Oak Forest HS Science Students Make Trebuchet to Prove Newton's Laws

Oak Forest High School Integrated Physics students were flinging objects around in class the other day. They were not having a spit ball fight; instead, students were learning about Newton’s Laws by the creation and application of a trebuchet.

A trebuchet is a type of catapult that was used mainly in the middle ages as a siege engine. The trebuchets in the Middle Ages were huge but the ones built in both Oak Forest High School teachers Mrs. Hellinga and Mrs. Turek’s classes were as small as a remote controlled car.

Students had to learn to build a trebuchet. According to Oak Forest High School freshman Trevor Campnell, “The hardest part was measurement. If you miss a measurement the whole project breaks down.” According to Mrs. Hellinga, students had to build a trebuchet that would launch a projectile two meters into a taped bulls eye on the floor of the classroom. “We are teaching them Newton’s Laws. The laws are: things in motion stay in motion, for every force there is an equal and opposite force, and force is mass x acceleration.”

Hellinga said, “This project is great for people who are interested in engineering or physics careers.” She added, “[It] was great for student inquiry—there was a lot of research that went into the project as well as trial and error. Students had to use perseverance to learn how to build a trebuchet.” Freshman Kelcey Kelderhouse said that the trebuchet “was very hard to make. It was difficult because you’ve got to figure out how much weight and mass and how to attach everything.”

At the end of class, all students attempted to use their trebuchet in order to have their projectile hit the taped bulls eye. About half of the trebuchets worked; the rest of the students took their trebuchet projects back to the drawing board to figure out what went wrong and how to correct it.

The students that are progressing on to District competition are: Charlie Gallardo, Sean Heffron, Bridget West, Ereny Masoud, Hutton Flores, Brianna Mitchell, Abby Smith, Yousef Saleh, Love Patel, and Caleb Brokola.