Catapult Accuracy

The marshmallow challenge was an engaging and exciting way to learn and solve a problem in a form of teamwork. The challenge was to build a tower with the simple components of spaghetti, string, a long piece of tape and a marshmallow. The catch was, it was a competition for the highest tower and the marshmallow had to be placed on top of the tower. My group was able to get a nice height on the tower but unfortunately was not the highest. Our strategy for the tower was to more than anything have a strong base, so that the tower would have some type of balance when the marshmallow was placed on top. We built a triangular base and formed some type of pyramid and built off that, when the marshmallow was placed on top the tower it swung side to

A trebuchet is a siege weapon most commonly used in the middle ages. It uses gravity to propel an object. There are competitions held today called "Pumpkin Chunkin '" which use trebuchets to launch pumpkins as far as possible. The common question is what the dimensions should be when making it. Should the arm be longer or shorter? Should the counterweight be heavier or lighter? These questions have been asked by competitors in trebuchet competition as well as engineers. And this is why the project is in the field of mechanical engineering.

When people think of shooting a bow they may think of back in time when the Indians used to shoot their longbows. When you look at it from that perspective it seems like bows are such a simple piece of equipment. Unless you’ve really sat down and looked at a compound bow you wouldn’t understand that there can be so many parts to make it function properly. For example, the string moving at such a high rate of speed to launch the arrow, then comes to a complete stop in just a fraction of a second with very minimal vibration. How does that not tear something up?

“Brian explained how we could make a catapult… …by piling rocks on the mattress and rigging it with ropes looped over tree branches. When [Ernie] came within range, Brian gave the word, and we jerked back on the ropes. The mattress shot forward, and our arsenal of rocks flew through the air. I heard them thud against Ernie’s body and clatter on the road. He screamed and cursed as his bike skidded” (Walls 166).

Trebuchets are most commonly known as medieval weapons used in the Middle Ages. Us three were to build a smaller scale of the trebuchet and had to make sure it hit the target two out of the five times. We had to build a hinged-counter weight type of trebuchet with wheels that could throw a ping pong or golf ball. Through the paper I will explain the history throughout trebuchets and why to have wheels and to have a hinged counter weight on the trebuchet. Also the calculations on the potential energy and velocity are through this report. Our trebuchet met all of the requirements that were to be made and it hit the target three out of the five times. This report will

The most important factor that I learned so far would be that accuracy is crucial to journalism. An example, on the first lecture, an example of The Harold Experiment was given to the students by the instructor Andrew Wahl. Then, an assignment was given to the students to write down, in five minutes, on what just happened, the purpose for this activity was to make the students realize how crucial accuracy is and how your view is different from others. For instance, in the discussion of the lecture, the student Heather Stribling had previously taken a journalism class with the instructor Andrew Wahl, for Stribling the introduction was a normal thing for her. But on the other hand, this for me was a weird and hilarious introduction. Also, if

With a piece of string, tape, 20 pieces of spaghetti noodles, and a marshmallow is what was used in this challenge. The challenge was to build the tallest freestanding structure with a marshmallow on top. The class was split into groups of three, the purpose of this was for everyone to collaborate and work together. Each group tried different methods to get their structure to stand tall. This challenge reflected how we, as teachers, work together to build a structure for our students.

We can look at the catapult as a lever which is meant to change direction and/or multiply the force that is applied to the projectile. A lever has three locations: the fulcrum, on which the lever arm rotates; the load, where the mass is located on the lever arm; and the effort, where the force, a push or pull, is applied (Vogel 178). It is meant to throw an object a certain horizontal distance in a certain, short time frame so that its impact would be greater than just a human hurling a giant rock at a building. We might intrinsically know this. “Probably no mechanical device is older than the lever; simple and versatile, it’s no doubt older than we humans,” mentions Steve Vogel in Cat’s Paws and Catapults (Vogel 178). If a larger kid jumps from a tree onto a seesaw with a smaller child will be launched into the air. The physics principals that govern the catapult also govern force, mass, speed and acceleration, rotational motion, and projectile motion. From these principals we find out what the optimum projectile mass, lever arm length, time, and launch angle which would produce optimum speed, impact, and horizontal distance traveled by the projectile.

The physics concepts associated with them are projectile motion, energy, momentum, forces , speeds, and distances. The kinds of catapults all use the same theme of accumulated tension, but acquire that tension in their own way, their own design. The Mangonel catapult for instance, is what most of us think of as the traditional catapult. A large wooden device with four wheels and a spoon that launches fireballs. The Mangonel stores energy much like a spring would, therefore, we use the equation PEspring = 1/2kx^2. The tension in the ropes and arms of the catapult when pulling on its long arm stores potential energy which is transformed into kinetic energy when fired upon.

Have you ever wondered how a Trebuchet works, well if you read this you will know. To test a Trebuchet you have to know if the length of an arm on a Trebuchet affects the distance the projectile travels. This is an important question if you like building, figuring out how things work, or physics. Also, understanding how a Trebuchet works can help people learn how to make more advanced machines or weapons. Yes the length of an arm on a trebuchet affects the distance it travels. A longer arm will launch the farthest. To build a Trebuchet you will need to know about the physics, kinetic and potential energy, and force and momentum.

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Catapults were originally developed in 399 B.C, and had derived their “shooting” power from springs, twisted bundles of cords, or heavier weighted cords. When the twisted ropes on these catapults were released, a stone weighing around 50 pounds could be launched the length of four football fields, though some of the largest catapults could throw stones up to 600 pounds, and some of the smaller models were used to launch flaming arrows at foes (Jason Richie, Designing the Tools of War). Catapults, you see, were used for a

“The trebuchet is a counter weight siege engine” (Alchin, 2015c). The trebuchet was invited around 300 B.C. by the Chinese and later introduced to Europe around 1100 A.D. The trebuchet was built using a frame and an arm with a rope or a counter weight attached to one end of the arm. The other end of the arm had a a bucket to place the projectile. There are two types of trebuchets, they differ in the way they are shot. The first trebuchet was shot by people pulling on one end of the arm. The other was shot by a counter weight on the opposite end of the arm from the projectile. Both used gravity to bring the arm up and project the object into the air in the direction of the target. The trebuchet could not shoot as far as the others but was pretty accurate (Vick, 2015

Catapults were ballistic devices. It was invented by a man named “Dionysius the Elder” and created it around 400 BCE. Since then it was a key weapon in warfare. The way it works is that a piece of wood called the arm was connected to a cup shaped bowl but another name for it was a bucket. The bucket was meant for holding the object you wanted to launch. The objects people decided to launch whatever it was it was called the payload. The arm connected to the bucket is laid flat down and springs vertically up once the user pulls a lever to launch or does it manually it will make the object launch in its desired direction. Sometimes there would be wheels at the bottom so it will be easy to move if the target is moving. A catapult was used to fire

My project consisted of launching M&Ms with a Da Vinci catapult. My problem was “Of the three angles: 20 degrees, 40 degrees, and 60 degrees, which one will launch the M&M the farthest.” The hypothesis I formulated from this problem was that the 20 degree angle would launch the candies the farthest.