Catapulting though Time & Physics Essay

The World of Gunpowder and How It Revolutionized Weaponry and More Invented by an unknown Chinese alchemist, gunpowder has changed the world of weaponry and the the world of weapons as well. Gunpowder has changed the world in many ways. Invented in the fifth century, a Chinese alchemist was trying to find a potion to immortality, but it failed (Ross). Eventually they found out the powder can explode by igniting a flame to it. With gunpowder, fireworks were invented and people thought it could ward off evil spirits with their bright lights and loud noises (“THOF”).

The way a Trebuchet works is that a counter weight drops which pulls the arm forward and at the point of takeoff a pin releases the object that is being projected. The counterweight drops using gravity and is attached to the arm causing it to fly up and launch the object. Engineers have had previous experience in this field because of the world wide trebuchet launching competitions. One example of engineers making this trebuchet are the engineers from team NASAW in the Pumpkin Chunkin ' competition. Team NASAW has a trebuchet with a heavy weight and a long arm. There arm and weight start next to each other at the beginning. The weight drops forward and like a whip the arm swings around and fires the pumpkin into the air at insane speeds. They are one of the top competitors in the competition and have proven countless times that the design works wonderfully.

It was felt that it is important that manufacturing science should consider equipping the soldiers with guns which could make a bigger impact for the enemies. The armies have come a long way since they fought with spears, bows and arrows. Undoubtedly, the greatest technological reform came in the field artillery. (WORLD HISTORY OF WARFARE Archer, Christon I., 1940-; Ferris, John Robert, 1956-; Herwig, Holger H.; Travers, Timothy., c2002. Armed forces are one of biggest resource used in warfare and weapons are their tools provided, to help maneuver them in the fields. These weapons are designed to make maximum impact on enemies in terms of harm or kill or making them disabled, so that infantry soldiers can make inroads to enemy’s territory. Technological advancement in weapons is just not only attributed to change in physical form of weapon, but there is lot of physics, chemistry, mechanics are involved in development of weapons. Previously, guns had been cast in individual molds and hence been much too heavy to drag across battlefields. Starting in eighteen century and until World War 1 various types of artillery guns were developed and used in war, however each one of these had their limitations. For example, prior to World War 1, Gatling gun was the most popular automatic rapid fire weapon, however it was quite heavy which limited its use in warfare. Later British developed Vickers gun, however it required six- man team to operate his gun. Subsequently Americans invented Lewis gun, an automatic machine gun. This gun was gas powered and just weighted 28lbs. It could fire 500-600 rounds per minute with maximum muzzle velocity of 2,440 feet per seconds. The machine gun was an effective addition to arsenals during this time of

The slingshot is a weapon used by people for generations. It was originally just a strapped sling used to propel rocks. It usually was used as a lightweight hunting weapon and sometimes for defense (Yoder.) People had used it by rapidly spinning the string and letting it go, sending the rock flying at high speeds. It wasn’t until the mid-1800 's that the traditional slingshot we all know of today came into play (Yoder.) It was a y-shaped stick with two elastic bands tied between two endpoints at either of the upper ends of the Y. It is a seemingly simple machine, where all you have to do to be able to use it was point, pull, and release. This is what made them ideal for children to play with in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. However, slingshots are not as simple as people originally thought. Slingshots have a lot of scientific and mathematical concepts that are the reason it was such a useful weapon back in the day and a great form of entertainment today.

With a lemon-shaped piece of iron and a tail made of paper or cardboard, the handheld explosive greatly resembled a dart. On the front of the grenade’s body was a plunger, which held a percussion cap filled with explosive material.When the the grenade fell onto its nose and applied pressure to the plunger, an explosion was triggered, only to be met by more gunpowder inside. Although the resulting explosion caused a great deal of mayhem and shrapnel, it was not very reliable because its detonation depended on the grenade falling directly onto its nose. Because of its temperamental behavior, the grenade got a reputation for not being very accurate.

