The Trebuchet Project
The trebuchet project was our first project in the 2018 Animas Physics class. The basis for this project was to utilise concepts we learned such as speed and acceleration to create an awesome trebuchet that would hopefully win in a small tournament held between all the groups. We created groups of roughly 3-5 people per group and worked together in order to research historic trebuchet designs and what we thought to be an ideal design. This project was overall a test of utilising our knowledge in order to answer the question of, “How do we make a trebuchet throw as far as possible?”
One of the biggest requirements for our trebuchets was to utilise something called freefall, this is essentially when something accelerates straight downwards at the rate of 9.8m/s, this is the acceleration of gravity. In order for our trebuchets to use freefall we had to make alterations to the design of the counterweight so instead of it being directly attached to the swingarm and follow an arc-like motion it is attached via an accel mechanism making a more vertical motion so it can accomplish a freefall. Acceleration and energy both also had important parts in just the falling of the counterweight. When the trebuchet is loaded the counterweight is hoisted into the air, and at that point in time it contains something called potential energy. Potential energy is essentially when the circumstances of an object dictate that an output of energy is possible, take a rollercoaster just before it goes down the hill, or maybe a stretched rubber band that released yet, or in our case a large counterweight right before being dropped (the equation for potential energy is PE=MGH or Potential Energy = mass x gravity x height.) As soon as the Counterweight is dropped it gains something called kinetic energy, this is energy released via motion it’s something made by just about anything, as long as there is movement (The equation for kinetic energy is 1/2m x v^2 or in english ½ Mass times Velocity squared.)
On the other side you have the other part of the swing-arm as well as the sling and projectile. When the Counterweight is dropped, these parts all interact in order to throw the projectile as far as possible. When the sling and the swing arm throw the projectile it creates something called projectile motion, projectile motion is essentially the way an object is thrown across the earth following an arc like path. This happens because of the interaction between something called velocity, and the acceleration of gravity downwards. Velocity is similar to speed, so they both have a change in distance over time, the difference between the two is that Velocity has direction and speed does not. When the trebuchet throws its projectile, the projectile gains velocity in a direction heading upward however the acceleration of gravity decreases the velocity. Eventually the projectile hits the peak of its ark where it has a velocity of zero. It then begins falling back down at a rate of 9.8 m/s^2.
What does it mean to be a community of learners? This is a question we need to consider when looking back at how well our trebuchet groups, as well as the trebuchets themselves came together. There are a couple terms or concepts that can really help incapsulate what it means to be a community of learners. One of these is the concept of collaboration. In order to work as a community you need to be able to work jointly in order to accomplish a goal, my experience with my group collaborating to make our trebuchet, was to always make sure the parts that needed to get done did. Essentially we aimed to have a couple of people working on an important piece towards the construction of our trebuchet. The second big concept is critical thinking, your group needs to be able to think for themselves in order to get ideal results. In my groups case we fell a little flat on this, we created a clean design but we weren’t very ambitious with it. In the planning stages of our final design if we were a bit more critical about the design, we very well might have made a very successful trebuchet.
Though I think my group’s trebuchet came together well, I kinda wish we had pondered our design a little further and then made a decision. I think a flaw with our overall thing was that one group member was charging ahead with design and plans and we didn’t really say anything different. Essentially we had a small lack of communication in an important point in the planning. This led us to a make something that even though it was well designed, didn’t really live up to expectations. So I believe communication across members is very important and can make all the difference with how your project turns out. Now something that we kinda fit into mediocrity was creativity, our design had a few unique elements to it but overall was kinda par for the course. I think Ideally you add enough unique elements to elevate your trebuchet a little further but you also fall back on what works.
What challenged me the most during this project and, how did I deal with it? The answer to this question is kinda simple, I was much too passive in the early planning phases of the project and should have helped make a better end design. I think that I was a little skeptical of our design but didn’t really try to change it, and so what we could have pushed further, we didn’t. I don’t formally feel I even dealt with this, I tend to think that what I did however do was step up a little in our building phase and really help out. I think that where our group failed in the planning, we made up in a small but well working trebuchet design that came together quickly and reliably. All in all things worked well but I could’ve really helped to push things further.
Some of my personal strengths that I brought to the group are a more laidback logical personality. Though I believe I was too passive during some periods of the planning process, I think that I performed well as someone for group members to fall on for help with some of the general process. I think I do well to utilise concepts from what we learned during this project, however I don’t lead the group at all. Overall I think my placement for my group in this project was to be a helpful person to have around, but someone who didn’t really didn’t drive things forward much. As for the rest of my group, I believe that we only really had one or two driving group members, and that we didn’t really put enough thought into our early design, however we did work well and efficiently together in the building process to make our trebuchet.
