The first project for Physics this year, we built trebuchets. A trebuchet is a form of siege weapon that uses gravity to launch an object. The beginning of this project we learned about the different types of motion, how trebuchets work, and various historical iterations of trebuchets. The purpose of this project was to learn about, velocity, kinetic and potential energy, acceleration, and projectile motion through trebuchets.  

     A trebuchet consists of a Frame, a Swing arm, A Counter Weight, and most trebuchets use a sling to maximize the speed and distance of the projectile. The way they work is there is a long arm that is attached to a pivot point which is about a fifth of the way up the arm. So one side of the arm is significantly longer than another. Attached to the short side is the counterweight and connected to the long side is the sling. The side with the counterweight is lifted so that when it falls, the long arm is thrust into the air flinging the sling and projectile forward.

     From the trebuchets that we made I think that the key to launching a projectile as far as possible is a combination of a long swingarm, a good sling, and heavy counterweight. Out of all the trebuchets, the one that launched the farthest had all of these different factors. Even though they didn't win their trebuchet did launch the farthest in a perfect world where trebuchets didn't fall apart the heavier the counterweight, the farther the launch. However, other things have a part as well; such as the ratio between the weight of the counterweight and the weight of the projectile, the place the pivot point is on the swing arm after making minor tweaks to our trebuchet on things such as the angle of the release pin and the length of our sling I finally got to a point where our trebuchet functioned at its top performance.

     In this project, we were a Community of Learners which is, in my mind, a group of people collaborating to create something while learning. In this project, we were in groups. I think that during this project we didn't only learn about trebuchets we also learned how to be good group members and function as a collective. We not only had to be creative as a group to come up with the trebuchet design the we wanted, but we also had to have good communication so that if one person had an idea, they would get heard, and no one was excluded

     Personally, my biggest challenge during this project was working with a group, and I think that I took over during this project and acted a bit like a bad leader. I ended up doing more work than I should of and not delegating and letting my group members work on it as well. I think that I got a lot better at being a good group member from the beginning of this project to the end. By the end, I think that I gave my group tasks and let them do some things also.

     The biggest success for this project was the trebuchet its self, and also in a way it was getting better at working as a group. I said the trebuchet because it worked significantly better than most other trebuchets. Also getting better at working with a group because that's a skill that I'll probably need in the future. I'm proud of me and my group for creating a great working trebuchet, and I'm proud of myself because I overcame my struggles.

    I feel at I learned a lot from this project, whether that be academic or social skills. Of all my classes I think that physics is my favorite because I like that we get to build alongside learining. I like that I can be creative in my work and make what I want.  Overall I enjoyed this project and would say that it was a huge success