Explanation to Physics behind catapult

• Force:
• Gravity is the only force acting upon the object once it is in motion
• Newton's laws work here as the first law states an object at rest stays at rest unless acted on by an outside force while the second law deals with Force = mass times acceleration, showing that having a larger mass and acceleration will make the force applied to the projectile larger
• The third law is also involved as the every action has an equal and opposite reaction withe the action of releasing the flinging arm causing the equal reaction of the water balloons being flung out of the pouch
• Energy:
• Law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be lost only transferred, meaning that the energy of the trebuchet is transferred to the balloon
• KE- projectile and PE-Counterweight
• PE changes into KE as the counterweight falls 
• Projectile motion:
•    The ideal angle of any catapult would be 45 degrees as that is half of 90 degrees, meaning that the catapult would get the maximum distance released at 45 degrees
• Allows for the catapult to go through an arc motion to increase the projectiles firing ability and its range of distance
   

Log of meetings

Day 1 (5/13/13): Gathered the Materials and all the necessary supplies
Day 2 (5/14/13): Built the catapult and ended up 50% done by night
Day 3 (5/15/13): Finished the catapult and tested it until it finally worked, but waited till day 4 to paint and personalize it.
Day 4 (5/16/13) : The Warwolf got a coat of black and silver spray paint, topping it off with a silver wolf emblem imbedded in the center of the catapult's launching pad.
 *Note* I worked alone on this project

Painting the Catapult

 I humbly present the WARWOLF! This was my favorite part of the project as the Warwolf was an actual catapult in the middle ages and said to be the most powerful catapult and an ultimate killing device of the day.

Construction Part 3 (fin)

Tested the catapult multiple times with the duct tape pouch failing every time. To fix the main problem behind why it wouldn't launch correct I learned from my mother how to hem it into a pouch shape that I needed for it to launch correctly. Each time following the hemming, I tested the pouch again and again to see if it was the right shape. After modifying the pouch multiple times I finally got it to go 20ft after measuring it off camera.

Simple explanation: every time the catapult didn't work, I sought to rectify the problems by modifying the pouch into a holding shape for the projectiles it throws. 

Construction part 2

 Worked on fixing the base construction of the stands and added a bar to serve as the holder for the flinging arm wood. I later attached thin rope to the middle wood after drilling 2 holes in the wood's center and near its top. Furthermore, I came up with a firing mechanism involving 3 eye hooks with one being attached the the top of the flinging arm.

Work in progress (construction part 1)

Built the base from leftover wood and measure the stands to be equal in height at 4ft originally. The base is 3ft by 2ft with recycled wood going under the base to stabilize the structure. Unfortunately the stands proved unstable, so I had to rework my original plan with them.

Materials

Gathered the wood from a previous friends broken catapult and wood from my neighbor who didn't need it. Reused the rest of the supplies from whatever was lying around in my garage
Power tools and a hammer:

 Loads of Wood:

 Tools and other things:

 Tape Measure:

 Safety Goggles:

 Saw:

 Extension Cord and Nails (so many nails) :