The Launch Project
This project consisted of a long process of trial and error, mainly because we had to find the right way to build out catapult so that it would shoot furthest, highest, and the most accurately. My partner and I built a catapult with three different launchers that would meet these requirements, and because these parts were interchangeable, it was easy to modify each individual component instead of having to rebuild everything to meet the requirements of one category. Our catapult came out to be one of the most efficient in all three categories in comparison to other catapults, so I was very proud of the work that my partner and I put into this.
This was the first time that I had built a catapult, and over all I think that I learned a lot. I learned how angles really affect the distance, velocity, and accuracy of your catapult; and how the slightest change in the arch measure or spoon length can also affect the shot of your catapult. From the start, our partner and I did not quite know how we would choose the angles and measurements that we would use for our bean bag launch, but once we got together with the other groups we began to see where we wanted to start off. We knew that the bigger arch that our catapult had, the shorter distance it would have, and that the higher velocity, the shorter distance. We also knew that the more you tighten and increased the tension on the rubber bands, the further your bean bag will travel. That is why my partner and I chose to pull our rubber bands the most we possibly could because we thought that it would send our bean bag flying into space; however, the bean bag kept getting caught inside the pouch, so we had to decrease the tension on the rubber bands. Once we did, it worked and it sent our catapult flying over one hundred feet out into the field. The measurements we chose formed an equilateral triangle; four and a half feet as the height as well as the base, and we pulled our sling shot all the way down to the ground. What we got from choosing those measurements were very good results. Like I mentioned before, all of our shots went further than one hundred feet, and our furthest shot went up to 105.5 ft in distance. Looking back at the whole project, I can think of a couple of things that I would want to change about our catapult and bean bag launch. To start off, our catapult could have been reinforced more heavily with more wooden sticks because we felt that at times it would feel a bit flimsy when we would pull the rubber band too far back. We could have also tried to experiment more with our catapult, because we saw a lot of teams that had totally redesigned their catapult and ended up with something totally different than what they had created using the instructions handed out. For example, we could have added a pouch to the end our spoon to add even more of a larger arch and more potential energy to release our marshmallows. We could have also tried to “think outside of the box” and create a totally different and original design for our catapult, however we did not want to risk messing up and having to start everything over, so we thought it would be easiest to stick to what we knew considering the fact that it was our first time building a catapult. Regarding our bean bag launch, we could have tried a more difficult category or tried several different bases and heights. Some similarities that we noticed between the two launches were that the same factors that affect the velocity, distance, and accuracy in our catapult also affect the slingshot in the same ways. For example, when we tightened the rubber bands on both of the launches, it increased the velocity of the marshmallows and bean bags we were launching. However, we also noticed some differences between the two launches, but they were a lot more subtle and harder to notice. The first difference I noticed was that even though the arch of the sling shot did affect the distance it traveled, it did not affect it as much as it did to the catapult. In the end, my group and I were very happy with the results that we got from our catapult and how it turned out, and we were very proud of the distance that we were able to shoot the slingshot.