Counter Weight Trebuchet Case Study

Summary:






I would do a counterweight Trebuchet for this project.  I want to make it because it seems like a more simple one out of the few and it looks more likely to succeed rather them fail. It works  by using a counterweight a short distance from the pivot, to cause a powerful rotational motion which swings the sling up. I feel that my group would be able to create a very good trebuchet and may be able to add things to it to make it unique.










Case Study #1:

Positives

• This case study gave us the dimensions that they had used.
• They showed there entire process of what they did and how they did it. 
• They have very good pictures of the materials and the final product
• They showed a video of how it worked at the end.

Negatives:

• It looks like it would be to big for us to make in the amount of time that we have.
• They used things that we do not really have access to. 
• They had a hard time building the firing mechanism, so we might have a difficult time with that ourselves

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Insensible-a-counterweight-trebuchet/

Case Study #2:






























Positives:

• It is a good case study because the people making it are also doing it for a high school project just like we are.
• They give each individual measurement for each part.
• They gave a step by step process of how they did it.

Negative:

• The trebuchet they made is more for golf ball and we might be using baseballs or lemons.
• Most of the images they gave were diagrams and not really pictures of them actually building it.
• It look a little small, we would have to make it a little bit bigger.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Girls-Bulid-a-Trebuchet/

Sumo Bot

 The requirement of the project was to create a sumo bot that could race around the hallways and finish the time and race them together.  We put a wheel in the front and two in the back.  We also wanted to use the integrated brain bot.  We thought that it would be easier to handle and make turns if it was a little bit longer.  We thought having one wheel in front would also make it easier to control. 
The Results:
1) RDJ- 0:51
2) John Deere- 1:11
3) Ronald- 2:24
4) ASAP 2:25
5) Bloody Mary(my group)- DNF

If we were to redesign it we would definitely make it lighter.  We made it to heavy and need to reduce it so we could gain speed.  We would also figure out a better way to use the wheels.  We had a very good design, but it was broken by someone in our class so we couldn't get it back to where it was.  We also need to straighten the wheels.  The wheels needed to be moved so they were even and we could go straight.  If we did this again, I feel if we did this again we would be very successful.

Optical illusion using angular momentum

         The goal of the project was to research and create a project that would spin on its axis and put something on it that would create an optical illusion.  We created a yo-yo.  We felt that a yo-yo was the best project to do because it would create a very good optical illusion when using it.  We glued two circles onto a dowel.  We then tied string to the dowel and glued the optical illusion onto both sides of the yo-yo.

        A way that we would develop it farther is by cutting down the weight of the circles on the yo-yo.  If we made them lighter they would be able to spin faster and longer.  We would also need to find some stronger string.  If we had stronger string it would be easier to pull it up and let it down.
       We were able to accomplish our goals.  We got the optical illusion to create colors which we wanted.  The yo-yo alson spins and works very well.  With a few minor changes i believe that this project would be amazing.

Facener

 

The point of the lab was to create a sculpture out of wood and a type of faciner.  We were trying to make the best sculpture possible out of what we could use.  We had mahbets and were trying to make a scultpure of a person out of magnets and wood. 

We were able to create the design that we had in mind.  Some problems that got in the way thougher were that the glue kept getting in the way of the magnets so they weren't as strong as we liked.  When it was standing up it was very top heavy.  It would stay up for a little while and then come crashing down. 

The peg group was most successful.  They were able to make a pyramid after.  They were able to create a standing pyramid that had very few problems.  it was a very nice design as well.  It was very sturdy as well.  We can use there ideas to try and make our project more sturdy 



Simple Machines

We had to create 4 simple machines and try to get the best Ima and percent effeciency that we could from those four machines.  We had to create the pulley, the inclined plane, the lever and the wheel and axel.  The objective was to put a box of nails on the machines and see which group  could get the highest amout of Ima and percent efficiency.

         Pulley (Joe Scotto)                                                                                                         Lever (Jason Solomon)


                                                
Inclined Plane (Jason Solomon)                                                   Wheel and axel (Joe Scotto)

My group came in dead last for almost every test except for one.  Our inclined plane was the only one that did not finish in last.  I was not there for most of the building and the testing.  So I was unable to accomplish much on any of these projects.   Noah's group came in first.  They ended up having the highest effiency and mechanical advantage. 

The measurments on our machines were not corrected and completely off.  This cause us not to get to much effeciency from our machines.  This caused them to not do as good as the other groups.  Our pulley also feel apart before the testing so we couldn't even see how well we had done on that.  If we were to do this again, we would need to do the measurments differently.  If we had gotten them correct it would have been a major differnece in our results.  I think with a little bit more practice we will be able to make simple machines to there full ability. 

Build a compound machine



For our machine we used our wheel and axel and our lever and combined them.  We did not have a pulley becuase it was destroyed in a tragic accident.  We hooked the lever up to the wheel and axel so that pulled the lever up.  We used this idea to try and get as much Ima as possible since we did not have a pulley. 

We had tested this compound machine twice.  The first we had gotten a score of 14 Ima.  Which would have been in the C range of our grading system.  We decided that if we used a smaller dial on the wheel and axel it would help the compound machine gain more Ima.  So we then did that and that lead to us getting up to 28 Ima which got us into the B+ range.  Our methods wored but not as well as others.  Another group ended up getting a Ima of 247.  Which was a lot better then ares.  One of our biggest problems was not having the pulley.  It could have increased out machine significantly.

The most difficult thing to grasp was how to inhance the Ima of our machine since we did not have the pulley.  I wasn't surprised by that much during the process of making the machine.  In future projects we can being more careful with our machines and make sure they don't fall apart.  If we are able to keep things together I believe we will do better.  We can use things such as using a smaller dial to create a greater Ima in later projects. 

Six Simple Machines

Troy Ribitzki
A) Six simple machines-Lever, Pulley, Wheel and axel, Wedge, screw, and incline plane.
B) We can reduce them to four because The wedge and the incline plane are very similar to each other.  They each have the same type of shape.  The pulley and the lever also because they both use force on each side.