For 25 years, pumpkins have plummeted from the top of the nine-story Batten Arts and Letters Building as part of a favorite Old Dominion University tradition: the annual Pumpkin Drop. The beloved event sponsored by the Society of Physics challenges teams to devise an apparatus that will guarantee pumpkins a safe landing. The event illustrates Galileo’s principle that objects fall at the same speed no matter their weight, requiring a cushioned impact to minimize damage.
The first Pumpkin Drop was organized by then-student Walter Babel and physics professor Charles Hyde. Since then, teams have used common household items – duct tape, laundry hampers, egg cartons and buckets – to build catching devices. The event draws onlookers from across campus, including students in the ages 3 to 4 classroom at the Children’s Learning & Research Center who design and construct their own catching device for the competition.
Viewers crane their necks to the sky, wait to see a pumpkin held high over the side of the roof and gasp, ooh, aah, groan or applaud when it makes impact. The crowd expresses delight when a pumpkin lands safely, but also cheers when a big one explodes. Here, ODU News looks back at more than two decades of smashing pumpkins.
