TARGET 111019

Chunkin' Punkin's

This is a "trebuchet" (pronounced, "treh-boo-shay"). It is like a catapult, but with an added feature: It has a swing arm that flies outwards and adds speed to the object being hurled. The object being hurled by this trebuchet? A pumpkin.

Why should anyone want to hurl pumpkins? Well, partly to see a pumpkin flying through the air, and partly to see it disintegrate on landing. But the main reason is - "It's fun!"

And, of course, if one person can use a machine to chunk a punkin', then someone else just HAS to build a better machine.

But for us humans, better is never enough. And we can always build something bigger. That' OK, because as we all know, bigger is always better, right?

But we're humans! When could bigger and better ever be enough.? Surely, there MUST be a more powerful way to chunk the punkin' harder and farther!! At the Annual National Pumpkin Chunkin' Meet (yes, there actually is such a thing), there are six acceptable ways to chunk (throw) a pumpkin:

1. With a trebuchet (modified catapubl)
2. In creative, comical manners
3. Pneumatic (with an air cannon)
4. Centrifugal (swing it around and let it go)
5. With a plain catapult
6. With torsion (big slingshots)

And that, of course, can lead to some very human "one-up-manship".

The high powered air cannon, which produces a very sudden and very loud hissing sound as the release of air pushes the pumpkin out the barrell.

I'm not being sexist, here - this really is the air cannon in the women's division.

And of course, there's always that one guy who has to be more macho than everyone else around. Size matters, right.?

No matter what the equipment, the final goal is to see who can chunk the punkin' the farthest in each category. A pneumatic cannon named 'Big 10 Inch' holds the current world record by firing a pumpkin 5,545.43 feet, or almost a mile (that is 1,690.25 meters, or almost 1.7 kilometers). That shot took place September 9, 2010 in Moab, Utah. The shot received certification from Guinness World Records in early January, 2011.

For those viewers who also described the locations, needless to say, these contests have to take place in widely open country such as a desert, or for smaller events, open farming land. For your viewing feedback, the event shown here was held in Moab, in open desert country, with mountains in the far distance.

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If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, please take a look at the following web sites for more:

PumpkinChunkin.com
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