We fired off our cannon. The Nerf ball traveled four feet and the shaft of the cannon melted due to the heat produced during the combustion reaction. Our cannon fired fairly well and I believe this to be because of the large combustion chamber in the cannon combined with the baffle we installed and the angle the cannon was tilted. Our cannon fired the Nerf ball a distance of 4 feet. This proved our hypothesis to be true. However, other cannons fired off terrifically reaching up to 21 feet. One of these cannons also had a large combustion chamber and a baffle, but they also had put a cover over the baffle so that pressure would build up in the combustion chamber until the cap burst off. This caused the Nerf ball to go shooting out of the cannon with a bang. Our cannon, along with many others, melted due to the exothermic reaction taking place when the ethanol is lighted.
This is a picture of our cannon after firing it. The barrel melted due to the heat produced by the combustion reaction. Here is a closer look.
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