Gummy Bear 1

Group 1

Ms. Burnham

Statistics & Probability

7 January 2019

Gummy Bear Launcher

Introduction:

Did you know that the first ever catapult invented was around 399 BC by Ancient Greek

soldiers? A catapult was a ballistic weapon used to be able to throw objects across far distances.

During medieval times, they would use catapults in order to knock down the walls of a castle or

do massive damage. However, we build a catapult to measure the distance of our projectile, in

this case, a gummy bear. When conducting this experiment we were going to have different

fulcrum, acting on the catapult/launcher one at a time. Our guess is that that bigger the fulcrum

the more distance the projectile will be able to cover. By the end of the experiment, we will come

to find out the fulcrum with 5 bundles of sticks will cover the most distance.
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Materials and Procedures

The materials used were rubber bands, Gummy Bear(Red), Pencils, and popsicle sticks.

The equipment used were a measuring tape and a ruler. In order to execute the experiment we

needed to number two popsicle sticks in centimeters. The two numbered popsicle sticks needs to

conjoin with a rubber band, leaving the side of the stick that is marked up exposed. W The

collective of stciks was used to form to form a fulcrum, to ultimately end up with 3 fulcrums.

The stack of sticks was stacked on top of each other with rubber bands wrapped around at each

ends of the popsicle sticks. In addition, the process was repeated using only five sticks and four

sticks. There were three types of treatment that applied in the experiment. The first treatment was

having launcher with fulcrum of 4 sticks and then launching using the gummy bear. Second

treatment was having launcher with fulcrum of 5 sticks and then launching using the gummy

bear. The third treatment was having the launcher with fulcrum of 6 sticks and then launching

using the gummy bear. In order to launch the projectile successfully the launcher was laid out in

concrete floor. Once the launcher was positioned it positioned the fulcrum between 5.5 and 6.5

cm. The measuring units were centimeter for the measuring tape. The measuring tape was scaled

up to 400 cm for maximum data. Before launching we had the same person launch each time.

Collecting the data was based on the first bounce the gummy bear made contact with the floor.

To collect data, the projectile was launched a total of 15 times with three different treatments.

The first objectice was with the fulcrum that had 4 sticks stacked. The gummy bear was placed

on the tip of the catapult and launched it five times and recorded the data. The fulcrum of 5 sticks

was now tested and repeated the process again five times again. Moving on to the last fulcrum

which was made out of 6 sticks and once again the process was repeated for the launch of the
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gummy bear at the end of the catapult and launched him 5 times. The data was gathered the data,

to find out the mean by adding the horizontal distance from each fulcrum by group. The total was

divided by total amount of variables to find the mean.

Results

So for the three different times that our group had to do the results with different

fulcrums where there were a fulcrum of 4 sticks, a fulcrum of 5 sticks and a fulcrum of 6 sticks

and all the different fulcrums had a different reach.

4 Stick Fulcrum 5 Stick Fulcrum 6 Stick Fulcrum

74 cm 107 cm 139 cm

64 cm 135 cm 177 cm

58 ½ cm 234 cm 92 cm

75 cm 126 cm 130 cm

46 cm 110 cm 140 cm

Mean: 63.5 Mean: 142.4 Mean:135.6

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Discussion

Conclusion

I don’t think that it is possible to generalize due to the fact that every catapult that would

be build would be built differently. Some catapults may be tightened more, and the fact that the

person launching it may use more force or pressure then the person who did in this example.
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Compared to other examples,it can be assumed that the bigger the angle/ fulcrum, the greater the

horizontal distance would be. Other explanations may be due to the fact that throughout

conducting this experiment, the person applying force may get tired after several trials. This is

due to the fact that applying force starts to hurt the finger and tires one out. After conducting the

trials, a discussion was held and it has come to light that the main source of error in this

experiment is the fact that the horizontal displacement was noted and not the original horizontal

distance on impact to the ground. Another factor that can make a difference is how big the

fulcrum is. The size of the fulcrum can make a difference in how high and far the projectile

travels. I don’t think that there is anything that should have been done in methodology, just the

fact that the wrong data was collected, so in this case, in future experiments it has been noted

how to correctly collect the data. The only anthropogenic factor that can make a difference is if

wind is present, if this experiment is being conducted in an outside area and not in a classroom

like in this example. I don’t think that any extra research has to be done because this experiment

seems to be fairly easy, something just about anyone can do.

Recommendations

On practical implication that can be thought of is that no matter how one builds their

catapult, there was always be a horizontal distance, even if it is a small distance traveled. To

conclude, it can be inferred that changes that can be made and what future conductors of this

experiment should look out for is if the wrong data is being collected.

Appendix
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Key Words

Horizontal distance, gummy bear, centimeters, fulcrum, catapult