A Functioning Compact Catapult
Tora Hristova, Zuri Shepard, and Lola Orlove Rodriguez
Background:
While building this Compact
Catapult, we ran into a lot of
problems. We used the Problem
Solving Process to figure out how
to make a compact triggering
mechanism in order for the
catapult to shoot, without using
something stretchy. Instead, we
used a rope and a weight to create
the triggering mechanism. We also
used the Designing and Executing
Investigations in order to examine
what was preventing the catapult
from not shooting. We chose this
design because it was different and
unique1 We created a compact
catapult that ended up shooting.
Research objective:
Our main objective was to make a
catapult that shoots. Our research
objective was to find a catapult online that
was assured to shoot in a given area.
Materials:
● Wood 2x2 ($5)
● 10 pound Weight ($13)
● String (50 cents)
● Metal Rod ($2)
● Wooden Spoon ($3)
● Batteries ($8)
● Screws ($2)
Washington Latin Public Charter School
5200 2nd St NW, Washington, DC 20011
Design process :
Figure 1: Schematic Design
This is our original blueprint for
our catapult
Figure 4: Finished Product
This is our finished Catapult on
launch day.
Figure 2: Screwed Wood
This is some pieces of wood
screwed together to create part of
the base.
Data:
Figure 5: Marking
Where the tennis balls landed in terms
of the sheet
Figure 3: Creating the Base
This is us putting together the Catapult and
figuring how to make it work.
Figure 6: Landing
Where the tennis balls
landed on the field
Conclusion:
● Our objective that we decided on was met. We
created a catapult that shot.
● The catapult shot almost directly in front of our
catapult.
● We did not hit the 10 meter mark, instead
hitting the 1 meter mark
● We were originally going to do an onager
catapult, which was a lot bigger than our
compact catapult. We changed our onager
catapult by shrinking down the size almost
entirely. Tora and Zuri got sick, so we could not
continue to make our larger onager catapult. So
we decided to make a more compact, desktop
catapult.
● We changed the frames, by just screwing 3
pieces of wood together, instead of making a
whole triangular frame. That was as far as we
got on our onager catapult.
● When we switched to a compact catapult, we
also ran into challenges on making a compact
triggering mechanism, we put our heads
together and came up with weighing the
wooden spoon down with a bag of dead, heavy
batteries.
● We also used string and a weight to pull the
spoon back and keep it steady, until we lift the
weight to shoot.
Acknowledgements/ References:
We want to thank Tora’s Dad for letting us use
his power tools.
1. Orvar, D. (2015, January 2). How To Make a
Desktop Catapult. YouTube. Retrieved
November 29, 2022, from
https://youtu.be/QOuRkjZ18f0
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Objective :
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