1st Trial: This was conducted without the weights or a release mechanism. We released the water balloon manually by pulling back the arm by hand and then releasing. The water balloon didn't go that far because there weren't weights holding down the arm to provide more force acting on the water balloon as it was released.
2nd Trial: This was without the release mechanism, but with weights.. We released the arm by hand to see how far the water balloon would go without having a release mechanism. The weights were chained together, which even though it added more force, they would move around a lot causing the catapult to become off balance. When the water balloon was released the catapult moved side to side causing the balloon to not travel as far. The water balloon went about 15 ft.
3rd Trial: This trial was the after the catapult was fully assembled with the weights screwed together and a release mechanism attached. The release mechanism is a string attached to a hook. Having this is better because----. The weights proved to be better screwed in because it they weren't constantly moving around so the catapult was more balanced.