In junior year of high school I made a catapult for a project for my math class of all things. My partner handled all the paperwork and the report while I built the catapult. It took a day and by the time I was done I had a wooden catapult that, when the arm was raised all the way up, was taller than me, weighed a ton, and could launch a tennis ball about 50 Ft. It was beautiful.

When it came time to show the class the product of my labor, my partner and I both got turns to launch a tennis ball from the catapult. I went first. My partner placed the tennis ball on the end of the arm, stepped back, and I pulled on the release mechanism and launched the ball. Then came my excited partner's turn. We reset the catapult and while I was placing another tennis ball on the catapult my partner got a little anxious and pulled the release mechanism a little too soon. In one swoop the very heavy, very hard catapult arm flew into my face and split my bottom lip wide open. The blow knocked me back a little bit but once I recovered I noticed my lip was numb and the teacher was telling my partner to go get some paper towels for the blood. Apparently, he had been doing this project for years and this was the first time this has ever happened, naturally. The worst part of it was that after all of this happened, my partner and i still only got a C on the project.