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Catapults

MrMuffinMan

Entry posted by MrMuffinMan

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There were many different types of catapults but every single one relied on the same principles. They all took potential energy, and transferred it into kinetic energy that sent the balls flying across the field or at least tried. There were different ways of storing the potential energy; spring potential energy or gravitational potential energy. Both proved to be very effective. However what really separated the best from the rest was the use of a slingshot. A slingshot increases the effectiveness of the catapult because slingshots allow the ball to swing around the end of the arm which increases the speed of the ball. Also the slingshot allows the arm of the catapult to get moving before the ball starts moving which then causes the ball to accelerate faster to catch up with the arm which made the ball come out faster and therefore go further.

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DavidStack

Very true, but it did seem that the catapults that relied on spring potential energy shot the ball farther, as spring potential energy is easier to store in a smaller space, due to the bulkiness of weights

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MrMuffinMan

Our number one problem that we had to fix was the how to keep the arm from breaking. Because we broke one arm on an eye hook but later we used a pillow and other custons to increase the time of impact which decrease the force.

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