Research Testing the Shot Distance of the Crossbow, the Catapult, and the Slingshot

To fire it, the spoke or arm was forced down, against the tension of twisted ropes or other springs, by a windlass, and then suddenly released. As the sling swung outwards, one end would release, as with a staff-sling, and the projectile would be hurled forward. The arm would then be caught by a padded beam or bed, when it could be winched back again. The Onager is usually the first type of catapult

There are three types of artillery used by the Continental Army, which consisted of cannons, mortars, and howitzers. The two main types of cannons are the field gun that was lightweight and mobile, while the heavy siege gun is larger and has limited mobility. The field gun fired a variety of rounds such as solid shot, grapeshot, and canister shot that has a flat trajectory. This would tear large holes in the opposing forces ranks, destroying personnel, and equipment. Solid shot was simply a solid cast-iron cannonball that had the least effective range unless it was rolling or bouncing. Grape shot was most commonly used for long range target with a kill zone of 600 yards. Grape shot was generally constructed out of a canvas bag, with lead or iron balls half the size of musket balls that has a wooden base, and center rod to help the artillery men handle the rounds. Canister shot is a thin metal cylinder filled with a massive amount

The howitzer was originally designed with a short barrel and large caliber resulting in the charge to be smaller so as not to add too much stress to the round inside. This meant that the howitzer was primarily a short range weapon system. The estimated ranges of the artillery pieces are as follows, the cannon fired with a maximum range of 2,000 yards and an effective range of 1,000 yards. The mortar fired at a maximum range of 1,400 yards with an effective range of 750 yards and the howitzer fired at a maximum range of 1,300 yards and an effective range of 750 yards.

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.

There are two main things to consider when looking at archery and the physics concepts behind it. First there is the bow, which basically is a device that uses human force over a distance and converts that into stored Mechanical Potential Energy. The second factor involves that stored Mechanical Energy being

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

Canister projectiles came packed in a tin can while grape shot was usually wrapped in a cloth or canvas covering and tied with string, which made it look like a bunch of grapes. When fired, the can or wrapping disintegrated, releasing the shot in a spray. In effect, then, a gun loaded with grape shot or canister acted like a large, sawed-off shotgun; it was particularly lethal when fired at a range of 250 yards or less. (Parker 2005-20016) The field artilleries of the day, as it was more effective to fire the smaller and more numerous canister balls at an advancing enemy less often used grape. Thanks to its superior industrial strength, the North had an overall advantage over the South in all types of artillery, as well as a higher percentage of rifled cannon to smoothbore

The flipping motion of the atlatl propels a light spear much faster and farther than it could be thrown by hand alone. Darts were used made from oak, single pointed with obsidian, flint, or even copper or bone. The propelled darts tended to be more powerful than arrows (Cóttrill).

Matt Stutzman is a 33-year old man who holds the record for the longest distance shot of an arrow that reached its target. Amazingly, this man accomplished this feat from a length of 230 yards. What is even more astonishing, he did this all hands-free, as he was born without arms.

The long range infantry weapon of the 1700’s was the musket. The musket is stronger than the bow and arrow. The kinetic energy and momentum of an 18mm musket ball shooting from a Brown Bess musket are 1460 joules and 9.36 kg*m/s. The kinetic energy and momentum of an arrow being shot from a bow are 16.5 joules and 1.15 kg*m/s. The musket ball clearly has a much stronger momentum and kinetic energy than the arrow, which means it has more stopping power. Firearms of the 1700’s also have much greater maximum range than bows and arrows. If a Brown Bess was fired at a forty five degree angle in a frictionless environment, the musket ball would travel 9783 meters. If a bow fired it’s arrow at forty-five degrees in a frictionless environment, it would travel only one hundred and nineteen meters. The musket has more than eighty-two times the maximum range of the bow and arrow. Some might say that bows and arrows are stronger than muskets, but that is not entirely true. Most people refer to muskets and rifles of the eighteen and nineteenth century only as smooth-bore barrel muskets. Muskets barrels later became rifled in the nineteenth century and are much more accurate than their smooth-bore relatives. Not only are muskets more lethal than bows and arrows, but cannons and artillery are more lethal than medieval catapults.

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 Mangonel has the capability of firing projectiles up to 400 metres. This catapult is best suited for launching projectiles at lower angles to the horizontal, which was useful for destroying walls.

Potato launcher, a cannon that does exactly what the name says it does. There are three different types of potato cannons, but they all have one thing in common. Which is all three-use pressure to propel the potato. The first type is combustion, which uses pressure from the explosion of gasses and other fuels to create pressure, which launches the projectile. The second method is pneumatic; this method releases a chamber full of compressed air an extremely fast rate. The last method of creating a pressure difference is a hybrid design, this way simply increases both the fuel and air amount in equal amounts, this produces more pressure then a typical explosion. Before learning about the different types of potato launchers, you should understand what makes a potato cannon. A potato launcher is homemade

As a result of trail and error method we find the angle for the third pulley and the mass that should had be suspended from it. This will balance the forces deployed on the strings due to the other two masses. While the third force is defined as the equilibrant (������⃗������) Since it is the force that establishes the equilibrium. It is also the negative of the resultant -������⃗������ = ������⃗������ = ������⃗ ������ + ������⃗������. We gathered and recorded the mass and the angle required for the third pulley to enable to put the system into the equilibrium in table 1.

Hypothesis: If one increases the length of a cantilever, one would expect there to be an increase in deflection/flexion of the cantilever. Similarly, if one increases the mass of the load, one would expect there to be an increase in the deflexion/flexion of the cantilever. In addition, I predict that proportionality will also occur