The Trebuchet And The History Of The Catapults

Before the days of gunpowder, the military used large timber machines to hurl rocks, arrows and flaming barrels of tar at and into castles and forts. In ancient times, in order to prevent attacks from invaders, forts and castles are built for protection. These castles and forts had very strong walls and were sometimes placed high on top of a hill or such. Therefore, people within the military often build machines and structures to aid in attacking castles. These machines were called catapults, which didn’t use explosives like today’s military weapons, instead they used energy which was stored in bent timber and sinew, twisted ropes or heavy weights. A catapult is a machine that initially stores energy and then releases energy in order to fire a projectile. In simple terms, it is a device that is used to hurl an object to a further distance. In order to be classified as a catapult, the machine generally has to be larger than an average person, which logically makes it difficult for the said person to carry. The first catapults were early

The Trebuchet was created by the Chinese in 300 BC and was known to be the most powerful of all the catapults. The Trebuchet was made of a long arm possibly up to 60 feet long, which balanced on a fulcrum, which was far from the center. A counterbalance, which is a heavy lead weight or a pivoting ballist box filled with earth, was attached to the short arm. A sling was attached to the end of the long arm and a rope was attached to the long arm, which was pulled down until the counterbalance reached its maximum height. The sling was loaded with projectiles as the rope was released and the counterbalance drops down. The potential energy is converted into kinetic energy and when the long arm is brought to an abrupt stop the projectile continue with the velocity produced by the kinetic energy