Mousetrap, tape, spoon: The Premium Ping Pong Catapult

Catapults have long been used for launching objects of all shapes and sizes, usually in attempt to destroy enemy lines before more advanced technology came to replace it, but look no further, the ping pong ball catapult that we have all been waiting for has arrived. Constructed of merely a mousetrap, tape, and a plastic spoon, my catapult can launch ping pong balls 15 feet or further and can be made in less than 10 minutes. Guidelines for catapult construction:

1) First, unscrew or ply out any metal on the mousetrap such as a holding bar or catch so that only the spring and platform are left.

2) Next, tape the platform of the mousetrap to a sturdy surface with layers of tape streaming across the top and bottom of the platform, so it is held in place.

3) Next take your spoon (plastic or metal) and attach it to the hammer of the mousetrap by applying 4 layers of tape around the top, middle, and bottom of the hammer.

See diagram-

4) Spoon should point downwards so when turned over it looks like the above picture.

5) Next cut a Ping-Pong ball in half and tape it to your spoon.                              

    6) Catapult is now fully functional, place Ping-Pong ball on the spoon and launch away.

Challenges in construction process: 

At first, many obstacles were catapulted my way when my first construction began. I knew I had to tape down the base but continuously the catapult would flip and send the ball either straight into the air, or backwards which caused me to readjust my model. Originally it had been unsuccessful so I began with an entirely different construction. After trial and error I realized I needed to tape around the hammer in order for the spoon to be sturdy enough, so after thoroughly taping the spoon, my next obstacle arose. The spoon broke various times while first catapulting, and after two had become useless, I added half of a Ping-Pong ball to the spoon base in order for the ball to be held in place and to add durability to the spoon. Finally, after suffering another broken spoon the catapult began to fire ping pong balls with ease, that is until I had shot around 20 balls and it began to reduce shooting range which was fixed by making extra models as the springs of the mousetraps began to wear. 

Final product is displayed below.