The Catapults!

Irondequoit High School physics students recently finished making catapults, and it was a blast. It was also an excellent way to look at how interconnected physics truly is. In our catapult, we used spring potential energy to create torque on the catapult arm, which generated angular velocity and kinetic energy, which in turn was transferred to the softball and sent it moving out over the football field. Seeing how the many topics of physics can come together to create a fun and practical (If you every find yourself in medieval Europe) lab was one of the best learning experiences I have ever had.