Flying Monkeys, UH… Cows at Apollo H.S.

Students in the “Project Lead the Way” engineering course at Apollo High School have constructed machines to launch miniature Chick-fil-A cows.

A competition is scheduled from 8 to 9 a.m. Thursday and Friday, Dec. 15-16, in the lobby outside the AHS gym to see which team’s machine will launch their cow the furthest.

Owensboro's Chick-fil-A restaurant has been invited to send its cow mascot to serve as judge. 

The top three teams will compete against machines constructed by students in the 3-D art class after Christmas break.

Marcia Carpenter, DCPS College and Career Readiness Coordinator, said this project is a perfect example of the “real life” learning that sets the Community Campus program apart. “This is more than just a game,” she said. “This is an example of the relevant, hands-on teamwork with Project Lead the Way engineering.”

Among the concepts addressed in the cow launcher project:

• Projectile motion can be predicted and controlled using kinematics equations
• When a projectile is launched, velocity in the X direction remains constant; whereas, with time, the velocity in the Y direction in magnitude and direction changes due to gravity

Technology educators Aaron Yeiser and Steven May challenged their students to calculate distance, displacement, speed, velocity and acceleration from data; and to design, build and test a vehicle that stores and releases potential energy for propulsion.