How do catapults work

See Answer. Best Answer. Study guides. Q: How do catapults work? Write your answer Related questions. Did the Greeks use catapults? Define mass force work and power. How do they to catapults? What were medieval catapults made out of? Who were catapults used by? Did the army of ancient Sparta have catapults? What are catapults used for? When were catapults used? What are catapults used for today? How many different types of catapults are there? What did the ancient Greeks use catapults for?

What were catapults used for in W W 2? To assist you in building a trebuchet you can use this simulator to help you come up with the design that throws the payload the farthest. This is very useful for helping you come up with the winning design in a trebuchet competition! In the next section we will look at the mangonel. Author: ChrisO The above picture of the mangonel is what people are most familiar with when they think of catapults.

The mangonel consists of an arm with a bowl-shaped bucket attached to the end. In this bucket a payload is placed. Upon release, the arm rotates at a high speed and throws the payload out of the bucket, towards the target.

The launch velocity of the payload is equal to the velocity of the arm at the bucket end. The launch angle of the payload is controlled by stopping the arm using a crossbar. This crossbar is positioned so as to stop the arm at the desired angle which results in the payload being launched out of the bucket at the desired launch angle. This crossbar can be padded to cushion the impact. The mangonel was best suited for launching projectiles at lower angles to the horizontal, which was useful for destroying walls, as opposed to the trebuchet which was well suited for launching projectiles over walls.

However, the mangonel is not as energy efficient as the trebuchet for the main reason that the arm reaches a high speed during the launch. This means that a large percentage of the stored energy goes into accelerating the arm, which is energy wasted.

This is unavoidable however, since the payload can only be launched at high speed if the arm is rotating at high speed. So the only way to waste as little energy as possible is to make the arm and bucket as light as possible, while still being strong enough to resist the forces experienced during launch.

The physics behind a mangonel is basically the use of an energy storage mechanism to rotate the arm. Unlike a trebuchet, this mechanism is more direct.

Catapult physics is basically the use of stored energy to hurl a projectile, without the use of an explosive. A catapult makes use of elastic potential energy and the elastic object that is deformed under tension transforms into kinetic energy.

The design of the ballista is that the force applied to the projectile comes from the tension of the twisted ropes. The ropes, when the tension is released or gone, turn to their rest state with minimal tension, much like how a spring would expand after being pushed down. Catapult physics is basically the use of stored energy to hurl a projectile the payload , without the use of an explosive.

The three primary energy storage mechanisms are tension, torsion, and gravity. The catapult has proven to be a very effective weapon during ancient times, capable of inflicting great damage. Both catapults and ballistas work by storing tension either in twisted ropes or in a flexed piece of wood in the same way an archery bow does , but on a larger scale.

A trebuchet tends to be easier to build because it consists simply of a pivoting beam and a counterweight that rotates the beam through an arc. What is the purpose of a catapult? A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants — particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines.

What are the main parts of a catapult? Medieval catapults were weapons to break down castles and forts in medieval times. There are are three primary technologies that fall into the "catapult" category.

The catapult : the winched-down bucket that people normally think about when they hear the word "catapult" see this page for a picture. The ballista is a very large crossbow see this page for a picture. A trebuchet is a weighted beam that swings a sling carrying the projectile see this page for pictures. A trebuchet tends to be easier to build because it consists simply of a pivoting beam and a counterweight that rotates the beam through an arc.