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The Science of Smashing Pumpkins
JASON HALLEY/UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER/CSU CHICO
PUMPKIN PULP: Students watch as pumpkins plummet to the ground.
ANGEL HURACHA/NSPR
LOOK OUT BELOW: Chico State faculty drop pumpkins from a 50-foot-tall lift.
This Halloween, Chico State, a university in California, will host its 35th annual Pumpkin Drop. The public event aims to teach kids about physics . . . by smashing about 227 kilograms (500 pounds) of pumpkins!
College students dress as famous physicists, like Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Why? So they can introduce kids to these scientists’ theories about gravity, the force that pulls objects toward Earth (see Theories of Gravity, below). They test the scientists’ theories by standing on a raised platform and dropping pumpkins filled with things like feathers or water. They even set a pumpkin on fire! The Pumpkin Drop is meant to show kids that learning about physics can be fun, says Kendall Hall, a physicist who runs the event.
MAKE LEARNING FUN: A Chico State student dressed as Albert Einstein
Throughout history, scientists have come up with different hypotheses, or proposed explanations, to describe how gravity works. Here’s how these ideas have evolved over time.
LUDOVISI COLLECTION/CC VIA WIKIMEDIA
Aristotle
This ancient Greek philosopher believed that objects made of different materials (such as fire, water, and air) fall at different rates.
GL ARCHIVE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
Galileo Galilei
In the late 1500s, Galileo proved that all objects fall at the same rate, even if they have different masses. Things like feathers fall more slowly because of the opposing force of air resistance, or drag.
DUNCAN1890/GETTY IMAGES
Isaac Newton
Around 1685, Newton concluded that all objects exert a pulling force called gravity. Massive objects have a stronger pull, which causes smaller objects to fall toward them.