Discussion:
Over all, my model did successfully serve its purpose which was to demonstrate the concept of propulsion through the power of air pressure. Although it was not an exact small scale model of my idea, it was an easy and well understood design that simply showed how powerful air under pressure is when compared to a vacuum.
Possible Improvements
Possible improvements to my model include making it more similar to my actual idea and making the model with more care (I still had the problem of several small air leaks).
- I think my model would better demonstrate the idea of an air pressured space elevator if it was vertical and fired the ball into the air like a rocket. At first I did try this but the ball, if pointed straight up, did not have the force required to punch through the packing tape at the end. I ended up settling on a horizontal tube because it was more likely to work. If however I had had access to a more powerful vacuum pump I would have indeed made a vertical model.
- Another improvement to my design would be to build it with more precision and care. during testing, I struggled with several small air leaks that may have effected my cannons performance slightly. Also, above I blame the vacuum pump for having not enough power to fire the ball vertically, but it could be that my pipe was simply not air tight enough. Regardless, greater care while building it would have certainly resulted in better and more reliable results.