During this entire week before school’s out, me and two of my friends are starting on a project for our Physics class. Our task, to make a trebuchet no wider than 29 inches and no higher than 7 feet.
A trebuchet is a type of catapult in which it uses stored potential energy in its counterweight to transfer it into kinetic energy. Think of it as a seesaw in which if there was a big, fat kid on one end and a small, skinny kid on the other, the small kid would go flying. Our goal is to make this machine to launch a softball 100 feet far and hit a target. The question now is, can we do it?
Day one.
So far we have planned our model and created a prototype made of pop sickle sticks. We intend on using a scale factor and converting it into a bigger size. It took us five long hours, 1 hour in which we fiddled around with design, just to make the prototype. At first, the prototype looked unpromising as it was light and unbalanced. However, when everything was put into place, our pop sickle trebuchet looked amazing. Now all we had to do is test it.
At first we used string and a paper pouch to hold our projectile, or object. Then we put about two pounds worth of quarters into the counterweight. Now load the trebuchet, and FIRE!
Failure. Absolute failure. Instead of going forward, our projectile went backwards! All hope seemed demolished, but we gave it a second shot.
Three, two, one, and launch! Success! Our projectile went forward for about five feet! The room filled with roars of accomplishment. It had actually worked. We had actually made a trebuchet that functioned. The feeling was unimaginably pleasing.
Now with our basics down, the hardest part of actually making the real trebuchet was at hand.
By the way, after my group finishes the project, we’ll post a video of our catapult in action. If you have any questions on how this trebuchet works and ect. leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.
