Catapult

[901mcms]

Im a highschool student who needs to build a catapult for my physics class, there arent any specifics to the build of the catapult(no air cannons) but it just needs to be able to launch a superball 2 meters. I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice on a good design to use, i was thinking of a trebuchet but i think that might be to difficult to build on this fairly small scale. Like I said other then compressed air, anything goes.

[Klaynos]

a hand powered trebuchet, instead of having it powered by a mass on one end of the leaver you have a rope tied to it around some pullies and you pull the rope which pulls the leaver down and launches your projectile. A very simple and powerfull design that can be scaled up and you have people holding a rope and get them to run as fast as they can...

[insane_alien]

i can't conceive of anything that could throw it only 2 meters now if you want to get 20meters then i'm sure i could think of something

[swansont]

Im a highschool student who needs to build a catapult for my physics class, there arent any specifics to the build of the catapult(no air cannons) but it just needs to be able to launch a superball 2 meters. I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice on a good design to use, i was thinking of a trebuchet but i think that might be to difficult to build on this fairly small scale. Like I said other then compressed air, anything goes.

 

 

Nah! I have a trebuchet kit for a "tabletop" device that tosses stuff 8-10 meters, and it wouldn't be too hard to do it yourself. I saw pictures of one completely made of popsicle sticks. Here are plans for one.

 

This one looks like you make it out of paper or cardboard

 

 

other small catapult plans

[ecoli]

my brother and his friend built a trebuchet for our backyard... it's awesome.

I downloaded some free software to calculate the expected range...

http://www.algobeautytreb.com/

[901mcms]

thanks all for your help im sure ill do fine now