The fire department visited SDA Friday to aid math teacher Paul Brice’s Integrated Math 2/3 class in their experiment based on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

“We were trying to decide if the prisoner in the Edgar Allen Poe story actually escaped before the pendulum slices him in half,” Brice said.

The Integrated Math 2/3 class spent a week and a half trying to determine whether the weight, length or the pullback would make the largest difference in the time the prisoner had to escape, Brice said. They concluded that the length had the greatest impact.

With the help of the fire department, the class was able to test their findings using an actual thirty-foot pendulum that was connected to the fire truck ladder. Multiple students tested the pendulum, modeling its motion based on the math they had done in class. A seat was attached to the rope that swung from the top of ladder. Secured by the fire department with a helmet and belt, students sat on the seat and were swung by a classmate.

“It’s part of our public outreach,” said Mike Terlouw, fire truck captain. “We do a lot of what we call public education, so we actually end up doing a lot of school tours throughout the year. This is one of our school tours.”