Catapult Construction: Phase 1

For some months now we’ve had Backyard Ballistics sitting on our reading list for everyone to see. But what have we been doing with it? Well, this week we finished a catapult. 

                        

The book had instructions for pounding a large washer into a throwing cup . That didn’t work out terribly well, so we improvised. Our cup is made out of half of a doorknob cover. Normally, the cover is supposed to make opening doors too complicated for little kids, but this particular device didn’t stand up to one determined and frustrated preschooler. But drill a hole through the surviving half, and it has a new lease on life. I admit, it’s a little sloppy (it was put together by 11-12 year old Girl Scouts), but it still throws nuts about 5 feet. And they found that delightful.

But this is only the model. The next stage of the project is to scale the catapult up to a 4-foot high version. We’ll keep you posted.