Grace Krumwiede,Bella Zahringer,Mackenzie Sweet

December 7,2016
Morris
Science
Catapult Lab

Testable Question:Does the kind of ball effect how far the catapult can launch?
Materials:
25 foot or more measuring tape
Tape
Catapult
Hollow golf ball
Golf Ball
Ping Pong Ball
Procedure:
1. Stretch out the tape measurer to 25 feet or more-we used 2 tape measures to be able to
measure out 50 feet.
2. Put the catapult at 0 feet.
3. Start by putting one ball into the launch mechanism on the catapult.
4. Launch the ball and put tape where the ball landed.
5. Repeat this step until you have five trials.
6. Average the numbers for the trials of one ball.
7. Switch to a different ball.
8. Repeat steps 3-6 for ball #2.
9. Switch to your last ball.
10. Repeat steps 3-6 for ball #3.
Variables and Controls:
Controls-
Where the catapult is launched from
How far back we pull the catapult ever time
The force used to pull the catapult back
Independent Variable-
Types of balls used
Dependent Variable-
How far the ball will go in feet
Data Tables:
Hollowed Golf Ball
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Average

25 feet 30 feet 25.5 feet 30.75 feet 31 feet 28.5 feet

Golf Ball
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Average

15 feet 19.1 feet 18.75feet 15.75 feet 18.2 17.4 feet

Ping-Pong Ball
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Average

40.25 feet 45.8 feet 50 feet 43.6 feet 47.5 feet 45.4 feet

Claim:Launching different balls from the catapult will have an effect on how far the catapult can
launch an object.

Evidence:

Reasoning:
The catapult being able to launch consistently changed with the different balls. A regular golf
ball which weighed 95.93 grams was able to be launched but not as far as the ping pong ball
which weighed 2.7 grams. Because of the mass of the balls, gravity has different forces on them.
Heavy objects like the golf ball, fall faster because of the force of gravity on it. Just like when
you drop a rock and a feather, the rock hits first because of Newton's second law, f=ma. The
force of gravity changes with the mass of an object. Gravity is acting on the ball from the time it
is in the air to the time it hits the ground. When we launch the balls, they start going upward. The
ball then arches and drops. This is because gravity is acting upon the ball. If the ball defied
gravity, it would continue going up forever.