Reflection of Construction
The process of construction went really well throughout the duration of this project. Everyone in our group collaborated efficiently into the discussions, construction, and preparation of the catapult. Everyday as a group we had set a goal for what we wanted to achieve in that day of construction and we stuck to it. We separated the labor and jobs in a way that everyone liked there role that they played in the creation while still being efficient in it. As far as sticking to the blueprint goes, we stuck to the plan fairly well. All of the dimensions that we had chosen for the catapult transferred smoothly from the blueprint paper to the actual catapult. The only changes that had been proceeded was for the sake of time till launch date, we decided to go with a much simpler stand for the catapult. Our original intentions were to create a stand that enables us to adjust the angle that we are launching at. We discarded that idea and went with just 4 pillars that are holding up the catapult at a sedimentary 35 degree angle. This even thought demolished our ability or chose whether we want to launch for maximum distance or height but it substantially simplified the construction of the catapult.
Reflection of Transition from Prototype to Actual Piece
Before we designed our prototype, we spent about 3 days just researching and gathering data about the designs of the Ballista Catapult, we focused on finding the simplest designs that produce the farthest thrust. After we concluded our group's research and decided on a list of the basic components that we want our catapult to have, we transitioned on a scaled design. This step in the creation if the prototype was crucial because we now were eliminating any guessing or uncertainty when sculpting the prototype. The design was basically a instruction manual on how to sculpt the prototype, it include were every piece went, the dimensions and the materials needed. Unfortunately the prototype was not functional, it was basically just a model. The reason that it wasn't functional was because the cardboard that we had used for our prototype, was not strong enough to withstand the tension of the ropes that we would have needed in order to actually launch things.
We didn't believe that we needed to make any changes to our prototype nor did we think we can, we were starting to get a little tight on time so we decided to proceed to construction. The prototype was fairly well designed, we were diligent to include high-level tension while also keeping the cost for the actual construction low. Since our prototype concluded that our actual creation would be composed of mostly wood, our cost came out to be very low. It also made our design incredibly eco-friendly. All of the wood that we had used for our catapult was gathered from the school's supply of wood gathered from previous constructions by our classroom. They had deconstructed there project and placed it in a shed for other student to use instead of throwing all the wood away. Our group will also be doing the same thing with our constructed piece.
Just like how the blueprint scaled design was a instruction manual for our prototype, the prototype possessed the same function in relation towards our constructed piece. We cut our wood at the same length as originally scaled. Our prototype was scaled down in which every foot on the actual piece equaled 3 inches on the prototype. We used those measures with the same design and constructed virtually a larger and functional version. The only thing that was changed during the transition was the stand for the actual catapult piece.
Reflection of Performance
The catapult on launch day worked exceptionally well, compared to the other catapults that it competed with, it launched for the second longest distance. It did on another point launch the farthest compared to the other mechanically powered catapults. In fact, ours surpassed the others by an incredible margin. The only catapult that had launched longer then ours was a catapult that launched by compressed air.
On launch day, we had launched 3 trials, each on which we made changes to all 3. After the first trial launch, the projectile which was a baseball launch a distance of 89ft until it hit the ground. We then made an adjustment to the way the bungees were storing up tension. We removed the yellow bungees on the front and only used the grey bungees in our launch, we had done this because the bungees that we were using weren't storing up their maximum amount of tension capable. We hoped that this adjustment would have produced greater tension because of the length of the bungee decreased. Trial 2 proved that our adjustment did not work. It had launched 87ft, It had actually weakened the performance. After the 2nd trial we had decided to again exclude the yellow bungees and instead of hooking the grey bungees to the hook grasp in the front piece, we decided to actually wrap the bungee around the front piece of the catapult. It change the performance of the catapult substantially. On trial 3, the catapult had launched a maximum distance of 162ft. We believe that this substantial raise in performance came from the increase in tension from wrapping the bungees around the front piece.
Project Overview and Mathematical Reflection
In Mathematics class, we are in a complex unit of projectiles. We are learning to calculate different factors of a projectile on its trip such as the velocity and its peak. These methods of calculations can be used to calculation a vase range of movement for the projectile such as a kayak moving up a river, a man jumping off a waterfall into the water, or a baseball being launched from a catapult. This project was a perfect way for us to master calculating factors of a projectile at a complex level while still working on something fun and exciting. For this project we created a catapult tested them. The construction of the catapult counted as the Art portion of the project. For the Mathematical portion of the project, we had to to calculate all of the factors of the projectile with the data we gather from the launch. The information that we gathered from the launch were the time the projectile was in the air, the horizontal displacement from the height the projectile was launched and the horizontal distance which is the distance the baseball flew until it hit the ground. When it came to the calculations, my group and I were well informed from the data that we received from the launch. We had enough information to calculate all the factors that we were taught to find.
