Trebuchet Project - Reflection
This past project that the ninth grade has been working on in Physics is the Trebuchet Project. We worked in a group of four to design and build a 6 foot tall trebuchet. This was after learning all about projectile motion, acceleration, velocity, and different types of energy. We built trebuchets In order to demonstrate our knowledge of projectile motion. Each group chose a culture to represent with their trebuchet design. While designing we researched to make sure we built our trebuchet with the potential to have maximum projectile motion. Some of the questions we were striving to answer were, how do you throw an object as far as possible with a trebuchet? How can the time era of the trebuchet be accurately portrayed in its design? What does it mean to collaborate in a community of learners?
My group and I grappled with the question of how to throw our projectile as far as possible and n order to do that with a counterweight trebuchet you have to make it have maximum potential energy within ratios. The length ratios you need to pay attention to are for the arm and base as well as the weight ratios for the projectile to counterweight. If these ratios are correct, it will increase the potential energy of your trebuchet which will turn into kinetic energy and launch your projectile. In a trebuchet, potential energy is stored in the counterweight. The further it is from the ground, the more potential energy it has because it has more space to fall and accelerate. When you maximize the potential energy of your trebuchet which is the mass of your counterweight and the height of your base it makes it possible for you to achieve maximum kinetic energy. All of these factors will make your trebuchet to launch as far as possible.
Once my group began building, we had to use a lot of communication so that all of us could be on the same page. Collaborating and working together made it possible for us to create a trebuchet that we were all proud of. At times my group had a hard time communicating and the bad things that came out of that showed me how important communication is. When working in a group there are so many more creative and inspiring ideas because there are more minds then just one. This project showed me that even if working in a group is hard, it can be good because of how many minds there are to solve a critical problem.
Sometimes members of my group, including me, had a hard time staying open minded to other ideas and following through with an idea. In the end our trebuchet worked very well but we had a few days where I thought it might never work. At a certain point it was almost collapsing. We had to problem solve very quickly and I think we did a great job. We each went and did something that we knew we were good at and that would help the group as a whole. We fixed our problem pretty quickly, when we worked together.
I felt that my group worked really well together and something I thought I brought to my group was good brainstorming and organization. Occasionally I would contribute or come up with a design idea and we would use it. I felt like I was very helpful in research and organizing all of our thoughts and ideas as a group into one, concise idea. I think that we had two very strong builders in our group and two strong researchers, me being one of them. Overall, I think that each of us brought an important trait to the group and we worked very well together.
Trebuchet Final Launch:
https://youtu.be/uHxS1fveVzk |
Trebuchet Prototype Launch:
https://youtu.be/R11bVlZ3TO0 |