Marshmallow Catapult
By: Ryan Simpson
Group Members: Jaylene Maldonado, Tyliece Hearn, Samuel Dale, Veronica Sierra
Our groups main focus was to see which size marshmallow will go the farthest by being launched from a catapult. For our experiment we needed a catapult which we were going to build,mini,regular sized,and jumbo sized marshmallows. First we had to build the catapult , which was not very difficult. And then after we finished building the catapult we started launching the marshmallows. First we through the minis, which didn't go as far as we thought. Then we through the regular sized marshmallow. Then lastly threw the jumbo marshmallows which actually surprised us because some of them went farther than the regular marshmallows. Our hypothesis was that the regular marshmallow would go the farthest out of all of the other marshmallows.
Introduction
For our experiment the question we had was which sized marshmallow will go the farthest by being launched from a catapult. When it came down to how we were going to build the catapult our research was very hand, because it gave information about newton's 3 laws of motion and how Newton’s first law of motion states that objects in motion tend to remain in motion, unless acted by an outside force. So we knew the object that was going to hold the marshmallows had to big and strong.
So When we released the catapult, both the spoon and the marshmallows will go forward with force from the rubber band. When the spoon would hit the wood stick , it came to a stop. The marshmallow, however, remained in motion until it hit something else or until the force of gravity overcame its motion and brought it to the ground. Not only did our research show how the marshmallows would keep going until it hit something else or would fall to the ground but also gave us inspiration on how we should build our catapult. We knew that our catapult did not have to be complicated and we could use simple Household objects such as a tissue box, rubber bands and a plastic spoon. Not only that but we also learned some history on catapults from all the way back until 400 BCE , which was when it was invented. Finding out history about catapults was incredible because on one in our group knew anything about catapults except that it launches stuff. Others exciting facts we found out about catapults was that there are different types of catapult. Lastly that the French actually used catapults more than the army.
Method
The materials we used for this experiment were Marshmallow(mini,regular,jumbo),Popsicle sticks(regular and large),Wooden spoon,hot glue gun, glue sticks,Rubber bands, and wooden stick. Our experiment First started by building the catapult. Step 1, of building the catapult- get 4 jumbo popsicles and glue them on top of each other. Then do that same thing 3 more times so you end up with 4 Popsicles in total but each one has 4 sticks together. Step 2, get the regular sticks and glue 2 sticks together 4 times. step 3, glue 2 of the jumbo sticks right on top of it to form a line. And do the same to the other jumbo sticks. Step 4, on top one of the lines glue on of the regular Popsicles to the end to form an L shape and do same to the other line to form a 7 shape. Step 5- glue the L shape to the 7 shape to form a little box([]). Step 6, glue 2 regular sticks inside of the box diagonally \. One on the top and one on the bottom. Step 7, in the middle of the box shape glue a jumbo Popsicle stick. Step 8, at top on the box glue one stick to both the sides of the box standing up. Step 9, on both sticks connect 2 Popsicles to each side of the jumbo Popsicle stick. Sorta making a triangle shape. Step 10, put the wood stick in between both jumbo Popsicle sticks.so there's a “bar” in the middle. Step 11, get a rubber band and loop it around the bar 2 times. Step 12, put the wooden stood in between the bar and rubber band. Step 13, glue the spoon to the jumbo Popsicle stick in the middle. After building the catapult we start launching the marshmallows. First we start with the minis, we throw them a 1st time,then a 2nd, then a 3rd, then a 4th , and lastly a 5th time. After the mini we do the regular marshmallows then launch 5 of them again. Then after regular we start launching the jumbo marshmallows. And launched 5 of the jumbo marshmallows.
Picture of our catapult.
Data and observation
During our experiment we observed was that Jumbo marshmallows went farther than we thought. The mini marshmallows went far but actually not as far. As far at the regular marshmallows the went far but not as far.
Analysis and conclusions
My groups hypothesis was incorrect. We thought that the regular marshmallow would go the farthest but it didn’t the mini marshmallow did. We were surprised that it because regular marshmallow fit perfectly in the spoon so we thought it would go very far. When we put the jumbo marshmallow in the spoon it barely went a long distance. Next we tried the regular marshmallow and that went half the distance than the jumbo marshmallow. At first we thought the mini wouldn't go far so we didn't use that one at first but then we were surprised when it went the farthest. The data disagreed with our hypothesis. We tested each type of marshmallow 3 different times. The farthest for the Jumbo marshmallow was 3 meters. The farthest for the Regular marshmallow was 5 meters. The farthest for the mini marshmallow was 7 meters. Now we know that if we were throwing marshmallows the mini would go the farther than the other types of marshmallow would.