LOVELOCK - Pershing County High School physics students took a break recently from the modern world to compete medieval-style using antiquated tools of battle. Competitors demonstrated their home-built catapults and trebuchets by hurling pumpkins skyward with some projectiles accurately smashing targets placed on the football field.
Catapults and trebuchets were popular in the Middle Ages as war machines used to attack castles and other fortresses. Instead of pumpkins, warriors hurled rocks, flames, deceased animals, tainted garbage and other frightening objects at the enemy.
Students gathered to watch as six of the gravity-powered structures were lined up for the traditional Halloween Day pumpkin shoot. No injuries were reported as spectators were kept safely off the field in case of stray pumpkins.
The annual high school event funds a field trip to California for the competitors and other senior science students, Pershing High physics teacher Val McLean said. As of Nov. 1, students had collected over $3,000 with more pledges still to be collected, she said.
Next spring, in the final week of March, the three-day field trip will take 18 students to the San Francisco Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences at a cost of $300 per student.
"We do the roller coaster physics project and we go to the tech museums," McLean said. "We look at the physics of baseball but this year maybe hockey because it's a little bit early for baseball unless they do some pre-games like they did last year. We tie in a whole bunch of (science) applications. We have about 50 percent of the senior class in physics so it's a great three-day trip for them."
Designing new and rebuilding old catapults provides hands-on experience in the basics of physics and engineering, McLean said. Students calculated the best balance and placement of weights for optimum machine performance. The wood and steel catapult construction projects develop many other skills as well, she said.
"They're learning to calculate projectile motion and they learn other things. A lot of the teams use their carpentry skills. Some teams learn how to weld or to apply those skills to a cool project," she said. "They learn how to take something from theory on a computer and getting it on paper and putting it into an actual project. They learn a lot of teamwork, frustration and perseverance. It's so much more than just simple math and simple physics and it's a big community project."
Some of the machines outperformed others. A catapult operated by the "Body Guards" team achieved the longest distance with a pumpkin toss of 75 yards. Members of the team were Carmen Rosas, Myra Jo Ramos and Samantha Dennler.
A new trebuchet built by "Arc Angels" Sarita Condi, Victoria Mapson and Rosario Torres achieved the best accuracy with the highest number of pumpkin-to-target impacts.
The winning team names will be engraved in two physics classroom trophies. Other teams were the Mean Girls, Goof Balls, Los Americanos and the Christmas Special.
McLean thanked the community for support in terms of materials, tools, machine shops and funding for the annual catapult contest and science field trip.
"Jim Blattman, a teacher who retired from Lowry High School in Winnemucca, is the one who introduced me to this project many moons ago," she said. "Our very first contest, we built them here and took them to compete at Lowry High."
Some of McLean's students are working on other individual science research projects mentored by University of Nevada, Reno faculty members. Projects include research into local wildlife, astronomy, algae, chemical toxicity and construction of a Tesla coil.
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