Catapult Project

By: Justin Chapman, and Michael Swanson Catapults Its purpose is to hurl a projectile. The catapult has been used for centuries. It has been mostly used in wars. Today, it is used in ways like to help aircraft carries take off of short runways, but is mostly used in common backyard activities. Uses What is a catapult The most common type of catapult is the mangonel catapult. It is basically a rotating lever attached to a base, with either a spring or elastic material to launch a projectile with.

A catapult is a 3rd class lever, which means the effort force is in between the load and the fulcrum.

To calculate the mechanical advantage you divide the input force by the output force.

The mechanical advantage of a third class lever will always be less than one. Mechanical Advantage A catapult uses stored potential energy, and turns it into kinetic energy to launch a projectile.

Kinetic energy is equal to one half times the mass, times the speed squared. Kinetic and potential energy Originally invented by the Greeks. Date back to as early as 399 BC. The Catapult reached Europe during the Medieval era and were used extensively by the French. Introduced to England in 1216. History of How fast an object is moving. The rate at which an object covers distance.

When a catapult launches a projectile, the projectile will then gain speed.

The average speed of an object can be calculated by dividing the distance traveled, by the amount of time it took that distance to be traveled.
Speed December 10, 2012 Any machine or device that can propel a projectile over an extended distance is called a catapult.