Our trebuchet was built to stand out. The model of this trebuchet was built in the ’90s for war. Most trebuchets for this exhibition were built the same. We chose to do ours differently. The floating arm trebuchet works with a counterweight and a projectile like all the rest. However, the physics in the way it works differs from all other designs. This trebuchet has a “floating arm”. It works by having a free moving axle on the throwing arm. It also features a linear drop channel for the counterweight.
To throw a projectile (the item you are launching) as far as possible you have to use a lot of math to find the correct ratio for the swing arm. You also need to be able to do the math to find the correct weight of your counterweight to launch your projectile. When a trebuchet is loaded and ready to launch it is building up potential energy (has the potential to move or create kinetic energy). After you release the launch mechanism, whether its a string or you drop something to launch it, that creates kinetic energy (the energy an object has because of its motion). When you launch your trebuchet you are dropping a free falling object to create a launch. A certain amount of velocity needs to be present to reach full potential. The swing arm will drop with the force of the counterweight and cause the projectile to accelerate. This uses projectile motion to launch the projectile out as far as possible in an ark. A community of learners has to work together to communicate with one another. A community of learners collaborates with each other, includes everyone, and works hard to get a task completed. When you are given a group task you have to work with everyone involved in your group to reach your full potential. A group of learners will accomplish more and complete it more efficiently if they combine all of there ideas and thoughts and use creativity to accomplish the task at hand. They have to use critical thinking and do the best they can to work efficiently and use their time productively. For me, the most challenging thing was switching to a new group right when we started building the final design. This was challenging for me because I started building a design I knew absolutely nothing about. I dealt with this by researching on my own time and talking to other members in my group about the project. In my opinion, I brought a secondary leadership for my group. The reason I believe this was helpful was that my group solely depended on Flynn and I feel like that was a lot of pressure on him. |