Re: trebuchet

[Glenn Knapp <kahuna@VCN.COM>]

At 10:36 AM 11/02/99 -0600, you wrote:
> Does anyone have any plans to build a small scale Trebuchet catapult?
> Most of the pages I find on the search engines are for huge machines.  I
> kind of want this to be a class project for all my class or if managable
> enough a project for small groups.

Pete,

Are you sure that you want to give the students a plan for the thing?
Mightn't it be better to have them divise their own?  I did a thing this
year with catapults in my high school physics class.  The basic rules were
that the catapult had to launch a gummy bear into a target that was located
5 meters away.  The catapult could be powered by up to three rubber bands (
I provided size limits on the rubber bands), had to be "set", and then
"launched" by the operation of some sort of release device.  This would be
different than a trebuchet which, I believe, uses a mass and its potential
energy to do the launching.  Anyway, this was enormously succesful.  The
studdents had a blast.  I found that the use of gummy bears added a whimsey
factor that engaged their interests.  The girls did as well if not better
than the boys.  I will definately do this activity next year.

Glenn Knapp