The action of letting go of the spoon causes the reaction of the ball getting launched. The force of the spoon exerted on the ball produces acceleration upward and makes the ball fly into the air. When you pull back the spoon and let go, you overcome the ball’s inertia and fling the ball into the air. The ball is not going to launch itself without you applying force. You can explain to your child how without touching the catapult, nothing happens. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.When an external force acts on a body, it produces an acceleration (change in velocity) of the body in the direction of the force.An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.You probably heard of Newton’s Three Laws of Motion ( source): The biggest benefit of STEM projects is that you can show your kids the science visually, which helps them understand the concepts. The Science Behind the Popsicle Stick Catapult If you are looking to do this activity with a group of students in a classroom, then the first catapult design with rubber bands is probably the way to go. The downside is that you need to use hot glue, so preschoolers or kindergarteners, or even elementary school kids can’t build the popsicle stick catapult independently. With just a little pressure on the bottle cap, you are able to really launch the projectile far. This popsicle stick catapult design is simple yet effective. Hot glue the bottle cap to the other end of the popsicle stick. Again, I applied extra glue to the metal part of the binder clip.ĥ. Glue a popsicle stick to the top of the binder clip. I used extra glue around the metal part of the binder clip to make sure it will stay attached to the popsicle stick.Ĥ. Glue the binder clip to the end of the top popsicle stick. Glue one popsicle stick to one of the points of the triangle and glue the other end to where it bisects the opposing side.ģ. Form a triangle with 3 popsicle sticks and glue the ends together.Ģ. Design 3: Catapult with Popsicle Sticks, Binder Clip, and Bottle Cap Materials:ġ. The catapult with the bottle cap seemed to shoot higher, but the horizontal distance of the projectile was shorter. However, since the spoon extended the arm of the catapult, the catapult with the spoon could shoot farther. I also like it because you can put different objects in the cap and not risk having them fall out since the cap is deeper than the spoon. With the bottle cap, the catapult felt more stable. Simply hot glue the bottle cap to the end of the popsicle stick where the spoon was from the other design. To do this, you need a hot glue gun and a cap from a water bottle or sports drink bottle. This popsicle stick catapult design is very similar to the one above, except you are replacing the spoon with the bottle cap. Release the spoon and watch the ball fly! Design 2: Catapult with Popsicle Sticks, Rubber Bands, and Bottle Cap Hold the catapult with one hand, use the other hand to push down the spoon.ħ. Use two rubber bands, secure the plastic soon to the upper popsicle stick.Ħ. Pull the 2 popsicle sticks apart and wedge the stack of 7 popsicle sticks between them.Ĥ. Make a stack of 2 popsicle sticks and use a rubber band to tie them together on one end only.ģ. Make a stack of 7 popsicle sticks and use rubber bands to tie them together on both ends.Ģ.
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