Mell How does the length of the arm affect a catapult?
How does the length of the throwing arm affect the horizontal distance travelled by an object that is thrown from a catapult? Increasing length of the throwing arm, also increases the horizontal distance travelled by the thrown object.
How does increasing the sling length affect the launch angle and initial speed of the projectile?
Explanation: In general, increasing the length of the sling will increase the amount of kinetic energy that is transferred to the projectile and thus increase the initial speed of the projectile.
What does the length of the sling do on the trebuchet?
As the arm of the trebuchet begins to move, the sling drags the ball before lifting it into the air. This gives the swinging arm time to pick up speed. The sling is an extension of the beam’s reach. At the time it is launched, the sling is actually moving faster than the beam, creating a whipping motion.
What affects the range of a trebuchet?
There are many different factors that can affect the range of a trebuchet; for example, the mass of the counterweight or the length of the lever arm. In addition to building prototypes of a trebuchet, you can also use physics calculations or even a computer simulation to help you design it to have the best range.
What is the best arm ratio for a trebuchet?
General wisdom has a 5:1 ratio being the norm for a standard trebuchet, although 4:1 is sometimes used. The longer the ratio, the greater the speed that tip of the throwing arm will reach – but also increasing the force required to move it quickly.
What is the initial angle of the launch trebuchet?
The initial release position is such that the beam on the counterweight side makes an angle of 45° with the vertical. The length of the long arm of the beam (on the payload side) is 3.75 times the length of the short arm of the beam (on the counterweight side).
How do the trebuchets differ?
Technically a class of catapult, trebuchet differs from most other catapults, which use torsion (i.e. a wound rope, much like an oversized crossbow), in that it uses the leverage principle to launch the projectile. The mechanism consists of a long, usually wooden, arm mounted on an axle in a wooden frame.
Is it legal to build a trebuchet?
Here’s what you need to know. The short, non-answer is of course you can build your own catapult. And there are no laws prohibiting the construction of catapults. But whether you should build your own catapult, or whether the use of your catapult will be legal, is a bit more complicated.
What is the best ratio for a trebuchet?
General advice is that the optimal ratio is 133:1. A golf ball projectile (1.62 oz) should fire best with 13.46 lbs of counterweight – and a 14 lb bowling ball should have 1862 lbs pulling on the other side of the arm to reach maximum distance.
What class of people compelled garrisons to surrender?
It was the engineers, men of really quite low social status in comparison, with the great siege engines. It was they who compelled the garrisons to surrender.
Why does a trebuchet have a high launch velocity?
Trebuchet Physics. This is the principal of mechanical advantage, and is what allows the payload to reach a high launch velocity. However, because the counterweight pivots around a much shorter distance, its weight must be much greater than the weight of the payload, to get a high launch velocity.
What are the advantages of a walking arm trebuchet?
It has many of the advantages of a floating arm trebuchet, but with fewer parts, less friction, and a unique projectile launch path. As you can see in my son’s video, above, the projectile never swings backward beyond its starting point, reducing the danger to bystanders behind the trebuchet.
Why is the mangonel not as energy efficient as the trebuchet?
However, the mangonel is not as energy efficient as the trebuchet for the main reason that the arm reaches a high speed during the launch. This means that a large percentage of the stored energy goes into accelerating the arm, which is energy wasted.
How is the moment of inertia determined in a trebuchet?
Trebuchet Physics. The term d2θ/dt2 is the angular acceleration of the beam. In calculating the moment of inertia the beam is treated as a slender rod. Lastly, analyze the payload using a free-body diagram, as shown below. Once again, let the origin of the coordinate system xy lie at point P (which is a fixed point).