ATTENTION: Hovercrafts at WHS

Walking by the main office on Monday, January 7th, you would have seen Mr. Rose’s float physics class testing out their newest invention, modern day hovercrafts. The intentions of this assignment were to demonstrate Newton’s Laws in an exciting and creative way. Although hovercrafts are imagined to be incredibly complex and difficult to build due to their depictions in the film industry, the design for the students’ hovercrafts was fairly simple and achievable. A circular piece of plywood with a standard leaf-blower taped onto it and a plastic bag covering the opposite side in order to create pressure made for a successful hovercraft.

Mr. Rose saw the experiment on an episode of Mythbusters and thought, “If they can do it, why can’t we?”

Unsurprisingly, the students reacted very positively towards the project. Katelyn Rourke, a freshman at Watertown High School, said, “It was fun being able to do it and see it in person. It was a fun hands-on activity to do.” Paulina Papadopoulos, also a freshman at WHS, commented, “I didn’t think it would actually work and I was surprised when it did, but I had fun.”

Beyond merely having fun, the class saw it as an exciting way to study Newton’s Laws beyond the textbook experience. Marvin Aramthip described it as “a good experiment to see Newton’s Laws since it worked due to them.”

This just goes to show that learning doesn’t have to be limited to taking notes and exams. The lively atmosphere of the project captivated the attention of many people passing by, sparking the curiosity to learn why this project came about, and in turn spreading the underlying science and educational aspect to others beyond the class.