I'm Soaring! Flying!

Aim: 
To build a catapult capable of throwing marshmallows


Equipment:
- Popsicle sticks, a lot of them
- Rubber bands, we used like 3 
- Big and small marshmallows
- Milk lid
- Glue. (preferably hot)


Method:

1. The original instructions say to cut the sticks but we didn't and I don't know what that means so we're going to skip that one for now. 
2. Take some popsicle sticks just stack them together horizontally.
3. Wrap the rubber bands around each end of the popsicle tower you now have. DO NOT GLUE. Or do, but if you do, leave one gap between two sticks.
4. Take another spare popsicle stick and glue the milk lid to the end.
5. Squeeze the milk lid popsicle stick between the bottom stick in the stack and the one above it, sliding it all the way through so only the last inch of stick is sticking out.
6. That's about it. Now shoot people! (Note: Please don't, it wouldn't be very nice.)

Results:
These (The ones above too) are the numbers that we got. This will be useful in our discussion later on.





Discussion:
Using these numbers, we are able to calculate some key things in the realm of physics. I did like four hours of calculating for this, you better appreciate it. First up, I found the average of each set of numbers. These were a lot easier to work with compared to 8 different sets of calculations. Then, with what we got, I was able to first calculate the speed and then the acceleration by using the following formulae. 

Speed = change in distance/change in time

Acceleration = change in velocity(speed)/change in time

We'll start with the larger marshmallows, I got a speed of 0.286 metres per second (m/s), this is basically how fast it got from point a to point b. I also got an acceleration of 0.22 metres per second, per second (m/s^2), which is the measurement of the increase in velocity (speed).

With the small marshmallows, I got a speed of 0.288 metres per second and an acceleration of 0.15 m/s^2. By comparing the two, we can see that although there's a small difference in speed, there's actually quite a difference in acceleration.

Using the acceleration and the mass of each marshmallow, we got the force. For the small, I got 0.105 Newtons (N) of force and 1.54 N for the large. Force is any action that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object. Or, a push or pull motion. Newtons is what will measure how much force there actually is.

We took another set of data and found the work required to launch the catapult. I measured this by seeing how far down Chyna pushed the catapult and long it took her to do it. I multiplied this by the average weight of one's finger because I wasn't exactly sure how else to do it. Seeing as the work is force x distance, this was the best way to do it. I had to first figure out the speed, then the acceleration and multiply that by the mass to get force, hence the extra measurements. In the end, the work was approximately 62.4 N-M (Newton metre)


While we were measuring how far we can send a marshmallow flying, we were also measuring how high the small marshmallows can go. Using that data, I was able to figure out the potential energy of the catapult. This was done by multiplying the mass, the Earth's gravity, and the change in height. In the end, I got 0.0062426 ‬Joule (J) using. The number seems quite small but I converted the mass to kilograms and height to metres as a J = 1 kg m^2 / s^2. Potential energy is the energy an object has because of it's position with another object. That wasn't a good explanation but imagine two magnets. They have more potential energy when they're held a centimetre apart compared to when they are together.

That was all the maths I had the time and energy for but there we go. I apologise if anything is wrong :)