![]() This helps you aim the cotton ball forward. Popsicle Stick Catapult Supplies: Popsicle Sticks or Arts and crafts Sticks. Pushing your six sticks the other direction creates a greater angle between the launching stick and the base. This results in a cotton ball aimed more upward than forward. Moving the stack of six sticks closer to the launching cup makes the launching stick lie flatter. In the case of your catapult, the cotton ball probably flew higher and farther. Bending farther means more energy gets stored in the stick, and when you let go, all this stored energy is converted into energy of motion, so the cotton ball flies through the air at a higher speed. Maybe you felt you needed to exert more force or work harder to bend the stick farther. ![]() Pushing the stick down farther takes more effort from you. Most of this energy transfers to the cotton ball, which shoots through the air. When you let go, this energy is released and converted to energy of motion. When you bend your stick, you load your launching stick up with energy. ![]() Experiment with different distances, and even different amounts of popsicle sticks in the stack, to see what works best.Do you get similar results each time? Is what you observe what you expected? Can you explain why?ĭid you see your cotton ball fly higher and farther when you pushed you launching stick farther down? When the stacked popsicle sticks are farther from the elastic on the spoon, the objects tend to be shot straight up in the air. The closer they are to the elastic, the farther the projectile will go. You can also change the angle of the catapult by moving the stacked popsicle sticks closer to the elastic on the spoon. If your spoon is flexible enough, pull it right down to the table before releasing it to get more speed. 10 Popsicle Sticks Bottle Cap Rubber Bands Payload (erasers, marshmallows, etc). Try pulling the spoon down at different angles. A catapult is another powerful tool that uses a lever, or fulcrum. Then gravity plays a part, bringing the load back down. You'll need to wrap the rubber band around several times to make it nice and tight. This is a superb project for those who love playing with Popsicle sticks. Develop strong STEM activity in your kids. The bottom of the spoon should line up wth the edge. Its a simple popsicle stick craft that kids in a hospital scout troop or a school can make and it can be used as a photo holder too if you attach a magnet. Releasing the arm changes the potential energy to kinetic energy, sending the load flying. Instructions Stack 4 sticks, then glue the spoon in the center of the top stick. Pulling down the arm of the catapult is force, which creates potential energy. ![]() An object stays at rest until an external force is applied. How levers work can be explained using Newton’s Laws of Motion. You push the arm (plastic spoon) over the fulcrum (popsicle sticks) to launch the load (tin foil balls, or whatever you choose). These popsicle stick catapults are a simple machine called a lever. You definitely want heavier duty rubber bands for this experiment. We first tried using rainbow loom elastics, but they were too loose. If you don’t have asparagus elastics, thicker elastics, like size #64 rubber bands, will work the best. We used the elastics that were around our asparagus bunches, and they worked perfectly. Make a prediction about which object you think will fly the farthest! Which elastics are best for a popsicle stick catapult? ![]() Try paper balls, marshmallows, eraser tops, bottle caps, or pom poms. But you can send any object flying with these catapults (within reason!!), which makes them so much fun. Objects with a bit of weight to them, like a ball of tin foil, are the perfect projectile. The first thing we did is stack 5 popsicle sticks on top of each other and secure with rubber bands on each side. What type of projectiles work best in popsicle stick catapults? Powerful popsicle stick catapult full#The full printable instructions are at the end of this post, but here’s a list of products on Amazon that are similar to the supplies we used: If you use these links to buy something we may earn a small commission which helps us run this website. Looking for more DIY games? Here’s some of our favourites: ![]()
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