Our Cannon

Materials:

Our materials were 2 tennis ball cans, scissors, a protractor, and 18 inches of tape.

 This is our design sheet. We ended up choosing a mix of the designs, the one where we made the cylinder smaller, and the stand of the first one.

Step 1. We drew out our designs, and discussed the best angle (we determined 45 degrees), and how we should support the cannon, etc. We decided to use Boyles Law based on pressure being inversely related to volume. We figured that this would be easiest to work with, considering we didnt have as much control over anything besides the volume. In order to raise the pressure, we decreased the volume of the container (in later steps).
To find the best angle I calculated what the distance (R) would be with two different angles as shown:

Step 2. We began to make our cannon in this step. We have to remove the labels off the tennis cans.
Step 3. We cut the bottom off of one of the cannons.

Step 4: We cut a slit down the middle of the cannon, and taped it together to decrease the volume.

Step 5: After we taped that, we made the base of the cannon. To make this, we took the second can, and cut it shorter. Then we taped the cap to the side opposite of the metal circle.
Step 6: When we had made sure that the base was sturdy, we cut a hole in the middle of the base to hold the cannon. We adjusted it so it would be 45 degrees, which after research and calculations we figured was the best angle.

Step 7: We securely taped the cannon to the base. After that we added a hole to put the wood splint through.
Step 8: We are finished! Casey added a few stickers for "luck."

Expected Results:
I think that our cannon will either do good, or implode. Because we decreased the volume, our cannon has the potential to excel over others. At the same time we had not done this before, so our cannon might not be able to shoot the ball, or it may begin to melt.


The Balanced Chemical Equation:
C₂H₅OH + 3O₂ -> 2CO₂ + 3H₂O