Catapult :: essays research papers

The Ratapult Objective: My objective in this project was to produce a rat-trap powered catapult. It has a base of 30 cm by 30 cm, and has a theme of cows trying to escape the farm. The reason they want to escape is because they are being killed and turned into steaks, against there will. That is why I developed this ratapult, to save the cows. The cows also wanted me to ask you to eat more chicken. Hypothesis and Drawing: I hypothesize that if I build the ratapult to a 25-degree angle, and release the hacky sack at a height of .55m then there will be enough velocity to project the hacky sack exactly four meters. The ratapult will release the hacky sack with an initial velocity of 5.8 m/s, and as a result the hacky sack will travel 4.0 meters in .75 seconds. Procedure: The first step I took was to paint all of the wood white. After that I put wallpaper on the board that I am going to nail the rat trap to. I then attached the measuring cup to the rat trap by drilling a hole in the middle of the measuring cup and then using string to attach the cup at both the drilled hole, and the hole at the bottom. Then I nailed the rat trap into the board with wallpaper. That board was then nailed into the base. Then I attached the â€Å"steps† to the milk crate. The steps will hold the base of the ratapult at a 25-degree angle. I attached the â€Å"steps† by drilling holes in the bottom of them and then tying them to the milk crate. Then I nailed the board with wallpaper into the back end of the base. The base was then nailed into the â€Å"steps†, and glued grass decorations and cardboard cows to the base. The ratapult was completed. Data & Observations: I found the initial velocity, or Vi, by finding the horizontal velocity, or Vx, and then using the equation Vx = Vi * cos(angle). The angle was 25 degrees, so I input that into the equation also. That made the equation look like 5.3 m/s = Vi * cos(25) I divided both sides by sin(25), then that gave me an initial velocity of 5.8 m/s. Then I decided to find the Vertical height of the hacky sack, so I used the equation Vy = Vi * sin(angle). Vy stands for initial vertical velocity.