Catapult Experiment

Data Analysis
The scientific question investigated in this experiment was, “Which household object, when catapulted at a 45 degree angle, will travel the farthest?” The hypothesis in this experiment was, “If four household objects are catapulted at a 45 degree angle, then the standard white dice will travel the farthest.” The independent variable in this experiment is changing the object launched. The dependent variable in this experiment is the change in distance traveled. The control variables are using the same catapult, tape measure, location, and maintaining the same launch angle. The control group is the catapult which remains the same throughout the experiment. The experimental group consists of the four objects being catapulted. The procedures for this experiment go as follows: Step three, place an item in the cup on the arm of the catapult. Step four, pull back the arm until it cannot go back any further. Step five, carefully release the arm which will catapult the object into the air. Step six, record where the object initially lands.

An extraneous variable that may have caused unexpected results is the wind. On the day the experiment was conducted, a rain storm had just stopped about one hour earlier. The wind may have blown harder or softer during the launching of certain objects, which would affect the data and possibly the outcome of the experiment.
The experiment, once it began, went well, but there were two notable incidents over the course of the experiment. During test launches, the top hat was launched in a rocky area and became missing. About 20 minutes later, the top hat was found. Trial 1 officially began about 5 minutes later. Also, after completing the first trial of the highlighter cap, the experiment was temporarily stopped for about 10 minutes to take pictures. Besides those two incidents, the experiment went