Me + Physics = Shooting Skewers Out Of Straws xD

So physics was my last class today. And since we are studying projectile motion we got to make some projectiles to study the motion... Obviously. So basically, what this means is that we got to spend an hour shooting skewers at a target. It was brilliant. Who wants to know how to make one? Who am I kidding, I don't even need to ask :P

So you're gonna need:
A straw
A skewer
A piece of bendy wire about 3-5cm long
A rubber band about the size of the circle you make by connecting your thumb and forefinger
Some sticky tape

Okay, get the wire and bend it into a shape that I had a little representation of but quibblo won't let me use because it has underscores in it and everything goes all weird. So you will just have to refer to the photos in the links at the bottom of the page.


So then you attach the bottom bit of the wire to the straw about halfway. Make sure the top bit isn't touching the straw. It needs to be in the air pointing towards where you're going to shoot it. So this end of the wire should finish about halfway along the straw and the other end should be closer to you.

Next, get the rubber band and put it around the wire thing and then pull it back towards you. Should look roughly like this if you pretend the straw is the O's and the ----'s are the rubber band in 2 dimensions:

I might have to take a picture of the final product and show you...

So anyway, after that you get the skewer and chop the pointy end off, we don't want to hurt anyone! Then you put the skewer inside the straw and pull it out the end that you pulled the rubber band towards. Pull the rubber band so that it is around the back end of the skewer, and pull the skewer and rubber band out together. Aim and fire :) Don't worry, it won't hurt anyone, I tested it on myself :P

INTERVAL!

Okay, since my little interval there I have made my projectile. P.s. it takes less than a minute.

So I realised after writing this that I have no skewers and no rubber bands. Lol. I substituted my skewer for a chop stick that happened to be lying around, and I used a hair tie for my rubber band. Also, because hair ties aren't as stretchy as rubber bands I had to move the wire a little closer to the end so it didn't break. Also, I had to get a bigger straw because the chop stick wouldn't fit in the straw I started with :( So keep that in mind if you have to substitute.

Here are the pictures :)

http://s1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/autumnasraidragonfly/?action=view&current=DSC02932.jpg#!oZZ1QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1072.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw362%2Fautumnasraidragonfly%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DDSC02932.jpg

http://s1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/autumnasraidragonfly/?action=view&current=DSC02932.jpg#!oZZ2QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1072.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw362%2Fautumnasraidragonfly%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DDSC02931.jpg

http://s1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/autumnasraidragonfly/?action=view&current=DSC02932.jpg#!oZZ3QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1072.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw362%2Fautumnasraidragonfly%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DDSC02934.jpg


Long links... I know. I couldn't figure out how to just have them in the story. I did it once, but apparently something's changed haha. ohh well.

Have fun with you're new projectile :)

~Autumn