Hammer Swing

Grade Level: All Grades Welcome

Description

Create the largest P-wave (seismic wave) by swinging a sledgehammer at a plate on the ground.

Weather Conditions

This event is weather dependent, as it takes place outside and requires dry ground. This event will not take place if it is raining outside, or if the ground is muddy/soft due to recent rain.

Participants

This is an individual event. It is open to students in any grade. Only two students (one boy and one girl) from each school can participate, to allow event facilitators enough time to process the data.

There is no pre-registration for this event to enable kids to participate in any other event at any time, but please have your two representatives pre-selected.

Materials

All required equipment is supplied for this event.

Each participant will use the provided sledgehammer to swing at and hit a plate on the ground. Each participant will get 2 attempts to hit the plate.

A facilitator must be made aware before each swing is made. The data will be measured by geophysical equipment, recorded by the facilitator and analyzed for judging purposes.

Judging

The winners are the male and female students who generate the largest P-waves.