1. Measure the Horizontal Range and Time of Flight of Your Projectile

Trebuchet!

Purpose: Demonstrate your understanding of projectile motion by building your own trebuchet and then analyzing the motion of a launched object.

Task: Build a working model of a trebuchet (plans and kits are available on the Internet), fire it, and then:

1. Measure the horizontal range and time of flight of your projectile

2. Using this data, determine its velocity in both the vertical and horizontal direction at the start, middle and end of the flight

3. Determine the maximum height the projectile reached at the middle of the flight

·  Draw and label: the ideal path of the projectile (to scale), labeling the vertical and horizontal velocity vectors (to scale) at the start, middle, and end of the flight

Guidelines:

·  You may work with a partner

·  A trebuchet MUST have a sling and a counterweight

·  Include neat calculations with ALL work shown

Scoring:

One / Three / Five

Trebuchet Construction

/ Poor construction, launches properly 2 out of 5 trials at best / Solid construction, launches properly 3 out of 5 trials / Superb quality of construction. Launches properly every time
Data / Necessary data is not collected, shown or organized / Some data is missing or unorganized / All necessary data is collected and neatly shown
Calculations / Displayed most equations used and substituted. Three to five math errors or naked numbers. A little sloppy. / Displayed all equations used and substituted correctly. One or two math errors or naked numbers. Neat. / Clearly displayed all equations used, substituted and calculated correctly. No naked numbers. Extremely organized!
Scale Drawing / Incorrect scale, very messy, or 2 or more missing vectors / 1-2 scale flaws, a little sloppy, non-ideal path or 1 missing vector / Proper scales for distance and velocity with all vectors and ideal path neatly shown