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NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Leah Jackson (jacksonl@nsula.edu
)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
2/28/2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES A proposal submitted by a Northwestern State University physics student has been selected as this year's Marsh White Award winner by the Society of Physics Students (SPS). The proposal submitted by J. Nathan Wilson, a sophomore physics major from Folsom, calls for the construction of a trebuchet, a medieval war engine.
"SPS students often submit proposals, from NSU student technology proposals to national SPS-sponsored proposals," said Dr. David Mitchell, NSU assistant professor of physics and NSU SPS advisor. "Our students wanted an outreach event and decided a trebuchet would be an exciting demonstration and useful for outreach activities."
The NSU project was selected from 18 proposals submitted to the Marsh White Awards committee, part of the national SPS. The project will run through the spring semester.
A trebuchet, regarded as the most powerful of the medieval war machines, features a pivoted beam with a heavy weight at one end and a sling for a missile in the other. The sling is pulled down for loading and released suddenly to hurl heavy missiles, so as to break down a wall.
"The trebuchet is intended to be part of an outreach program to gain interest among high school students currently taking physics. After its completion and initial use it will be used as a demonstration of physical principles for students in elementary and middle schools in and around Natchitoches," Wilson said.
SPS is an organization of the American Institute of Physics. Projects submitted for the Marsh White Award are intended to serve as outreach activities to increase awareness of physics and SPS. Past proposals submitted by NSU students have included ways to enhance the telescope, updating computer resources, updating physics laboratories and outreach activities.