hidden figures
the problem :
The problem is that NASA needed our help to make prototypes for their new launch. The kids at Williams Middle School were given a project to make a small version of what NASA could actually build to launch a rocket.
Background information :
Aeronautics sciences study and work around machines that go in the air like planes, and rockets, etc. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Christine Mann, were all women that were all very, very smart. They were Aeronautics. Aeronautical engineers are people that work with aircraft. They study things about airplanes and what affects them, like the Earth's atmosphere, and technology and designing new and efficient ways to make airplanes.
For the launcher we designed we added potential energy by adding a string at the end of the ruler and tilting the ruler down more so when the string get pulled down the kinetic energy sends if flying through the air.
Are task :
The task that we are trying to accomplish is to launch a ping pong ball into the air about three seconds. The most important part of this task is to make a contraption that will launch the ping pong ball in the air into the air. We will have to make it out of only class room materials.
Features of our catapult :
The catapult my team made has two layers of boxes, for the platform. There are two cups on the very top, that hold up the ruler, the ruler has a slot at the end where the ping pong ball goes. At the other end of the ruler there is a string. to launch the ping pong ball you have to pull down the string with some force
My team and our Launcher :
My team has worked well together collecting data,building, reevaluating and more. I think we have made a very impressive launcher considering it launched the ping pong ball in the air for 2 seconds and 50 milliseconds, the class record. It was challenging at first to figure out how to design a launcher that we couldn't hit with our hand to send out the ping pong. But after a test and some talking amounst the team we came up with the idea of a string to pull down. The idea worked wonders and now our launcher is ready for the final test day.