Catapults
Entry posted by DavidStack
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Depressingly, I followed the whizzing ball as it flew past the 50, the 60, the 70, and even the 80 yard mark. Our costly (both with time and money) trebuchet could not compare to the spring loaded demon of a catapult that bested our yardage by 44. But, this project certainly did improve my engineering knowledge. Comparing my trebuchet to another very similar one that flung the softball farther, I saw that with a stiffer structure, we could have had more success. If we had used screws instead of nails, and secured the pole that our level arm swung on with bolts instead of duct tape, we could have supported more counter weight and had a more fluid, straight, and speedy projectile. Also, the record-tying trebuchet showed me that a bigger catapult is not necessarily better, as that trebuchet was less than half the size of mine but shot the ball so much farther because of the very powerful springs and bungee cords. So, I can say that our catapult did fairly well, I enjoyed the creativity and problem solving that the project required, and I am better prepared for projects in the future.
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