Last Friday was the trebuchet design competition. C accompanied R to the event, held on campus at Portland State, for the whole day. I don’t think she planned to spend the whole day there, but I also think the physics major in her had some serious fun.
I got just the summary, but here’s what I got from them:
- R was pleased to have had a trebuchet to submit for competition.
- In competition, the judges made him use a trigger mechanism that he had to jury rig together. With this untested, untuned trigger, he was unable to get a successful launch.
- Other kids about his age, with trebuchet’s about like his, typically saw a 20 foot range. This is about what he threw in practice at home, when he triggered the trebuchet by hand.
So, at this point, he was disappointed but not ashamed. The trigger thing was unexpected, now we all knew better for next time. R devoted his time to watching and learning from others. C, bless her heart, like a dutiful Mom, helped keep R focused on using his observational skills to gather up tricks for next year.
And what they learned came mostly from the high school age kids who showed up with elegant, compact little trebuchets with articulated arms that flung the projectile as much as 100 feet!
R studied the articulated arms in great detail. He learned that PVC pipes make for a very adjustable, lightweight, STURDY trebuchet frame. We now have a year to build our next trebuchet, based on all the lessons we learned from the first competition.
It was great, actually. When I asked him how the competition went, he said, sadly: “My trebuchet didn’t perform very well…” and then immediately beamed, offering, “but I learned all about how to make a GREAT one for next year. You see, there are these articulated arms, and…..” Five minutes later, he was still going about the advanced trebuchets.
My kid overcame disappointment and humbled himself to the learning process. A major, MAJOR breakthrough.
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