My Fabulous Catapult

When I started off to make my mouse trap catapult, I had no idea what I was doing, to be honest. It took me three different models to figure out what works the best, and what doesn’t work. My first mouse trap catapult consisted of a spoon duck taped on to the metal bar. Easy and simple I thought. However when I did a test run, the spoon was way too flimsy on the metal bar, and it was also very hard to set the trap and release it, without getting your fingers caught. The next model I made I de attached the trigger arm and mechanism from the trap, so that I would just have to pull it back and release. But again, the spoon would fly off, and snap when the trap was released. And the trap was hard to hold down and keep flat on the ground. My final catapult was the second one however, I added “stoppers” (erasers duct taped on) at the end of the trap, so when released, the spoon won’t snap back onto the ground, and to make it easier to set.  Also, I reinforced the spoon with Popsicle sticks so I could not worry about the spoon flying off with the ping pong ball. Finally, I elevated the mouse trap on a 1ft box and secured the trap down on to the box. This helps the ping pong ball travel further, as well as prevents the mouse trap from flipping on itself after being released. My mouse trap I would say is more like a simple mangonel. It consists of a “bucket” area, an arm and instead of winding and releasing a string; the mouse trap spring provides the force. Finally, I had to make sure that my catapult was up to par on the appearance department, so I decorated it with zebra print duct tape, a pink spoon, bows, and a glittery base.