One of the biggest requirements for our trebuchets was to utilise something called freefall, this is essentially when something accelerates straight downwards at the rate of 9.8m/s, this is the acceleration of gravity. In order for our trebuchets to use freefall we had to make alterations to the design of the counterweight so instead of it being directly attached to the swingarm and follow an arc-like motion it is attached via an accel mechanism making a more vertical motion so it can accomplish a freefall. Acceleration and energy both also had important parts in just the falling of the counterweight. When the trebuchet is loaded the counterweight is hoisted into the air, and at that point in time it contains something called potential energy. Potential energy is essentially when the circumstances of an object dictate that an output of energy is possible, take a rollercoaster just before it goes down the hill, or maybe a stretched rubber band that released yet, or in our case a large counterweight right before being dropped (the equation for potential energy is PE=MGH or Potential Energy = mass x gravity x height.) As soon as the Counterweight is dropped it gains something called kinetic energy, this is energy released via motion it’s something made by just about anything, as long as there is movement (The equation for kinetic energy is 1/2m x v^2 or in english ½ Mass times Velocity squared.)
On the other side you have the other part of the swing-arm as well as the sling and projectile. When the Counterweight is dropped, these parts all interact in order to throw the projectile as far as possible. When the sling and the swing arm throw the projectile it creates something called projectile motion, projectile motion is essentially the way an object is thrown across the earth following an arc like path. This happens because of the interaction between something called velocity, and the acceleration of gravity downwards. Velocity is similar to speed, so they both have a change in distance over time, the difference between the two is that Velocity has direction and speed does not. When the trebuchet throws its projectile, the projectile gains velocity in a direction heading upward however the acceleration of gravity decreases the velocity. Eventually the projectile hits the peak of its ark where it has a velocity of zero. It then begins falling back down at a rate of 9.8 m/s^2.
What does it mean to be a community of learners? This is a question we need to consider when looking back at how well our trebuchet groups, as well as the trebuchets themselves came together. There are a couple terms or concepts that can really help incapsulate what it means to be a community of learners. One of these is the concept of collaboration. In order to work as a community you need to be able to work jointly in order to accomplish a goal, my experience with my group collaborating to make our trebuchet, was to always make sure the parts that needed to get done did. Essentially we aimed to have a couple of people working on an important piece towards the construction of our trebuchet. The second big concept is critical thinking, your group needs to be able to think for themselves in order to get ideal results. In my groups case we fell a little flat on this, we created a clean design but we weren’t very ambitious with it. In the planning stages of our final design if we were a bit more critical about the design, we very well might have made a very successful trebuchet.
Though I think my group’s trebuchet came together well, I kinda wish we had pondered our design a little further and then made a decision. I think a flaw with our overall thing was that one group member was charging ahead with design and plans and we didn’t really say anything different. Essentially we had a small lack of communication in an important point in the planning. This led us to a make something that even though it was well designed, didn’t really live up to expectations. So I believe communication across members is very important and can make all the difference with how your project turns out. Now something that we kinda fit into mediocrity was creativity, our design had a few unique elements to it but overall was kinda par for the course. I think Ideally you add enough unique elements to elevate your trebuchet a little further but you also fall back on what works.
What challenged me the most during this project and, how did I deal with it? The answer to this question is kinda simple, I was much too passive in the early planning phases of the project and should have helped make a better end design. I think that I was a little skeptical of our design but didn’t really try to change it, and so what we could have pushed further, we didn’t. I don’t formally feel I even dealt with this, I tend to think that what I did however do was step up a little in our building phase and really help out. I think that where our group failed in the planning, we made up in a small but well working trebuchet design that came together quickly and reliably. All in all things worked well but I could’ve really helped to push things further.
Some of my personal strengths that I brought to the group are a more laidback logical personality. Though I believe I was too passive during some periods of the planning process, I think that I performed well as someone for group members to fall on for help with some of the general process. I think I do well to utilise concepts from what we learned during this project, however I don’t lead the group at all. Overall I think my placement for my group in this project was to be a helpful person to have around, but someone who didn’t really didn’t drive things forward much. As for the rest of my group, I believe that we only really had one or two driving group members, and that we didn’t really put enough thought into our early design, however we did work well and efficiently together in the building process to make our trebuchet.