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The science of catapults
The science of catapults
The science of catapults
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The Physics of the Mangonel Catapult
Catapults have been used for centuries by many groups of people, including the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese. Catapults have had an assortment of purposes, but the most commonly purpose was to launch a projectile to destroy castles and soldiers. There were three main types of catapults; Ballista, Mangonel, and the Trebuchet. The mangonel was the most popular one. Different levels of torsion in the rope of the mangonel catapult decided how far a projectile was going to travel. Also the different objects that were used as projectiles and there masses also had a big role in the distance they would reach. If physics weren’t applied to building a catapult the catapult itself wouldn’t function correctly, therefore physics is what brings these machines to life. Though catapults are no longer used today in combat or any other use they still have a great history behind them.
The mangonel catapult was the most well known one. The way this catapult functioned was by pulling back on a wooden stick that was connected to a wooden arm with a bucket, would pull that arm back. Pulling back on the wooden stick would cause the potential energy of the catapult to be stored in the torsion of the ropes of the wooden arm. When the wooden stick was let go the arm wood immediately return to its original position of 90 degrees where a wooden block would stop its impact and would then launch the projectile. When the arm reaches back to its original position it forms an arc with a radius equal to the arm length. Therefore the potential energy is transferred into rotational kinetic energy. Decreasing the torsion in the ropes of the wooden arm would make the projectile travel at a slower velocity. To calculate the t...
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...ed. Another disadvantage is that the mangonel was not that accurate. The range was determined by the mass of the object and the strength of the catapult itself.
Catapults were the weapon of the medieval times. The catapults had many purposes especially during war. Physics were applied to the building of a catapult without it the catapult wouldn’t function. The different levels of torsion would affect the catapults ability to launch a projectile higher into the sky, further, and give it a faster velocity. Also the different masses of objects used as the projectile were also accounted for those things. Though the mangonel catapult was a great catapult it also lacked some abilities, such as having poor accuracy and it wouldn’t work in wet conditions or cold weather like in the rain. Overall the mangonel is a great catapult and always has been over the past centuries.
The purpose of this project was to understand the forces, momentum, and energy a contraption would experience during an impact from a pendulum at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25mph. The project was required to hold and protect 2 raw large Grade A eggs from each pendulum impact respectively.
Earlier models just used a large weight on one end of a pivoting arm. The arm was pulled back the missile was placed and then let go.
The purpose of the projectile lab is to test the validity of the law of conservation of energy. The application of this law to our everyday lives is a surprisingly complicated process. Conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but that it can be transferred from one form to another. Consider the projectile lab from document A that this essay is based upon. In an ideal experiment, the projectile is isolated from everything except the gravitational field. In this case, the only force acting on the particle is gravity and there are only two forms of energy that are of interest: the energy of the particle due to its motion (defined as kinetic
A popular weapon used by both sides was the rifle. Rifles were invented before the Civil War and were greatly used in the War of 1812. However, more types were built and a larger amount was used during the Civil War. Rifles added a spin to bullets for a greater accuracy at longer ranges. Using this weapon, soldiers could fire 400 yards away, as opposed to the average 80 yards (Robertson 50). Rifles were the fastest and hardest weapon of the time. Rifles allowed their bullets to be shot harder and faster towards its target. New inventions, used by the Union more than the Confederate, included Parrott rifles. They were composed of iron. Robert Parker Parrott, an American soldier and inventor, created these weapons, hence the name Parrott rifles. Despite its name, the Parrott rifle was actually a cannon. Its size ranged from 10 to 300 pounders. It was not favored by most because it was considered unsafe (“Civil War Artillery”). Because of its bulkiness and heaviness, it seldom led soldiers to inaccuratel...
Non-trebuchet catapults are powered by torsion. The energy is stored in twisted animal sinew or vine-based ropes. Trebuchets are powered by a large counterweight or counterforce, which when released, falls and pulls a swing arm up and over with a sling containing the projectile. At the right angle the sling is released sending the projectile to the target. In its simplest form, a trebuchet is a lever.
