Trebuchet project reflection
The Trebuchet Project was to learn about and create trebuchets. We are in charge of learning the best angles to launch at, what would be the best projectile, best counterweight, and the math of this spectacular invention. We were responsible for bringing all wood, string, slings, and other materials that may be used for this project to show us a sense of responsibility. We did this project to learn the science in trebuchets, and it is very complicated with the different formulas for potential energy and kinetic energy.
With a trebuchet, there are different equations you have to use. You have to figure out potential energy and the equation to figure out what the kinetic energy is, and figure out how far your projectile might go. You need to know where your projectile will land to know how far you can put the target at or to see if you are on par with what you may need. The equation for Potential energy is PE(potential energy)=mass multiplied by gravity multiplied by height, mass being the mass of the counterweight, and height being the height of the arm at its highest peak of travel. For Kinetic energy, it is KE(Kinetic energy)=½ mass multiplied by velocity. Velocity is the speed and direction the projectile is going, the mass is the counterweight.
With a trebuchet, you are going to launch a projectile pretty far. To do this, you need your projectile to release from your sling when it is at a 45 degree angle to get maximum distance capable. When the projectile is released at 45 degrees, it is at a very high velocity, and the speed shouldn’t get much higher than that. With a 45 degree release angle, you have the perfect ark and should be able to have your projectile be able to accelerate through the air because it will be rising in the air, and then gravity will be affecting the overall projectile, all though there are different variables like counterweight, wind speeds, and other things you should watch out for.
With the trebuchet project, one of the things we had to learn was how to work together. We had to learn how to communicate with one another, we had to understand what they were saying, and how to bring it to life.
We were trying to figure out what was going on with one another, and we had trouble with that for the first week. We didn’t realize that our ideas were different from ours and what others were doing, we didn’t realize we all had a little creative spark in our minds. We had a lot to work on and figure out before we were able to get the project working and done, and that require a lot of working together, which is what is needed in a group project like this, and it ended up working out pretty well.
In the end of the project, we were able to collaborate and combine all of our ideas in to one trebuchet. We ended up incorporating an idea from everyone, and naturally not everyone was pleased with it, but it got the project done. We thought long and hard on it all, because we knew that we had to do good on this project or we would probably of failed the class, so it took a lot of critical thinking, time and energy for multiple reasons, like our grades, making sure we could do the project while still keeping up with others, and so on.
There were different challenges throughout this project, but we couldn’t get over the fact that we didn’t have enough supplies. We did have problems with one another, but we were able to work those out. We never were able to get all the supplies we needed, we needed more wood, more weight for our counterweight, we needed a better sling. But almost all of this was given up for another group that needed it more than we did. And in the end, we got whatever was needed added, not when expected though, that’s for sure.
I know that I contributed to my group by helping put the final product together and fix it when things went wrong. We put together the base in the classroom, then took it outside to build the arm. We use rope to hold our counterweight on our arm, and until the exhibition, we used pie tins for our sling because we needed something we could find easily, and that just so happened to work. We then used a tupperware container for our sling at the shooting range. Our trebuchet worked moderately well, but didn’t launch our projectile as far as we wanted it to go because we didn’t have enough weight. We didn’t do very good in the end, but it was still very fun to put the project together and launch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH9sM29S0Fg&feature=youtu.be
A link to our trebuchet launching at exhibition.
The Trebuchet Project was to learn about and create trebuchets. We are in charge of learning the best angles to launch at, what would be the best projectile, best counterweight, and the math of this spectacular invention. We were responsible for bringing all wood, string, slings, and other materials that may be used for this project to show us a sense of responsibility. We did this project to learn the science in trebuchets, and it is very complicated with the different formulas for potential energy and kinetic energy.
With a trebuchet, there are different equations you have to use. You have to figure out potential energy and the equation to figure out what the kinetic energy is, and figure out how far your projectile might go. You need to know where your projectile will land to know how far you can put the target at or to see if you are on par with what you may need. The equation for Potential energy is PE(potential energy)=mass multiplied by gravity multiplied by height, mass being the mass of the counterweight, and height being the height of the arm at its highest peak of travel. For Kinetic energy, it is KE(Kinetic energy)=½ mass multiplied by velocity. Velocity is the speed and direction the projectile is going, the mass is the counterweight.
With a trebuchet, you are going to launch a projectile pretty far. To do this, you need your projectile to release from your sling when it is at a 45 degree angle to get maximum distance capable. When the projectile is released at 45 degrees, it is at a very high velocity, and the speed shouldn’t get much higher than that. With a 45 degree release angle, you have the perfect ark and should be able to have your projectile be able to accelerate through the air because it will be rising in the air, and then gravity will be affecting the overall projectile, all though there are different variables like counterweight, wind speeds, and other things you should watch out for.
With the trebuchet project, one of the things we had to learn was how to work together. We had to learn how to communicate with one another, we had to understand what they were saying, and how to bring it to life.
We were trying to figure out what was going on with one another, and we had trouble with that for the first week. We didn’t realize that our ideas were different from ours and what others were doing, we didn’t realize we all had a little creative spark in our minds. We had a lot to work on and figure out before we were able to get the project working and done, and that require a lot of working together, which is what is needed in a group project like this, and it ended up working out pretty well.
In the end of the project, we were able to collaborate and combine all of our ideas in to one trebuchet. We ended up incorporating an idea from everyone, and naturally not everyone was pleased with it, but it got the project done. We thought long and hard on it all, because we knew that we had to do good on this project or we would probably of failed the class, so it took a lot of critical thinking, time and energy for multiple reasons, like our grades, making sure we could do the project while still keeping up with others, and so on.
There were different challenges throughout this project, but we couldn’t get over the fact that we didn’t have enough supplies. We did have problems with one another, but we were able to work those out. We never were able to get all the supplies we needed, we needed more wood, more weight for our counterweight, we needed a better sling. But almost all of this was given up for another group that needed it more than we did. And in the end, we got whatever was needed added, not when expected though, that’s for sure.
I know that I contributed to my group by helping put the final product together and fix it when things went wrong. We put together the base in the classroom, then took it outside to build the arm. We use rope to hold our counterweight on our arm, and until the exhibition, we used pie tins for our sling because we needed something we could find easily, and that just so happened to work. We then used a tupperware container for our sling at the shooting range. Our trebuchet worked moderately well, but didn’t launch our projectile as far as we wanted it to go because we didn’t have enough weight. We didn’t do very good in the end, but it was still very fun to put the project together and launch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH9sM29S0Fg&feature=youtu.be
A link to our trebuchet launching at exhibition.