Catapult

This is a picture of our beautiful catapult. The potential energy of the garage springs was converted into the kinetic energy of the arm. We positioned the beam across the catapult at about a 45 degree angle with the base. This angle maximized the range of the softball. For our first two launches, we had padding on the center beam, to absorb a bit of the kinetic energy of the arm, so the wood wouldn't break. But, for the third trial, we took off the padding, and the wood ended up cracking. The metal attachment on the arm also bent. After completing the calculations associated with the catapult project, the total initial velocity of the projectile was 17.96 meters per second, and it took 1.135 sec for our catapult to reach maximum height.