Science Stuff

This term, Room 17 has been examining the effects of Surface Tension and Chemical Reactions. We have also started an extended inquiry into the design of mangonels (catapults) in an effort to test and refine what makes the most powerful machine.

How many drops of H2O can you fit on a flat magnet? Can you float a metal staple on water?

Mangonel Trials:

• Every group first made a standard mangonel - 15 twists on a 20cm string, poles 6.5cm apart.
• After we discussed the efficacy of the mangonel, each group formed a hypothesis about which one thing we could change to make a difference - with an eye towards maximum throw distance. The trial list included:
• More twists
• Adjusting string height on the poles
• Adjusting height of mangonel from the ground
• Exploring a variety of angle stops for the arm.
• Throwing multiple projectiles at once.
• Conclusions were reached from data analysis:
• More twists had little effect on throw distance and may have actually made it worse.
• Higher string means greater throw distance.
• Higher mangonel means greater throw distance.
• An angle stop 5cm from the mangonel base provided the greatest throw distance. This was a roughly 60 degree angle of arm relative to mangonel base.

The white circles are labels for each type of trial, e.g "adding extra twists".