The Guinness world record for pumpkin chucking is 5,545.42 feet by a pneumatic cannon in 2010. Explore the physics behind throwing squash for distance competitions with a video that lists the various competition categories including torsion, catapult, trebuchet, air, and more. The resource also details the physics concepts of gravity and fulcrums, as well as the history of each type of machine.

Concepts

catapults, fulcrum, gravity

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Challenge class members to create scale models that can throw small marshmallows
• Debate the ethics of using food in this way when there are many people without enough to eat

Classroom Considerations

• Preview the video to make sure the language used is appropriate for your classroom

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Highly engaging video holds the viewers' attention and often leaves them asking for more details
• Photographs and diagrams help visually support the concepts

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.9-10.4 RST.11-12.4