The Fun Starts Here on WFXG Fox54 Augusta!Students pop balloons in invention contest

Students pop balloons in invention contest

How long does it take to pop a balloon? These physics students have taken the challenge to do it in exactly 57 seconds.

"It is hard, I mean it took us about, I mean a little over a week; three, four hours a day; we were working into the night," said Zach Loveing, a physics student at Aquinas High School. "That's pretty terrible."

60 Aquinas High School students participated in the 7th annual Rube Goldberg Invention Day.

"All semester we've been studying mechanical engineering and physics," said Barry Cook, the physics teacher behind the balloon-popping madness. "And so this gave them a good opportunity to learn from real hands-on stuff that they've been doing in class."

Students designed and built complex contraptions that will, simply enough, pop a balloon. But it's not as easy as it sounds.

"Even the slightest thing going wrong has the ability to throw the entire project off," said a member of the Noob Goldberg team.

After failing three times to bust their balloon, the Noob Goldberg team hung around to fix the kinks in their invention; determined to make their balloon pop.

"It makes me feel good to put a little excitement into what can be some pretty difficult classroom work," said Cook.

"The class itself is very difficult, but the projects and the labs are very fun, so it does kind of make it a little better," said Tyler Williamson. "But it's still…you have to be very dedicated."

Dedicated to exert maximum effort to achieve minimal results.