We decided to beat the summer heat in Goleta with a water balloon cannon. DesigningIn July, we started off thinking about the design to use and drew some sketches. We looked online for inspiration and found a design for an air-powered PVC cannon on Make.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXkYxFYX4a8 BuildingWe had a lot of fun building the cannon. It wasn't difficult for us. We printed out the plans from Make magazine and measured how long we should cut the pipes. We glued the caps to the pipes and drilled a hole that was the perfect size for the valve. TestingWe waited for the glue to dry and then it was time to test it! We used a bike pump to put air in the chamber. The pressure builds up and we release the air by twisting the valve, which launches the balloon! Unfortunately, we dropped it and one of the PVC caps cracked and so there was a big leak. We tried to patch it with duct tape and make the seal tighter with out hands to keep the pressure up. Even with the crack, it shot over the fence and into the road! We were wondering how far went and although we didn't measure it we estimated it to be over 100ft. Each balloon weighed probably around 3-6 oz. We didn't have any pictures of water balloons on this day so for fun here is a simulated version of the events that occurred: RevisingAfter testing it we wanted to fix the leak. We cut off the broken cap and replaced it. We also added some color to it with spray paint. More LaunchingIt was September by the time we could launch water balloons again and we confirmed the leak was successfully patched. Now the launcher could hold air pressure and we didn't have to keep pumping it. It was easier to see the balloon in real life than in the video. But you can the see the balloon at 00:59 in the video.
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AuthorSt. George Youth Center Teens Archives
October 2019
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