Our assignment was to create the most ideal trebuchet or catapult that could launch a

projectile the farthest distance possible. The project could not be more than a meter in any
dimension, yet be able to throw a small ball of clay several meters. We then identified
problematic variables after creating a successful first machine and adjusted to create a machine
that eliminated most of the major challenging aspects.
Our Design
Flat plywood base (58x31x1.5 cm)
Two legs (44.5x5x2 cm) with four holes at 27, 32, 37 and 44.5 cm
31 cm wooden cylinder for axel
Two nails with small heads
Arm/ axle (48.5x1.5x2 cm) with nine holes five cm apart
Three rubber bands

The design of our machine was simple, yet rather effective after modifications were
made. As a class, we investigated certain variables that could be changed on the machine that
might have some effect on the results.
HIGHER AXLE: We moved the axle of the arm up to 0.445 meters after trying
27, 32, and 37 centimeters. The arms 44.5 centimeter height allows the axle to
completely rotate, circular motion fully able to act on the arm. Friction is
minimized when the arm has a clear path without scraping along the ground,
avoiding chances of being slowed down.
NAIL ANGLE: The nail we used has a very small head, so one group found that
having the nail at a 10 angle forward rather than straight relative to the arm. This
allows the projectile to be launched at a consistent 30, the optimal angle for the
mass to be released at to decrease the effect of air resistance on the ball.
NO STOPPER: A stopper has no effect on the machine because the ball is
released much sooner before coming anywhere near the stopper.
PROJECTILE: We started with a ball of about 5 grams, but made the mass 2
grams heavier to reduce air resistance. The heavier the ball is, the more the mass
can travel and not be as affected by air resistance. However, the amount of inertia
on an extremely heavy mass drags the projectile down to a short distance. 7 grams
is the happy medium between the two, air resistance and inertia both not as major
of problems on the mass.
STRING LENGTH: The length of the string we began with was fifteen
centimeters long before we made the length much longer to 40 centimeters. If too
long, the string will drag the ball along the ground, creating friction and
preventing the mass from gaining the momentum it needs to launch. If too short,
the string cannot fully rotate around the axle.
CLEAR PARAGRAPH
For our experiment, we calculated the ideal load to ratio effort of the fulcrum on our
trebuchet was to shoot the mass of the clay ball as far as possible. When the load to effort ratio of
the trebuchet arm was one to one, as close to half as our group could possibly get, the projectile
was launched the farthest. We tested each of the nine notches on the arm through three trials of
distance. We changed the hole the peg was in after determining exactly how far the clay ball
went on average out of the three measurements, starting with only five notches at the beginning
of our experiment. We calculated the load to effort ratio by dividing the distance from the hole to
the end of the arm by the distance from the start of the arm to the hole. With this information, the
highest mechanical advantage for the trebuchet was at the halfway point, the 1:1 ratio, at hole
five when the load was 24 centimeters over 25 centimeters, almost exactly half of the arm. The
fulcrum at the fifth hole resulted in the clay ball reaching about 29.6 meters on average. Because

the fifth hole was so successful and the distance of the ball increased with the number of holes,
we drilled in another four holes to see if the results would continue to be so successful. However,
these next holes distances significantly dropped to the point where we did not even test the
eighth and ninth hole. The other holes actually showed to be rather linear in velocity on our
graph until the fifth notch, before the rate of distance began to plummet at the sixth hole with a
ratio of 0.7:1. For example, the first hole had a 9:1 ratio that shot a consistent 9 meters, the
second hole shot 17 meters with a ratio of 4:1, and the third hole had a ratio of 2.4:1 to get the
clay ball to reach an average of 22.3 meters. We believe this was due to the balance created by
the 1:1 ratio, allowing the majority of potential energy to be converted into kinetic energy. With
this experiment, we know exactly where the fulcrum should be to reach the optimal fire of our
trebuchet.
CALCULATIONS
Horizontal Distance: 26.6 meters
We took an average of three launches of the ball (26, 24, and 30 meters) to find the distance the
projectile will most often land at.
Vertical Distance: 2.47 meters
distance=(acceleration due to gravity)(time)^2
We calculated with this formula because it found how high the ball went while gravitys effect
on the mass (acceleration) and how fast the projectile moved (time) were also found. Our
trebuchet kept the ball rather close to the ground due to the arms slight angle of release and the
projectiles rather small mass, furthermore affected by gravitys strong pull in particular.
Total Time in Air: 1.423
After taking three trials of 1.76, 1.1, and 1.41 seconds, we found an average of 1.423 seconds
that the ball is in the air from launch to first contact with the ground.

Horizontal Velocity: 18.69 meters/second

Velocity: distance/time
With an average horizontal distance of 26.6 meters, we needed to find the rate of distance
covered in an increment of time. Using the time in air of 1.423 seconds, we found the ball travels
at a velocity of about 41.8 miles per hour.
Vertical Velocity: 6.17 meters/second
Acceleration=velocity/time
Because our group had already found the time rising/falling by dividing the total time in air by
two to get 0.7115 seconds and knew that the acceleration due to gravity was 9.8 meters/second
squared, we used the acceleration formula to isolate the velocity variable. By multiplying 9.8
meters/second squared and 0.7115 seconds, we found that the projectile moves at about 13.8
miles per hour vertically, showing how little our ball rises.

 Total Velocity: 19.68 meters/second

velocity=distance/time
After finding the vertical and horizontal velocity vectors, we created a triangle with the vertical
velocity as the height and the horizontal as the base to calculate the hypotenuse using the
Pythagorean Theorem to find that the ball moves at a total velocity of 44 miles per hour.
Release Point: 18
We took a video of the trebuchet launching the projectile, stopping on the frame where the ball is
released. Measuring the angle created by the nail and string with a protractor, we found the ball
is released at a very small angle of 18 degrees, which allows the ball to stay close to the ground.
Spring Constant: 70 Newton/meters
Spring constant=Force/distance
The spring constant is a measurement of how long and strong the rubber bands we used to fire
the arm of the trebuchet are. We found that the three rubber bands force is 28 Newtons, or 6.29
pounds, by stretching them as far as they could go on a spring scale to measure the magnitude of
the force through weight. We then pulled the rubber bands to their highest point next to a meter
stick to find that the bands can stretch to 0.4 meters. Dividing the force of 28 Newtons by 0.4
meters, we measured that the rubber bands have a spring constant of 70 Newton/meters, or about
51.63 foot-pounds.
Potential Energy of the Spring: 10.02 Joules
PE=1/2 (spring constant)(springs expansion/compression)^2
To find how much energy the trebuchet has due to its positioning height wise in the gravitational
field, we substituted the spring constant of 70 Newton/meters and found that the spring (rubber
bands) compressed and expanded 0.535 meters, resulting in a potential energy of 10.02
Newton(meters), or Joules.

Kinetic Energy of the Ball: 1.35 Joules

KE= (mass)(velocity)^2
With a 7 gram ball and a total velocity of 19.67 meters/second, we calculated that the ball has
1.35 Joules of energy due to motion.
Percent of Energy Converted: 13.47%
Energy Transferred=PE/KE
Having calculated the potential energy of 10.02 Joules and the kinetic energy of 1.35 Joules, our
group knew that energy was lost throughout the process of launching the ball due to mainly air
resistance and friction. However, our percentage of energy transferred from potential to kinetic
energy was much greater than anticipated and rather larger than some of the other groups.
ADVANTAGES OF OUR TREBUCHET

Consistent in horizontal distance and fires extremely far

Simple and easy to work
Total velocity is high
Energy transfer is larger than other groups
Modified to create ideal machine