Sling-shotting Pumpkins

Pumpkin Sling Competition

The Pumpkin Sling Competition began in 2010 in White Township, New Jersey. The competition has recently moved to the Picatinny Arsenal military base in New Jersey. This contest promotes STEM education. High schools and middle schools compete against one another to see who can catapult the pumpkin the farthest.  These pumpkins are not ordinary pumpkins. They are grown at "The Farm in Harmony" and are very dense. They have small pocket seeds to withstand the pressure of being slung through the air.

Participants have to design and draft a catapult to throw the pumpkin with. They use linear kinematics, projectile motion, trigonometry, and engineering physics. Participants must find the angle which there pumpkin will travel the farthest distance.

Each team gets one practice shot and three official tries to catapult the pumpkin the longest. The competition this year was on October 20, 2017. Before the competition can begin engineers inspect each catapult for safety Last year the Morris Knolls High School won the competition by shooting the pumpkin more than 166 meters into Lake Picatinny. They defended their title by catapulting their pumpkin 134.8 meters.

Sources

http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/morris-county/2017/10/20/students-use-engineering-skills-catapult-pumpkins-annual-contest/767135001/

http://www.pumpkinsling.com/index.html