Center of Gravity and Distance Traveled by NERF Darts

Overview

My project is about how the center of gravity affects the distance a projectile can travel. The data I collected can explain how to balance a projectile to achieve the maximum distance possible. I hypothesized that the farther forward the 3D-printed weight was, the further it would go. I thought that because of my previous knowledge of playing darts with my friends. T o test this, I mounted a brand new NERF Jolt to a custom-designed 3D-printed bracket to ensure each shot would launch at the same angle. I randomly selected in which order I would fire the 10 darts with a cardboard spinner wheel I made. I then measured the distance the dart traveled and recorded the distance in Google Sheets. As the weight moved forward, the r2 value increased, telling us that as the weight moved forward, it influenced the distance the dart went less. I was partially right and wrong. When the weight was further forward, it did better than the darts without the weight in the rear. However, darts with weight toward the front didn’t do as well as the control group. These results surprised me and could be used to make rockets, missiles, or bullets more effective.

Competition history

• JSHS 2023 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.