Reflection

Hey I B High! February 6, 2008
We shot the cannon today and this is what we observed:
1) It shot about 6.5 ft
2) The cannon imploded in the middle from the heat
3) The ethanol created an exothermic reaction
4) Smaller cannons with a combustion chamber went farther

Personal Reflections

Cannon Firing

Cannon Implodes

This is the cannon right after it shot--it imploded in the middle from the heat melting the plastic, and had an exothermic reaction

Overall Reflection

Overall, our team agreed upon a couple of things that were effective of harmful to the cannon's performance
1) The cannon did not have a combustion chamber--this would have created a centralized force on the ball instead of the wide spread pressure
2) The barrel was too long--a smaller volume would have created more pressure, which would have driven the ball farther
3) The angle was a rather decent one--it avoided the friction from the ball skidding along the ground, but was not to high, which would have shot the ball farther up in the air than out

Our team was satisfied with the results the cannon gave us for our design, but would change these things next time we build a tennis ball container cannon.