapults were originally medieval war machines used to hurtle stones or spears. Eggs, however, seemed an easier missile to manage, Hopkins said.
By themselves or in teams, students tested their egg-throwers to varying degrees of success.
Patrick Troumbley almost hit the chicken with a crossbow-looking apparatus. Instead of shooting an arrow, however, the bowstring yanked up an arm that had an egg at the end.
“This was pretty fun,” he said. “We got to work with our hands and see the results.”
Other students’ eggs went too high, or too low, and one even hit a student in the leg. Students were allowed to try to solve their catapults’ problems and try again. Grades were awarded mostly on the design and construction of the catapults.
One student solved a weight problem by sitting on her catapult to hold it down. Another tightened his device to get more tension.
The catapults varied widely in design. Some used wooden spoons or PVC pipe. One student used a mousetrap to propel the arm, while another used a spring she removed from an old couch in her basement.
“My mom doesn’t know yet, so shhh!” she said.
Afterward, Hopkins and Nelson looked relieved.
“I’m exhausted, but this has been just great,” Hopkins said. “Three students in each class actually hit the target, and everyone learned about physics, and about problem solving.”