Elizabeth Mitchell

Miss Goodwin

Physics 9

12-15-17

Introduction

During this catapult project we were trying to see how well we could build a catapult for it to

catapult a marshmallow as far as you can. The Greek word catapult was derived from the word

katapultos. The catapult was a weapon used in the middle ages to launch large objects at enemies

during battle. I chose my design because I thought it would be easy to aim and would make the

marshmallow go the distance accurately. Although my design was accurate, it was to small to launch the

marshmallow far enough to go farther than one to two meters. The physics concepts show how gravity

can affect something and how speed and angle can affect the object being thrown. The catapult project

showed us how the angle and speed of a catapult can affect where the object being catapulted lands.

Design Plans

Materials

 10 Pencils

 10 Rubber bands

 1 Plastic spoon
 Data Analysis

The average velocity for my projectile is 5.31 for my first trial, 5.84 for my second trial, and 6.18

for trial three. I found this average by dividing the distance by the time, and added all the velocities to it,

and divided by three. I found the initial velocity by adding the x and y together and then took the square

root of that number. When you change the angle it changes how high or low the object being shot goes

and changes where the object lands. The changing angle does not change the initial velocity of the

object.

Distance (x) time Angle Vx Vy Vi

1m .72s 1.377 1.38 7.05 7.18

1m .83s 1.424 1.2 8.134 8.21

2m .80s 1.26 2.5 7.84 8.22

Conclusion

The catapult project was a good way to teach us about speed and acceleration and put what we

have been learning to life. During this project some things that were taught were how the angle that you

put the catapult at can greatly affect where the object lands. My catapult was a small catapult made

from pencils and rubber bands. The way that the catapult was built it was unable to shoot very far but it

was able to shoot the marshmallow accurately. The catapult project helped us learn about projectile

motion and helped us learn about what we have been learning in class and put it into a real life

situation.