The problem with that is that if the ideal projectile is a small diameter dart made of a dense material, it's going to come back down at considerable velocity to the peril of whoever happens to be standing underneath. This would also be out of the question for anyone living in an urban area.chenslee wrote:Shoot the cannon straight up, and whoever's projectile stays up the longest wins. It's easy to measure with a video camera.
You could have a projectile that opens up at the peak of its trajectory that will come down at a slower rate, but this practically cheating, not to mention such a mechanism would be prone to failure and therefore no guarantee of safety.
True, but part of being creative is being to squeeze the best of what facilities and materials you have to hand. I would give more credit to someone who can craft a practical and clean launcher without the benefit of machine tools and computer design, though I must make it clear in no way am I saying that the merit of launchers such as your own are in anyway diminishedYou are right. Even the creativity contest was dominated by people who have access to machine tools.
