Marshmallow Launch Competition
Question:
How far can a large marshmallow travel when launching from a student constructed catapult?
How far can a large marshmallow travel when launching from a student constructed catapult?
Purpose:
The purpose of the launcher is to see how far the marshmallow will go out of the homemade device.
The purpose of the launcher is to see how far the marshmallow will go out of the homemade device.
Hypothesis:
The marshmallow will travel at least 35 feet, as the catapult has an effective design which uses air pressure.
The marshmallow will travel at least 35 feet, as the catapult has an effective design which uses air pressure.
Materials:
- PVC Pipe
- Valve
- Air Pressure Pump
- Pipe Glue
- Marshmallows
Procedures:
- Groups set up in the designated launching area
- Take 3 large sized marshmallows provided at the even
- Finish last minute preparations for your catapult
- Place 1 marshmallow inside the tube
- Using the air pump, build up the pressure until it reaches 30 lbs
- Aim for the bullseye
- Turn the knobs to release pressure
- Launch the marshmallow towards the target
- Once the marshmallow stops completely, measure the distance from the launching area to the target’s bullseye
- Record the distance and any observations
- Repeat steps 1-10 for the 2nd and 3rd marshmallow
- Average the distances recorded for all 3 to get the team’s score
Data Table:
Results:
Trial 1 had the tube filled with 40mb of pressure and traveled 23.8 meters within 5 seconds. Trial 2 had the tube filled with 50mb of air pressure and traveled 33.4 meters in 3 seconds. Trial 3 had the tube filled with 60mb of air pressure and traveled 21.5 meters in 4 seconds. The total distance traveled was 78.7 meters, with an average of 26.2 meters total time traveled was 15 seconds with an average of 5 seconds. The total units of air used were 150 units (mb), with an average of 50 units.
Trial 1 had the tube filled with 40mb of pressure and traveled 23.8 meters within 5 seconds. Trial 2 had the tube filled with 50mb of air pressure and traveled 33.4 meters in 3 seconds. Trial 3 had the tube filled with 60mb of air pressure and traveled 21.5 meters in 4 seconds. The total distance traveled was 78.7 meters, with an average of 26.2 meters total time traveled was 15 seconds with an average of 5 seconds. The total units of air used were 150 units (mb), with an average of 50 units.
Conclusion:
Our launcher turned out to travel the farthest in all of track 3. The distance we predicted was a distance of 10.7 meters. In conclusion, we underestimated the power of our launcher by a lot, since it was able to achieve on average 26m/4s/50mb. It almost doubled the original expected distance. The design helped the travel distance in comparison to other groups. The best distance output was yielded by 50mb of air pressure. This number is probably one of the best this launcher can achieve since it did not perform as well with 40mb of pressure and caused the marshmallow to explode at 60 mb.
Our launcher turned out to travel the farthest in all of track 3. The distance we predicted was a distance of 10.7 meters. In conclusion, we underestimated the power of our launcher by a lot, since it was able to achieve on average 26m/4s/50mb. It almost doubled the original expected distance. The design helped the travel distance in comparison to other groups. The best distance output was yielded by 50mb of air pressure. This number is probably one of the best this launcher can achieve since it did not perform as well with 40mb of pressure and caused the marshmallow to explode at 60 mb.
Pictures:
Video: