[0:03]Hi everybody, I'm Jessie and I'm so excited that you can join me to celebrate National Inventors Day. So for today's project, I'm going to show you how to build your very own catapult.
[0:23]All right, so to build this catapult, we got to start with the base. And we are going to be taping popsicle sticks together to create a triangle. So grab three popsicle sticks, and we're going to go ahead and line them up just like this. Taking our masking tape, you're going to want about an inch and a half to two inches worth of tape.
[0:49]Sticky side up, you're going to put one end of the popsicle stick on, and then the other. You don't want your tips of your popsicle sticks to touch. Take your tape and fold it over. We're going to repeat that process for this side.
[1:21]Sweet. Next, grab your tape first, and then we're going to bring these two ends together to form the point of our triangle. All right, that's our first triangle. You're going to repeat this process two more times so we have three triangles total.
[1:55]All right, our three triangles are done. Next, we're going to use more tape to create the base. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my triangles and I'm going to tape them on the sides just like that so it creates a pyramid shape. You're going to want to use between two to three pieces of tape per side.
[2:30]All right, once you have all three of your triangles taped together, our base is done. Next, let's start working on our arm. You're going to need three bamboo skewers for your arm. First thing we're going to do is we're going to tape them together. When you tape the bottom, go about two inches from the point. That's going to give your straw a space to sit and be taped down to. Next, take a drinking straw, and you're going to cut it about two inches. Take your skewers and trying, if you can get all three in, that's awesome. But if you can only get two in, that's okay. Get as many as you can in. And you're going to push that straw about an inch onto your skewers. Once it's on, go ahead and tape the end so the straw doesn't come off.
[3:25]Take two more popsicle sticks, and put them in about the middle of your skewer and you're going to tape one on the front and one on the back. This is just going to give it a little bit more stability.
[3:51]Our arm is almost done. Let's go ahead and attach it to our base. So first thing you're going to do is on your straw, go ahead and bend it. Just like that. That's going to create the hinge effect that we're going to need for our arm. Find one side of your base, and you're going to tape it along right here against your popsicle sticks. Okay. Our arm doesn't do a whole lot. We need to add some tension and we're going to use a rubber band to do that. So taking our rubber band, you're going to wrap it around your sticks, go through this side, go all the way through, and then very, very carefully take your rubber band and wrap it right back around those sticks. And what that is doing is it's creating tension up against this pivot point of your straw and it'll allow it to move back. Next, we need something to put our projectiles in, right? Next, we need to add our container for our projectiles. And so I'm just going to use this little plastic cup and some tape, tape it onto my arm right here. But leave some of your sticks sticking out, so you have a great spot to hold on to.
[5:38]Our catapult is done, but we got to test it, right? So find a light object. It can be a styrofoam ball, cotton ball, Lego, anything you think that could fly really easily. And let's load it up.
[5:57]You're going to want to put your hand on the base just to hold it down, pull back, and let them fly. Pretty cool, huh guys? I hope you enjoyed making this catapult with me. I know I had a blast. Until next time, bye.
