Pasco Pop-Up Cart

A pasco cart with a mechanism that shoot balls straight up on top of it. The cart is on a track.

PIRA 1D60.10

Materials: Pasco Track, Pasco Cart with Ball Ejector, Pasco Photogate Trigger, Underbridge Box

When properly adjusted, the ball will fall right back into the launcher, independent of the speed of the cart, so long as it is constant. Prove to students that the ball is shot straight up by triggering the launcher while the cart is at rest. The demo can be made more impressive by making the cart pass through a cardboard box "tunnel" while the ball sails overhead.

Level the track with a spirit level. Adjust the launch direction using the two adjustment screws on the Pop-Up Ascessory so that the ball will land back into the launcher cup, slightly off center. If the ball lands right in the center, missing the foam padding inside the cup, it will often bounce out. Be sure to practice this a few times before you do it in front of students.

The Pasco Pop-Up Cart is assembled by attaching the Pop-Up Ascessory to a Pasco Dynamics cart. Pasco Dynamics carts are designed to move with little friction on the Pasco Dynamics Track. The Pop-Up Cart will shoot a small ball straight up when the side-mounted photogate on the Pop-Up Ascessory is triggered. This occurs when the cart passes by a post mounted to the side of the track. The horizontal blade on the post is what interrupts the photogate and triggers the launch.