Popsicle catapult how to#

But this time, only tie one end and leave the other end open. Step 2: Take two more popsicle sticks, and tie them together with rubber bands.Step 1: Take eight popsicle sticks together, lay them out horizontally, and tie both ends of the group tightly with rubber bands.A small table tennis ball, pom-poms, or any other small round object that you might like to fling around.10 popsicle sticks (or wooden pencils if you are out of popsicle sticks).Popsicle Stick Catapult Idea 1 What You Need: Because of this, the ball follows a parabolic path before coming back to the ground. Gravitation is a downward force acting upon the cannonball, which causes a uniform downward component of acceleration in it. Upon release, the spring reacts in the opposite direction flinging the cannonball upwards. When you push down the catapult’s spring, you are exerting a force in the downward direction. Third Law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. A heavier cannonball requires greater power to move and therefore travels a lower distance. Second Law: The force required to move an object is directly proportional to its mass. The catapult’s cannonball will not fly until you apply a force on it. It demonstrates: Conservation of EnergyĪ wound spring (or any other elastic object) carries potential energy, which you can convert into kinetic energy upon release.įirst Law : An object at rest stays at rest. The catapult is a dynamite of ideas in both science and maths. Some armies even used catapults in the First World War! The Romans then went on to increase their size and perfect their design.īefore the invention of gun powder, catapults were the weapon of choice if you wanted to fight from a safe distance. Early catapults were just crossbows with a better range. The ancient Greeks and Indians built catapults around the 5th century BC.

Popsicle catapult how to#

“Daddy, you gotta show us how to build one.” Well, I guess that’s what dads are for, am I right? Here are a few ways to build popsicle stick catapults! The Science & a Bit of History Behind Catapults He asked me if he could play the game on my phone, therefore I looked into it and told him: “Why not build and play with a real one?”įor a moment, the two of them had their mouths agape. One of the older boys at their school was playing it during breaks. We love this easy LEGO Catapult.So one fine evening, my son and his friend were talking about a game called “The Catapult”. More Catapult Design IdeasĬan you build a giant catapult? We used this one to launch tennis balls over a net. If you want to learn more about Newton’s Laws of Motion, try our film canister rocket. The further you push the catapult arm down ( which takes more force from you ) the further the ball will travel. If you push the catapult arm down further you are storing more elastic potential energy which means more kinetic energy is transferred to the ball when you release it. Catapults and conservation of energyĪ lolly stick catapult demonstrates energy being converted from one type to another ( potential to kinetic ) and transferred from one object to another ( catapult arm to ball ). When you pull down on the catapult arm, elastic potential energy is stored, when you release the catapult arm the potential energy changes to kinetic energy ( energy of motion ) which is transferred to the object which then flies through the air. Newton’s First Law states that an object stays at rest until a force is applied to the object. See who can score the most with a set number of balls. Set a challenge to find out how far you can make a ball travel! Add some mathsĬreate a target with different numbers on different areas and use the catapult to fire balls at the target. Investigate to find out if a heavier ball travels further? Make it a challenge! Try adding extra or fewer sticks to the central part. Remember to only change one variable at a time Change the design Popsicle Stick Catapult Investigation Ideas Experiment with your table tennis balls.Attach a milk bottle top using double sided tape or strong glue.Twist another elastic band around the bottom of two sticks as you can see in the photo.Tie an elastic band around the middle of the cross.There should be more lolly stick on the end you want to use for the milk top. Place another stick above and one below the stack of 7 so they make a cross shape.Twist an elastic band around each end to hold them in place. Start with about 7 popsicle sticks and place them on top of each other.Popsicle Stick Catapults What you need for a Popsicle Stick Catapult