The process of construction went really well throughout the duration of this project. Everyone in our group collaborated efficiently into the discussions, construction, and preparation of the catapult. Everyday as a group we had set a goal for what we wanted to achieve in that day of construction and we stuck to it. We separated the labor and jobs in a way that everyone liked there role that they played in the creation while still being efficient in it. As far as sticking to the blueprint goes, we stuck to the plan fairly well. All of the dimensions that we had chosen for the catapult transferred smoothly from the blueprint paper to the actual catapult. The only changes that had been proceeded was for the sake of time till launch date, we decided to go with a much simpler stand for the catapult. Our original intentions were to create a stand that enables us to adjust the angle that we are launching at. We discarded that idea and went with just 4 pillars that are holding up the catapult at a sedimentary 35 degree angle. This even thought demolished our ability or chose whether we want to launch for maximum distance or height but it substantially simplified the construction of the catapult.
Reflection of Transition from Prototype to Actual Piece
Before we designed our prototype, we spent about 3 days just researching and gathering data about the designs of the Ballista Catapult, we focused on finding the simplest designs that produce the farthest thrust. After we concluded our group's research and decided on a list of the basic components that we want our catapult to have, we transitioned on a scaled design. This step in the creation if the prototype was crucial because we now were eliminating any guessing or uncertainty when sculpting the prototype. The design was basically a instruction manual on how to sculpt the prototype, it include were every piece went, the dimensions and the materials needed. Unfortunately the prototype was not functional, it was basically just a model. The reason that it wasn't functional was because the cardboard that we had used for our prototype, was not strong enough to withstand the tension of the ropes that we would have needed in order to actually launch things.
We didn't believe that we needed to make any changes to our prototype nor did we think we can, we were starting to get a little tight on time so we decided to proceed to construction. The prototype was fairly well designed, we were diligent to include high-level tension while also keeping the cost for the actual construction low. Since our prototype concluded that our actual creation would be composed of mostly wood, our cost came out to be very low. It also made our design incredibly eco-friendly. All of the wood that we had used for our catapult was gathered from the school's supply of wood gathered from previous constructions by our classroom. They had deconstructed there project and placed it in a shed for other student to use instead of throwing all the wood away. Our group will also be doing the same thing with our constructed piece.
Just like how the blueprint scaled design was a instruction manual for our prototype, the prototype possessed the same function in relation towards our constructed piece. We cut our wood at the same length as originally scaled. Our prototype was scaled down in which every foot on the actual piece equaled 3 inches on the prototype. We used those measures with the same design and constructed virtually a larger and functional version. The only thing that was changed during the transition was the stand for the actual catapult piece.
Reflection of Performance
The catapult on launch day worked exceptionally well, compared to the other catapults that it competed with, it launched for the second longest distance. It did on another point launch the farthest compared to the other mechanically powered catapults. In fact, ours surpassed the others by an incredible margin. The only catapult that had launched longer then ours was a catapult that launched by compressed air.
On launch day, we had launched 3 trials, each on which we made changes to all 3. After the first trial launch, the projectile which was a baseball launch a distance of 89ft until it hit the ground. We then made an adjustment to the way the bungees were storing up tension. We removed the yellow bungees on the front and only used the grey bungees in our launch, we had done this because the bungees that we were using weren't storing up their maximum amount of tension capable. We hoped that this adjustment would have produced greater tension because of the length of the bungee decreased. Trial 2 proved that our adjustment did not work. It had launched 87ft, It had actually weakened the performance. After the 2nd trial we had decided to again exclude the yellow bungees and instead of hooking the grey bungees to the hook grasp in the front piece, we decided to actually wrap the bungee around the front piece of the catapult. It change the performance of the catapult substantially. On trial 3, the catapult had launched a maximum distance of 162ft. We believe that this substantial raise in performance came from the increase in tension from wrapping the bungees around the front piece.
Project Overview and Mathematical Reflection
In Mathematics class, we are in a complex unit of projectiles. We are learning to calculate different factors of a projectile on its trip such as the velocity and its peak. These methods of calculations can be used to calculation a vase range of movement for the projectile such as a kayak moving up a river, a man jumping off a waterfall into the water, or a baseball being launched from a catapult. This project was a perfect way for us to master calculating factors of a projectile at a complex level while still working on something fun and exciting. For this project we created a catapult tested them. The construction of the catapult counted as the Art portion of the project. For the Mathematical portion of the project, we had to to calculate all of the factors of the projectile with the data we gather from the launch. The information that we gathered from the launch were the time the projectile was in the air, the horizontal displacement from the height the projectile was launched and the horizontal distance which is the distance the baseball flew until it hit the ground. When it came to the calculations, my group and I were well informed from the data that we received from the launch. We had enough information to calculate all the factors that we were taught to find.