St. Patrick's Day Science

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We thought we would celebrate with a little leprechaun science magic.  Try this out and let us know how it goes!

Shamrock Launcher
​Materials:
Short pencil or popsicle stick
Thin rubber bands (2)
Cardboad tube (2 empty toilet paper tubes or empty paper towel tube cut in half)
Packing tape or other strong tape
Scissors
Cotton balls (green ones, for St. Patrick's Day flair)
Single hole punch

Process:
1. Cut down the side of one of the toilet paper tubes lengthwise.
2. Squeeze the roll so that it becomes narrower, about half the original diameter, then tape it to hold it in place.
3. Punch two holes opposite one another, half an inch away from the end of the skinny tube.  Or, if you are using a popsicle stick instead of a pencil, use scissors to make narrower holes the same shape as the popsicle stick.
4. Carefully push your pencil or popsicle stick through the holes.
5. On the second toilet paper tube, cut two slits into one end of the tube, about 1/4 inch long and 1/2 inch apart.
6. Cut two more slits on the same end of the tube, directly across from the first two.
7. Carefully loop one rubber band through the slits on one side, so that it hangs from the cardboard piece in the middle.  Put a piece of tape over the slits to reinforce the carboard tab.
8. Loop the other rubber band through the slits on the other side of the tube.  When you are finished, the tube should have a rubber band hanging from each sitde.
9. Holding the rubber band tube so that the rubber bands are at the top, slide the narrower tube into the wider one, with the pencil end at the bottom.
10.  Carefully loop each rubber band end around the pencil.  Hold you launcher so that the pencil is at the bottom.  Place a cotton ball on the top, resting inside the narrower tube.
11.  Tilt the launcher down, but not so far that you drop the cotton ball.  Pull back on the pencil and release!

You used two types of energy in this activity.  As you drew back on the pencil, you added potential energy to the system.  When you released the pencil, the potential energy became kinetic energy!