What Is a Trebuchet? Essay Sample

The best manner to get down an experiment is to inquire a inquiry. Our inquiry is. “What is a catapult? ” In replying this inquiry. we will look into about every facet of a catapult. including but non limited to history. design. physique. and theory. Our experiment was started with the aid of a package which contained much of this information. therefore the lone thing that needed to be completed was the design and physique. and the work that follows-testing. demonstrating. and describing. From experience. the best manner to construct a kit is simplicity. We did non pass a batch of clip planing. but instead utilizing past thoughts to establish our design on. Our ground for this is that there has been 100s of old ages since the creative activity of the catapult. and since it has been optimized. why attempt to “fix what isn’t broke? ” As you can see in fig. 1. our initial design was highly basic. Our physique consisted of assembly. utilizing the supplied supplies. proving. tweaking. and retesting. The chief aim is to accomplish consistence.

We used2 Fifty brackets as the initial chief verticals. and finally added a long consecutive piece to each to increase pivot point tallness. We supported these verticals by utilizing 2 short level pieces linking the base and verticals at a 45° angle. Our arm is the piece most of the work was focused on. We tried to maximise the weight on the weight side of the arm. while minimising the weight on the basket side of the arm. This was done by adding multiple brackets and hardware on the weight side. and by utilizing lightweight pieces on the basket side. The basket was used and tied into the terminal of the arm. and a metal rod is used to keep the cringle of the basket to find launch angle. The bulk of our process was based on the consequence of the catapult. and being able to rectify any lacks.

Analytic Procedure

A catapult plant by change overing stored possible energy into kinetic energy. It accomplishes this by set uping a gravitative possible energy. in the signifier of a weight which is raised off the land. and transportations this energy through a pivot point. raising the arm of the catapult which has a speed which is transferred into a Ping niff ball which is released at some clip. The stored energy. gravitative energy. is the most of import to the catapult. and can be calculated with the expression ; where the mass of the weight is. is the gravitative invariable. and is the distance between the weight and the floor.

Kinetic energy is the energy of gesture. It can be found by utilizing the expression ; where is the initial speed of the missile and is the mass of the missile. This expression is critical in maximising the kinetic energy of the catapult. since the mass of the ball is fixed ; the lone manner to impact the public presentation is to alter the initial speed. This initial speed can be calculated by utilizing the expression: . contradicting retarding force. After the experiment takes topographic point. the efficiency of the catapult can be calculated. and since energy can non be created or destroyed. this preservation of energy expression can be used: Unfortunately. the efficiency of this type of catapult is non really high. due to factors such as clash. and the transportation of energy into things other than the missile.

Calculations and Consequences

Potential Energy: PEg=mwgh
1. 5kg9. 81ms2. 609m=8. 95J
Kinetic Energy: KE=12mbv2
( 12 ) ( 0. 0025kg ) ( 6. 6 m/s ) =0. 05445J
Conservation of Energy: efficiency=E=KEprojectilePEgx100 %
0. 05445J8. 95J=0. 61J
Speed: ?xball=xf-xi=vot cos? ( ? )
7. 25m=5. 89ms1. 23scos26. 4°=6. 6m/s

Discussion of Results and Conclusions