![]() ![]() Secure these sticks together by wrapping rubber bands around both ends of the stack. Take six craft sticks, stack them one on top of the other.Make sure any objects you launch are soft and light so as not to harm anyone or cause any damage to objects around you. Shooting hard objects or using other homemade catapults can be dangerous. Note: The simple catapult described in this project is safe when used with a cotton ball.It should be a sturdy, flat surface such as a table or floor.) Small open area (One square meter will do.Cotton ball (If you do not have any available, you can make a small ball by crumbling some paper.).Plastic bottle cap to hold a cotton ball.But would the amount of energy with which you're loading your device factor in as well? Try this activity to find out! The position of the launching device when the missile becomes airborne is an important parameter of aiming. When you let go, this stored energy is released, converted into energy of motion and transferred to the missile (the launched object), which then flies through the air. The catapult you are about to make uses elastic potential energy stored in a wooden stick as you bend it. ![]() This energy is stored in the launching device as potential, or stored, energy. When you prepare the catapult to launch, you add energy to it. Can you predict where your missile will land?Ī catapult works because energy can be converted from one type to another and transferred from one object to another. Even Greeks and Romans used catapults about 2,000 years ago! These simple machines are quite handy, as long as you know how to aim them! In this science activity you will try your hand at catapult technology. And medieval knights used them centuries earlier for taking down massive castle walls. Experiment with different distances, and even different amounts of popsicle sticks in the stack, to see what works best.Catapults were mighty handy for pirates in the golden age of piracy (during the 17th century). When the stacked popsicle sticks are farther from the elastic on the spoon, the objects tend to be shot straight up in the air. The closer they are to the elastic, the farther the projectile will go. You can also change the angle of the catapult by moving the stacked popsicle sticks closer to the elastic on the spoon. If your spoon is flexible enough, pull it right down to the table before releasing it to get more speed. Try pulling the spoon down at different angles. Then gravity plays a part, bringing the load back down. Releasing the arm changes the potential energy to kinetic energy, sending the load flying. Pulling down the arm of the catapult is force, which creates potential energy. An object stays at rest until an external force is applied. How levers work can be explained using Newton’s Laws of Motion. You push the arm (plastic spoon) over the fulcrum (popsicle sticks) to launch the load (tin foil balls, or whatever you choose). These popsicle stick catapults are a simple machine called a lever. You definitely want heavier duty rubber bands for this experiment. We first tried using rainbow loom elastics, but they were too loose. If you don’t have asparagus elastics, thicker elastics, like size #64 rubber bands, will work the best. We used the elastics that were around our asparagus bunches, and they worked perfectly. Make a prediction about which object you think will fly the farthest! Which elastics are best for a popsicle stick catapult? Try paper balls, marshmallows, eraser tops, bottle caps, or pom poms. But you can send any object flying with these catapults (within reason!!), which makes them so much fun. Objects with a bit of weight to them, like a ball of tin foil, are the perfect projectile. What type of projectiles work best in popsicle stick catapults? The full printable instructions are at the end of this post, but here’s a list of products on Amazon that are similar to the supplies we used: If you use these links to buy something we may earn a small commission which helps us run this website. Looking for more DIY games? Here’s some of our favourites: ![]()
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