Junior Science Club The second Junior Science Club session was all about making a marshmallow catapult from marshmallows, sticks and a spoon! Mrs Sharkey (Senior Science Technician) showed the pupils how to construct the catapult and pupils worked individually and in small groups to make the catapult.
Some pupils found it challenging! Once assembled, pupils were allowed to launch a projectile (the marshmallow) from the catapult. However, after the marshmallows had been pierced by the sticks, they became soft, causing many problems. In addition, the tension produced by the spoon being pulled
back caused some of the catapults to break and a little tape was needed to strengthen them. Finally, after testing, last minute modifications were made. Then came the competition and the rules were made clear. Each catapult could have three attempts and the winning catapult would be the one which launched the projectile the furthest.
We were amazed by the distance achieved by some of the projectiles. However, one group had decided to ‘cheat’ and tape their catapult to the bench. This in theory would make it easier to pull back the spoon without the worry of the catapult collapsing. Eventually they came second and despite being challenged by the others, no rule to say they could not use tape was found, so the result was allowed to stand. The eventual winner was Elizabeth Greenway who managed to launch the projectile from the first bench to the fourth bench. Throughout the entire session, pupils were very tempted to eat the marshmallows! Mr Kalsi, Chemistry Teacher
