Catapult Project

Creating my Catapult for class with Mike Belmont and Kelan Graham involved a lot of physics. One objective we had was to make sure our softball launched at a 45 degree angle to maximize the distance traveled. Our design was a ogre catapult so we realized to make a 45 degree angle we needed to make the distance from our pole the flinger rotated on to the front of our blocking device needed to be equal to the distance from the top of the base up to where the flinger hit our blocking device. By doing so it would create a 45-45-90 triangle, making a 45 degree launch angle. There was also a lot of physics involved in the launch. For example when we launched it based on the time it took for the ball to hit the ground and by using the given 9.81 m/s^2 along with the distance it went we were able to determine the horizontal velocity. Despite the fact that the ball was launched with a horizontal and vertical velocity, the acceleration downward from gravity would always stay constant.Through the entire catapult project there was a lot of physics involved, both in building it as well as launching it.