The teams must build a catapult capable of launching one pound "mud bombs" at a target 75 feet away. There is a bullseye (worth 50 points) and bigger rings around it worth fewer and fewer points (25 and 10). If they can launch it more than 10 feet before it hits the ground, they win 5 points. The team with the most points after 10 shots wins.

The blue team is going to use a piece of pipe to hold the bomb, a bed frame for the base and two sturdy uprights welded ot the bedframe. They will 'fling' the mud bombs with bungee cords.

The red's are also building a similiar design. They have a sling which they are going to use to fire the mud bomb. They'll use a bed frame for the base and two sturdy uprights to attach the sling to.

A catapult is a machine that can throw things through the air. They were mostly used in ancient times to throw rocks and stuff at castles. There are two ways of  getting power to catapults. There is tension and weight. A tension catapult is like a bow and arrow. By pulling back on the string of the bow and letting go, it makes the arrow go forward really quickly.  The farther you pull it back, the more energy gets transferred to the arrow when you let go.  The other kind that uses weight is called a trebuchet. A trebuchet has a big heavy weight on one end and the projectile at the other. As the weight swings around, the projectile comes up and is thrown off of the arm. Both teams are building a tension catapult.
 
 
 

left to right; Bob, Jonathan, Daniel and Captain Joseph	left to right; Jason, Connor, Ike and Captain Gaile
The blue team got only one bodgit on a technicality	The red team got 2 bodgits and chose the trunk and engineer time
The blue's have a spring-loaded arm design in mind	The reds are building a slingshot that  could put the bomb in orbit!
Miche points out that you can't weld aluminum together (well you can, but it's really difficult)	So, since they can't use aluminum, they resort to steel. There's plenty of steel in this railing
The reds cut their uprights...	...and bolt them to the aluminum frame. Smart thinking!
Blue welds a support to their railing frame	The reds add their supports as well, also bolting them together
Red's first shot breaks in the sling and scores no points	Well into the competition, the sores are pretty much even
It bounced off of the target so they get the full 50 points	Rob is complaining that no one has hit a bullseye yet
Blue scores a bullseye	They've built up a huge lead!
Red gets a bullseye on their final try	The final score tells the tale

 

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