Storm the Castle Daniel Anderson

Storm the Castle Storm the Castle is a challenge to : Design a device that uses only the energy of a falling counterweight to launch a projectile as far and accurately as possible.

Design Styles: Design #1: Solid triangle base with pivot point in center of triangle going across both directions. Pros: quick, small, Cons: weak, unstable Design #2: Square base lengthy arm. Pros: sturdy, effective Cons: time consuming, requires lots of force to get going.

Arm The arm resembles a plank that drives across the pivot point. On one end you have the launch sac, and on the other is the triggering device (if attached directly) or the place where the load will land (if not directly attached).

Pivot Point The pivot point is the point where the arm rests and depending where you position this will effect your catapult launch ability.

Launch Sac The launch sac is the area where the projectile will be inserted into prior to the launch of the catapult.

Triggering Device The triggering device is the part of the catapult that will trigger the rest of the parts to launch the projectile where it will go.

Materials Duct Tape, Popsicle Sticks, Rubber Bands,

Pros and Cons  Duct Tape: sticky, un-reusable, removable, somewhat strong  Popsicle Sticks: weak, reusable, sturdy  Rubber Bands: strong, reusable, flexible

Building Plan 9 popsicle sticks,1 full roll of duct tape, 2 rubber bands Step One: Make a square of popsicle sticks and duct tape the together to make the base. Step Two: Take two more popsicle sticks and make a triangle and duct tape them together and add the rubber bands to the top for good measure.

Building Plan cont. Step Three: Attach the next popsicle stick to the point at the tallest point and make the pivot point as wel as attach the arm. Step Four: Break the remaining two popsicle sticks in half and pick one end of the arm to be the launch sac and make a box. Voila, you're done with this prototype.

Testing Make a target the launch at it, repeat several times until you have a fairly large data set and find where you went wrong it terms of was it your aim or did one part come loose. Reflect and improve on your design.