Lauren Gaertner

Mrs. Patterson
Honors Conceptual Physics
November 9, 2015

Catapult Lab Report

My objective for this project was to use the laws I learned in physics to build a catapult
that could successfully launch a marshmallow five meters. Different types of catapults have been
used by the Greeks, Romans, and Chinese. The first catapults were attempts to increase the
distance of a crossbow. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, was the first to use a mechanical
arrow-firing catapult in 399 BC. Catapults were introduced to Europe during the Middle Ages.
Catapults were first used in wars in England in 1216 during the Siege of Dover. With war
happening often throughout Europe during the Middle Ages the popularity of high castle and city
wall rose greatly. This made catapults important. Catapults were used to launch missiles. These
missiles were either launched directly at the wall to cause maximum damage to the walls or were
launched over the wall to land on the population within the protective walls. Catapults were also
used to throw missiles at soldiers. Catapults were used extensively throughout Europe, mainly by
the French, until 885-886 AD when new defense systems became more accurate than catapults.
I designed my catapult the way I did because I thought the boxes on the bottom would
give the catapult more leverage, and it would be farther from the ground giving the marshmallow
more hang time. I added popsicle sticks because they would give the spoon something to rest on.
I used rubber bands to hold the popsicle sticks together. I used a plastic spoon because it had a
spot for the marshmallow to rest, and allowed me to push it backwards, which gave the
marshmallow momentum. I also used masking and hockey tape to hold the catapult.
We used many physics concepts in building and launching the catapults. We used
concepts such as acceleration, initial and final velocity, projectiles, and projectile motion. Some
1
of the physics equations we used were: v f = v i + a x (t), x= 2 ( v i + v f t, x= v i (t)
+

1
a x t 2 , and v f 2 = v i2 + 2 a x x. x is displacement, a x is acceleration, v i
2

velocity, v f

is final velocity, and t is time.

Design Plan:

Two small boxes (in my case a jewelry box and iPhone box)
Popsicle Sticks

is initial

Rubber Bands
Plastic Spoon
Masking Tape
Hockey Tape

Data Analysis:
Distance

Time

v xo

v yo

vo

3.21 m

1.09 s

2
2.94 m/ s

2
5.34 m/ s

2
6.10 m/ s

3.24 m

1.09 s

2
2.97 m/ s

2
5.34 m/ s

2
6.11 m/ s

4.45 m

1.1 s

2
4.05 m/ s

2
5.39 m/ s

2
6.74 m/ s

2
The average velocity is 6.32 m/ s . I found this by adding each trials v o

and

dividing by three. I found the v xo by dividing distance by time. I found initial velocity of
vyo

by using the kinematic equation v y =v yo + a y t . v y

was zero, a y was -9.8, and t

was 0.5 of the time from whichever trial I was calculating.

Conclusion:
I enjoyed this project immensely but I feel my data might have been slightly incorrect.
The time might have slightly been off due to human error. This could be for the distance too
because after the marshmallow landed, it moved and my guess to where it landed might have
been different from where it actually landed. I learned from this project is that five meters is
actually pretty long! I also learned it doesnt matter what materials you use, if you have a poor
design your catapult will not be accurate. Two kinds of projectiles that have carefully predicted
landing spots are missiles and space ships.

Picture: