Entry #5

Because we finished our model, we needed to figure out the dimensions of what our real project would be. Isaac wrote them down on his computer, and I do not have them, so I am not able to post them (we can post them tomorrow if I remember to ask him). After figuring it out, and planning the majority of what we will do, we drove around for about thirty minutes to different hardware stores. At these stores, we learned that wood is not a common thing for hardware stores to carry. Leaving woodless, we returned to school to start out capa.

Entry #4

This is kind of a bad picture, but you can see that we got the counter-weight to work. It is just a cup with some fishing wire holding the cup to some nails poking through the side. We also got the sling to work. If there was more weight, we would be able to launch things. However, because we don't have enough weight (the cup couldn't support it), it just gets held inside of the sling instead of actually launching. However, we can easily fix that with our real trebuchet, so we are pretty ready to start creation of the real trebuchet.

Entry #3

We struggled with the box a lot today, and we pretty much spent the entire hour trying to get it to actually work. We think that the problem is that the box is a bit too big, and that is preventing it from swinging easily. If we can't get it to work soon, we are just going to get something different for the box, or make a new one.

Entry #2

Today we attached the four supports, and we made the box for the weights. We also had to make the strings to attach them, and get the string so that it is able to launch.

Entry #1

We are almost done creating our model trebuchet. We just need to attach the side supports that we already made, and create the counter weight. It is going pretty well so far, and looks like it will work.

Week 1, Wednesday, 4/16

Today, Mr. Rink and I decided what our project would be. The classic physics project, a trebuchet, flung itself into our minds. We studied the previous miniature scaled models of past physics greats and decided to begin designing. We created a mock-up on paper, estimating what our dimensions should be.

Our current plans:
Height: 13 inches (1 foot plus one inch on base)
Base length: 20 inches
Base width: 8 inches
Support bar length: 14.21 inches
Arm 1 length: 15 inches
Arm 2 length: 4 inches
Weight in basket: tbd
Length of string: 8 inches
Width of channel: 2 inches