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Chuckin' Pumpkins
Chuckin' Pumpkins
Challenge:
Challenge:
Design a catapult that will launch a "pumpkin" through the air.
Materials:
Materials:
candy pumpkins (or something to substitute for them), craft sticks, small plastic lid (or something to serve as platform/bucket for the item being launched), small cups, rubber bands in various sizes
Picture Book Connections:
Picture Book Connections:
Pumpkins by Jacqueline Farmer
Pete the Cat Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean
Pumpkin town! (or, Nothing is Better or Worse than Pumpkins) by Katie McKy
Five Little Pumpkins on Halloween Night by Sandra Magsamen
3, 2, 1, Go! by Emily Arnold McCully
S: A simple machine changes the direction or size of a force. Is there another simple machine that you could use in your design?
T: Try launching different objects, like candy corn or a cotton ball. How does the size and weight affect the distance the object goes?
E: Design a catapult for the world's largest pumpkin. How will it need to change from your candy pumpkin catapult?
A: Write a user guide for your catapult. What are the parts? What steps should a user follow, and in what order?
M: Hold the catapult arm at different angles when launching. Does it change how far the pumpkin flies? Record the results in a chart!
Hint and Explanations: ๐STOP - Only click here after you have tried to solve the problem!
Hint and Explanations: ๐STOP - Only click here after you have tried to solve the problem!
Hint:
Hint:
Try using more than one craft stick as your base.
What's going on?
What's going on?
A catapult is a type of simple machine called a lever. An arm on the catapult pivits at a fixed point called the fulcrum. As the arm is pulled down, energy is being stored. When you release the arm, the object will move at the same speed as the arm and bucket.
When the arm stops, the object continues to move forward due to Newton's first law of motion, which states that an object in motion, stays in motion. The pumpkin flies!
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