The first thing to know for the project, is what a projectile is. A projectile is any object cast, fired, flung, hurled, pitched, tossed, thrown, or propelled in any sort of way, by an external force and continues in motion by its own inertia. A projectile is most commonly referred to as a missile designed to be fired from a rocket or gun.

The discovery of gunpowder changed war from being fought with medieval weaponry and battle tactics to more modern day weapons and tactics because the gunpowder powered weapons are more deadly. Weapons that use gunpowder to launch projectiles have a greater range than melee weapons and are more powerful than bow and arrows. Also, cannons are more powerful and have a greater range and accuracy than catapults and they also can be reloaded faster than catapults. Gunpowder weapons changed war because they are stronger, more accurate, have a greater range and are able to be reloaded faster than medieval weaponry.

Another toy today that could use rocks to kill something or someone was the slingshot, or also known as a catapult, shanghai, or katty. The idea of the slingshot is believed to have originally come from a weapon called a sling. The origin of the sling is unknown, but people believe that it was invented during the Upper Paleolithic era, it was used to fight in wars and for hunting. The sling was almost like a yo-yo, where you would have a heavy object, usually a rock, on one end of a cord; the person using the cord would hold the other end and whip around the weapon to hit someone with the rock.

From the beginning of time war has been a factor of history. It was not until the application of artillery was the world introduced to what would become known as “The King of Battle”. Artillery is without a doubt the most casualty producing weapons on the battlefield. Able to reach enemies miles away in any direction, artillery has been a pivotal planning factor in war since its inception. World War II was no different, on the early morning of June 6th, 1944 Operation Overlord would pit the US Army Rangers against the king of battle.

“Fire!” I yelled as I pulled back the arm of the catapult, and quickly releasing it to have the marshmallow soar through the air. In this paragraph I will be writing about my catapult, and how far it fired, and also the accuracy, and finally how I built it. First, I had to construct my catapult we e were each given 16 rubber bands and 11 popsicle sticks. It was very challenging to tie the rubber bands to the popsicle sticks because there was a special way to tie the rubber bands, but I finally triumphed, I got all my rubber bands tied on. I figured out that if you tied the rubber bands to tight your catapult would start leaning and that’s what happened to mine, but if you tied them to lose your catapult would collapse. Second, I had to test

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.

The Magonel is the most common catapult. It comes from the Latin word “manganon” meaning engine of war. It was invented in 400 B.C by the Romans. This catapult was extremely strong and accurate. It was capable of firing up to 1,300 ft. based on the angle it was placed. This catapult was easy to build and travel because wheels were added to the

The missile weapons were fired or projected from a distance and were found effective due to their range, but accuracy became important and so did the skill involved in warfare.

Throughout human history, we have tried to create original designs for weapons, which attack an enemy from a great distance. One of the most successful of these weapons was the catapult. Yet, many steps were taken before the catapult was created. First, the sling was produced to surmount the restrictions of the weak human arm. Next, hunters and soldiers invented the bow and arrow to advance in aim and velocity. Eventually, key advances in power and accuracy were achieved with the design of the catapult. The catapult was first invented around 400 BC by the Greeks. In fact it was the Greeks and Romans who first perfected the use of this weapon. After much improvement their catapults were able to throw sixty-pound rocks five football fields

Mainly this article focuses on the evolution of the catapult, how it went from being almost the same as a human archer to being on the ground and throwing large rocks at the enemy. Soedel and Foley focus exclusively on others works to make their claims of how catapults were key in the advancements of Greek and Roman civilizations and they include multiple diagrams and drawings of the stages of the catapult throughout the article. Soedel and Foley appear to have used Corn’s method of technical analysis because they explain the process of knowledge of how the catapults were created. They do not use any simulation or testing through use, they seem to have studied readings and then wrote this article. But, they do seem to use the ordinary looking method to analyze the catapult and how it was created.