Question 5: “Texts construct characters who represent the best qualities in human nature, as well as those who represent the worst.” Discuss how at least ONE character is constructed in a text you have read or viewed. (Sem 2, 2016)
There is a throwing arm, a base, a sling, a counterweight, a pin and trigger, and the projectile itself. The throwing arm is what swings the sling (the contraption used to hold the projectile). The base is there primarily for foundational support and to hold everything up and together. When one pulls the pin from the trigger, it allows the counterweight (which replaced the pulling men for the traction trebuchet), which is commonly lead, to fall due to gravity. The falling counterweight is what sends the projectile flying through the air. “When the counter-weight falls, its gravitational potential energy is changed to kinetic energy in the moving projectile” (Campbell,
The engineering of a trebuchet was vastly improved over time, but was only due to our past ancestors wanting to use a trebuchet over a catapult because it is able to launch over longer distances and be more accurate. Many changes have been made to the trebuchet since the 12th century when it was first introduced by Christian’s and Muslim’s. They both used this to throw objects up to 90 kg for about 300 meters. They would use these weapons to throw heavy objects into forts and bunkers. Many armies still used these up through the 15th century, the ironic part about this is that gun powder was made and used at the beginning of the 15th century. The First trebuchet was referred to the “Traction Trebuchet”. This type of trebuchet was based around man’s strength; it would have
Archers weren’t the only badasses of the battlefield; other destructive weapons also created terror in the hearts of the enemy. Every city and castle feared the appearance of siege engines, especially the devastating counterweight trebuchet. This powerful gravity-driven engine could reduce a city’s walls to rubble. Infantry and cavalry alike feared the awesome pike formations of the Swiss and Landsknecht armies. Essentially a really long spear, the pike’s very simplicity provided a remarkable tactical versatility in many medieval battles.
In a successful launch of a trebuchet, the counterweight is first released; it uses the force of gravity, as I mentioned before, to pull the counterweight to the ground. The chain reaction then pulls the sling forward and upward at high velocity. Finally, the projectile is then launched forward an extreme distance and with extreme
“Volley Guns” (Chivers, 2010, p.26) or also known as “Organ Guns” (Ellis, 1975, p.10) were first attempts at increasing firepower by adding several barrels at the firing itself, rather than simply attempting to increase the rate of fire. “Gunsmiths had long ago learned to place barrels side by side on frames to create firearms capable of discharging projectiles in rapid succession. These unwieldy devices, or volley guns, were capable in theory of blasting a hole in a line of advancing soldiers” (Chivers, 2010, p.26). An example of such weapons can be seen on July 28, 1835 when Giuseppe Fieshi unleashed terror on King Louis-Phillipe in Paris, France. He fired his 25 barrel “volley gun”, killing 18 of the king's entourage and grazing the King's skull. The weapon was ineffective however. Four of the barrels failed and another four ruptured. Two other barrels had exploded inside, grievously wounding Giuseppe. (Chivers, 2010, p. 27)
During the Cold War, the United States Navy became one of America’s most important deterrence tools largely because of the aircraft carrier, a half-acre mobile platform of American sovereignty and military might. When stressing the importance of the aircraft carrier as a center of gravity of military coercion, few analysts appreciate the relatively small system that makes it a feasible launching platform for aircraft, the catapult system. This paper will explain the mechanics of the aircraft catapult system as well as its evolution from the weight and derrick system to the presently used steam system and new electromagnetic system that Gerald Ford-class aircraft carriers will use.
The definition of a projectile is an object that the only force acting on it is gravity. Projectile motion is the path the projectile takes. We saw and used this topic a few times in our project. The first time we saw it was when the marble was flew out of the pipe and was in the air. The second time we used the topic to make sure the trains fell on the lever in the correct spot so the golf ball would roll. The third time it was used, was when the board fall on the balloon. It fell as half of a parabola since it started standing up.
How to Hunt Big Fish with an Air Rifle? Hunting big fish with air rifles, also known as pellet gun or BB gun, offer unique challenges to the sport. It sounds impossible to be able to hunt down a fish with an air rifle but with a bit of knowledge and practice, can yield positive results for any fishing expedition. Why Use an Air Rifle?
In this assessment of the projectile motion of an object, I found that it can be applied to many useful situations in our daily lives. There are many different equations and theorems to apply to an object in motion to either find the path of motion, the displacement, velocity, acceleration, and time of the object in the air.