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Darien Floyd
Riley Tetzlaff
Austin Haddox
Collin Pihl
Mr. Hill
Physics, Period 6
8 February 2016
Trebuchet Lab Report
Introduction
The purpose of this lab is to use analyzed data gathered from the launched projectile of the
trebuchet, and the counterweight, to calculate the velocity, kinetic energy, potential energy, and energy
transfer. By calculating all of these we can then determine the efficiency of the trebuchet.
Background
The counterweight trebuchet was a siege weapon in Europe from the eleventh century to the
sixteenth century. The counterweight trebuchet is used by having a counterweight on the end of a lever
arm drop. The force of gravity will swing the arm around flinging a sling holding a projectile. As the sling
flings off the stabilizing hook, the projectile is shot.

Procedures
Building the Trebuchet
1. Separate all the pieces from one another and sand until baby smooth.
2. Glue the cross braces to the two side pieces and let that dry.
3. Once dry, proceed to glue the two floor pieces to either side of the bottom of the crossbrace/sides piece combination, once that is done set that to the side to dry.
4. Then once that is done drying, take the bed piece and glue that in notches that are in the
middle of the two cross braces and set aside to dry.
5. Then you have two options, you can put the shims on the bottom of the bed or you can
attach wheels which will make it launch the projectile farther. Our group adder the wheels instead
of shims.
a. Shims. Glue the shims to the bottom of the bed.Wheels.
b. Take the two pieces of wood, drill holes in the pieces of wood and insert
a nail into each hole and attach pinewood derby car wheels to each side of the wood and
glue that to the bottom of the bed.

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6. Set that aside and grab the throwing arm and some string, ruler, sling, and scissors.
7. Tie a loop in one end of the string, then measure starting from the base of the loop a foot.
Mark the string at the 6 inch mark and 12 inch mark.
8. Cut the string at the 6 inch and 12 inch marks next grab the sling and throwing arm and
the string without the loop and tie one end to the throwing arm and the other end to the sling. Tie
the string with the loop to the sling making sure to not tie the loop end of the string to the sling.
9. Next take the base (the bed, cross brace, and side pieces that are glued together), the
throwing arm, axle, two solid shaft collar with the appropriate allen-wrench, and two rubber
bands. Now the next 4 steps are going to be a little harder and tedious.
10. Put the axle through the hole at the top of the side pieces then slid on a rubber band, lock
nut, throwing arm, lock nut, and then another rubber band in that order. It does not matter which
hole you put the axle through because you can easily change it.
11. Next wrap the rubber band around the axle; this will keep it from side to side.
12. Then put the throwing arm in the middle of the axle and tighten the lock nuts. Stick a
flash card in between the throwing and one of the lock nuts this will give the arm enough room to
move, but not too much.
13. Now get a bendable piece of wire or two paper clips twisted together, and some big
metal washers to act as weights.
14. Bend the wire into a circle and put it through one of the holes in the throwing arm. Hang
the weights from this.
Difficulties/Challenges during Building
Problem: The wooden spacers provided in the kit allowed too much axle movement and had be
permanently attached.
Solution: Our group used metal collars and rubber bands which allowed us to fine tune the swing
of the throwing arms movement.
Problem: Gluing the pieces together using the supplied bottle was difficult.
Solution: our group used small slivers of wood from the kit to precisely apply the glue.
Difficulties/Challenges during Testing
Problem: During dry fire tests, the sling would hang up on the hook.

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Solution: First attempt, we used clay to keep the loop open. This worked a little bit, but did not
completely solve the problem. Our final solution included replacing the hook. Which was made from a
paper clip attached to the throwing arm by gluing it in place and wrapping it with string.
Problem: Trebuchet jumped forward during firing.
Solution: Our group replaced the shims with wheels which allowed the trebuchet base to move
underneath it which transferred more energy to the throwing arm.

Data
This was our only successful trial of the small trebuchet (Well, technically we had a second one,
but Joseph S. Hanna walked in front of our cameras while we were recording the shot). All of the other
tests had a flaw that were werent able to correct.

Measured Data for Small Trebuchet

Maximum
Range (x)

Mass of
Projectile

Mass of
Weight

Distance
Weight
Dropped

Max Height
(h)

Angle of
Launch ()

3.987 m

0.00220 kg

0.1234 kg

0.166 m

1.623 m

38

Calculated Data for Small Trebuchet

Horizontal
Velocity of
Projectile
( Vx )

Initial Velocity
of Projectile
( V i

Time in Air
(t)

Initial PE

KE & PE of
projectile at
Max Height

Efficiency

7.23 m/s

9.17 m/s

0.552 s

0.201 J

0.0924 J

46.0%

Measured Data for Large Trebuchet

Calculated Data for Large

Trebuchet

Trebuchet
Size

Maximum
Range (x)

Mass of
Weight

Distance
Weight
Dropped

Time in Air
(t)

Max Height
(h)

Angle of
Launch ()

Big

30.63 m

6.803 kg

2.286 m

1.36 s

4.118 m

Calculations (Small Trebuchet)

V i2si n2 ()
h=
2g
V i =

V x =cos()V i=9.17 m/ scos(38)

PE i=mgh=0.1234 kg9.81 m/s20.166 m
1
1
Energy of Projectile = mV x2 +mgh= 0.0022 kg(7.23 m/ s)+ 0.0022 kg1.623 m
2
2
Efficiency=

Energy of Projectile
PE i

Calculations (Large Trebuchet)

Discussion
The data we collected was slightly different than the data we were supposed to (we calculated
time rather than measuring it). We used the max height to calculate the initial velocity, and then we used
the initial velocity and the angle to calculate the horizontal velocity. With the horizontal velocity, we were
able to calculate the KE and PE of the projectile, while it was in flight. We divided that value by the initial
PE of the trebuchet to calculate the efficiency. The efficiency shows how much of the energy was
transferred from the counterweight to the projectile that was launched..

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Analysis
The team mainly followed the directions for the actual construction of the trebuchet. The small
trebuchet was mainly built by Riley Tetzlaff with the help of Collin Pihl. Riley had the idea of bringing in
wheels to give it a longer range. To test the trebuchet trebuchet we went out into the hallway outside of
the classroom and put tape on the walls to mark of the height as well as marked distances on the floor.
Then the entire group helped take data on the launch. We used our smartphones to record the height, angle
of release, and distance. The group over all worked fairly well together. Darien Floyd did a lot in the way
of calculations and did the data tables and had input on various other parts of the write up. Riley Tetzlaff
did the procedures and did the first diagram, as well as helped with other elements. Austin Haddox built
the second trebuchet in his spare time and took another set of data and another diagram drawing. Also he
did the majority of the intro and history. Collin Pihl did the analysis and conclusion and put the final
touches and checks on the report. The entire group helped equally in taking the data. So as a whole the
group as a whole worked well together and everything went smoothly.

Conclusion
The group learned a few things from the lab overall. Construction wise, we learned that the
wheels actually helped the distance the trebuchet could launch the clay ball, as well as metal collars were
good for the functionality of the trebuchet in place of wooden ones. In addition to that, this lab helped
solidify some of the concepts that were present in the calculations for the data. We also learned that we
can work well as a group.
Bibliography

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/work.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet