A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could be severe. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Light west wind. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday
A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 9am. Some of the storms could be severe. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 74. Breezy, with a north wind 6 to 11 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 50. North northwest wind 8 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
On a beautiful Friday afternoon, Elgin Public School hosted a
Punkin Chunkin competition with Pope John. Both schools, including
St. Boniface, came out to watch two trebuchets go head to head to
see who could launch a 10 lb pumpkin the farthest. The Introduction
to Engineering class at EPS had about six weeks to design and build
a trebuchet. The design team includes Devin Brown, Anthony
Hemenway, Justin Kalhoff, and Justin Reestman.
Through
their design research the students learned the difference between a
catapult and a trebuchet and decided the trebuchet would provide
the greatest launching power and distance. The first design was
scrapped due to insufficient materials but a new design emerged
when some leftover metal structures intended for the dump were
modified for the base of the trebuchet. Most of the rest of the
materials came from scrap wood and iron at the student’s houses or
farms. The resourcefulness of the students proved to be big money
and time savers. Overall the students spent less than $10 to build
their trebuchet. The Pope John trebuchet was from previous years
with modifications for the competition. The competition was close
but Pope John walked away the winner this year. All of the students
involved in the competition learned a great deal about the design
process and should be proud of their efforts!
EPS Hosts City of Elgin Punkin Chunkin
Paula Jensen
Nov 11, 2009
What a great project! A lot of thought and physical work went into each trebuchet! Awesome job!
Sara Walsh
EPSscience teacher
Nov 12, 2009
It was so much fun to hear the excitement surrounding this event! It was even more fun to watch the flying pumpkins! It was evident that the students put in 6 weeks of thinking and hard work (and a little frustration at times)-- it really paid off!
