Julia

What is the purpose of your device/toy, how does it function, and who is your user?

• The purpose of this toy is for children around the age of 7-12. In ancient times, a catapult was used for military use. We thought it would be excellent for children who are interested in the topic of ancient military weapons or history. This means our final product will be a historical catapult, not a toy-based one. This product will be displayed in an antique history museum for children where there could be photos of a real catapult and this product next to it. Since this is not from the old time, we can make 3-4 of these, and one could be displayed, where the other 2-3 could be out for the children to play with and learn about it.

What is your product’s environmental impact, and is it durable and safe?

• Our product will be environmentally friendly because we use recyclable/eco-friendly materials when creating this product. For that reason, this product will not be durable. The reason is that durable products need hard and suitable quality materials that can be used repeatedly without breaking or weakening. However, this product will be safe for children and aged people. We will mainly use materials that are safe for people but also safe for the environment. 

What precedents inspired you? What did you take away from them & how did it inform your choices?

• While searching for products related to energy use, we found a catapult made of popsicle sticks. This gave us the idea of using recyclable materials to make a smaller one. Although we are working on the same precedent that we have seen, the takeaway we got from this is to use certain materials to make it more stable and robust. Another takeaway from this is the use of energy. When we push the arm of the catapult down, this creates elastic energy. When we do the shot movement, this will create kinetic energy with some gravitational forces. My partner and I thought this would be an excellent product to show different types/kinds of energy being used.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How are you making your product original and using creativity?

• I suggest adding colors and using a different material than the popsicle sticks. To make this product successful, we might have to do more research and see how it will go when we start building. When we create it and have some excellent ideas to make it more creative, that will help us with our second blog post. Now, using color and different materials is the only one to be more creative when compared to the original product.