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Simple Machines: Catapult Challenge

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Simple Machines: Catapult Challenge

Aotearoa’s junior engineers are designing a safe tabletop catapult to launch a soft pom-pom into a target. Use the evidence and diagrams below to explain how the catapult works. Never aim at a person or use hard projectiles.

Read the test data

Mere tested the same catapult with a soft pom-pom. Each distance is measured from the launch line to the first landing point. All other settings stayed the same during each comparison.

Test

Setting

Distance

Fulcrum 4 cm from load

2.4 m

Fulcrum 2 cm from load

3.0 m

Launch angle 35°

3.4 m

1.Which simple machine is the catapult’s main working part? Select one answer. A) pulley B) lever C) inclined plane D) screw

A) pulley
B) lever
C) inclined plane
D) screw

2.Name the pivot point in the lever system and explain what the arm does when a force is applied.

3.Compare trials A and B. How much farther did the pom-pom travel in trial B, and what changed between the trials?

4.Mere says, “Moving the fulcrum closer to the load will always make every catapult launch farther.” Is this conclusion supported by the two trials? Explain one reason the claim is too strong.

5.Calculate the percentage increase in distance from trial A to trial B. Show your working.

6.Which statement best describes the effect of the launch angle in trial C? Select one answer. A) It was the only changed setting compared with trial B, and the distance increased by 0.4 m. B) The projectile travelled 0.4 m less. C) The pom-pom’s mass increased. D) The fulcrum moved.

A) It was the only changed setting compared with trial B, and the distance increased by 0.4 m.
B) The projectile travelled 0.4 m less.
C) The pom-pom’s mass increased.
D) The fulcrum moved.

7.Choose two variables a team could investigate to improve launch distance or accuracy. For each, state how it could be changed while keeping other variables constant.

8.Fill in the blank: In a lever, the is the turning point.

9.Fill in the blank: The force applied to a lever is called the .

10.Fill in the blank: The object moved by a lever is called the .

11.Plan a fair test to find which of three launch angles gives the greatest distance. State what you will change, what you will measure, and two things you will keep the same.

12.Suggest one design change that could make the catapult more accurate, and explain how you would test whether it helped.