Group one members load their Trebuchet for their first throw at a launch contest on Monday, Dec. 4. STC students in Danny Mayo’s Physics Class and Jeff Niedermann’s metals class worked on their trebuchet projects for three weeks this semester. News Herald Photo/Allison Graham

How far will it go? Teachers and students gathered recently to answer that question. South Tama physics teacher, Danny Mayo, along with his physics class and Jeff Niedermann and his metals class began learning about and building trebuchets this semester. The students work was displayed in a launch contest on Monday, Dec. 4.

A trebuchet is a medieval weapon that can launch objects using the force of gravity. It is similar to a catapult but a catapult’s force comes from compression. Students were able to learn how energy is transferred, observe/measure projectile motion, the practicality of simple machines, teamwork, shop tools, and so on.

The goal of the project was to throw a baseball as far as possible using the materials supplied. Students were allowed to use cement mix, a bucket, lumber, metal pipe, string, and a baseball. The students worked on the project for about 3 weeks in total and 35 students participated in the activity.

The top two teams who won the launch contest were group one who took first including Daniel Ochoa, Kate Froelich, Victor Pesina, Yasmin Eggert, Zach Backen and Tanner Walz won with a throw of 184 feet.

Coming in second was the group including Cameron Klosterman, Abbie Parizek, Jenifer Nunex and Seth Hoskey placed secondwith a throw of 170 feet.

According to Mayo, this was the second year of doing this project. Jeff Niedermann and I wanted to get involved in a “pumpkin chunkin” contest. This project is similar to that.

“I like to see students create something as a team of this size. They are large objects when complete! It is also great to watch students problem-solving obstacles during the build process. It is nice to see students proud of their creation,” said Mayo.