Group Reflections
Sumeet: This catapult project has been very exciting and challenging. At first we debated over what type of catapult to build, and the onager was chosen. However, with our older rope it did not shoot very far. We were confused on whether to change to a trebutchet or stick with the onager. But we sticked with our onager and improved it to the greatest. There were a few complications that stood in our way ( The support and the arm broke). However these obstacles are what made our catapult better and made it capable of shooting a much farther distance. We were given a certain amount of time and every group member had something important to contribute to the group.Overall I believe that this project has been successful in teaching the group responsibility and time management. Something that I really liked about this project was that there were no middle deadlines, this gave the group some freedom and taught us to be responsible and get work done.
One advice from Sumeet: You should test the catapult a lot before the launch day, and practice it's capability.
Jasdeep: This project initially proved challenging for the group as we did not know which type of catapult would be ideal. We focused more on the design rather than the construction of the catapult because we were debating on whether we should make an onager or a trebuchet. Once we sorted our conflicts, the construction of the catapult was difficult since we had failure on our first test launch. The arm broke instantly on our first test run but it helped us develop our catapult for the better. Through failures, our group was able to make a well-rounded catapult that had little to zero errors in performance. Overall, this project was a lot of fun and I enjoyed making the catapult with my group. Something that I learned from the project is how to manage my time. Having the ability to set my own deadlines helped me build my responsibility and time management skills.
One Advice from Jasdeep: Push your catapult to its absolute limits. Knowing your weaknesses over your strength is more helpful than knowing your strengths over your weaknesses.
Puneet:
When we were given this catapult building project our groups was very skeptical on what type of catapult to build and materials to use. We spent most of our time that we were given on just designing not even assembling the catapult. There was also a large debate on the material to use for the tension. However, we did end up making a nice catapult that could lunch a decent distance consistently.The only real problem was that we did not try to find flaws in our catapult or manage everything efficiently. For example, in the max distance contest we turned the catapult too much causing the wooden pieces at the side to break. This caused us to make some last minute modifications/ repairs which could have been prevented if we used our time more effectively. Even though there where a lot of hiccups the overall project was fun and interesting.
One Advice from Puneet:When testing your catapult try to break it so that you can find its faults and fix them.
Deepsimrat:
A catapult is a big machine that was used in the Middle Ages as a weapon of war but now, we had to build it for a physics project. Building one is not as easy as watching it fire. It takes a lot of materials, planning, rough work, hard work and time to build one and which is why we got a lot of time to work on it as a group of five. This physics project was made so that us physics student learn about torque, projectile motion, force and momentum and from my experience, It taught that and much more. As far as our Catapult goes, it worked out great and on the test day we learned that most trebuchet didn’t work, so I was happy we had built an Onager. Building was just one part of it as we had to hit targets at several ranges and elevations we had designated ourselves. The day we had practiced, there was a lot of wind so we couldn’t get a realistic target hit. In the morning of the test day, we practiced some shots but we weren’t getting them so we changed our target ranges. When it was actually time to shoot it front of Mr. Peasley, it failed first three times because there was too much wind difference from when we practiced to the actual shooting. After we had determined how much the wind was effecting our throw, we changed our ranges accordingly. Eventually we did manage to hit the targets. Overall this project was fun and a great learning experience for people who want to pursue a career in the engineering field.
One advice from Deepsimrat: Always film the commercial before the testing day because you might break it during the testing day
Ashanth:
One advice from Ashanth:
One advice from Sumeet: You should test the catapult a lot before the launch day, and practice it's capability.
Jasdeep: This project initially proved challenging for the group as we did not know which type of catapult would be ideal. We focused more on the design rather than the construction of the catapult because we were debating on whether we should make an onager or a trebuchet. Once we sorted our conflicts, the construction of the catapult was difficult since we had failure on our first test launch. The arm broke instantly on our first test run but it helped us develop our catapult for the better. Through failures, our group was able to make a well-rounded catapult that had little to zero errors in performance. Overall, this project was a lot of fun and I enjoyed making the catapult with my group. Something that I learned from the project is how to manage my time. Having the ability to set my own deadlines helped me build my responsibility and time management skills.
One Advice from Jasdeep: Push your catapult to its absolute limits. Knowing your weaknesses over your strength is more helpful than knowing your strengths over your weaknesses.
Puneet:
When we were given this catapult building project our groups was very skeptical on what type of catapult to build and materials to use. We spent most of our time that we were given on just designing not even assembling the catapult. There was also a large debate on the material to use for the tension. However, we did end up making a nice catapult that could lunch a decent distance consistently.The only real problem was that we did not try to find flaws in our catapult or manage everything efficiently. For example, in the max distance contest we turned the catapult too much causing the wooden pieces at the side to break. This caused us to make some last minute modifications/ repairs which could have been prevented if we used our time more effectively. Even though there where a lot of hiccups the overall project was fun and interesting.
One Advice from Puneet:When testing your catapult try to break it so that you can find its faults and fix them.
Deepsimrat:
A catapult is a big machine that was used in the Middle Ages as a weapon of war but now, we had to build it for a physics project. Building one is not as easy as watching it fire. It takes a lot of materials, planning, rough work, hard work and time to build one and which is why we got a lot of time to work on it as a group of five. This physics project was made so that us physics student learn about torque, projectile motion, force and momentum and from my experience, It taught that and much more. As far as our Catapult goes, it worked out great and on the test day we learned that most trebuchet didn’t work, so I was happy we had built an Onager. Building was just one part of it as we had to hit targets at several ranges and elevations we had designated ourselves. The day we had practiced, there was a lot of wind so we couldn’t get a realistic target hit. In the morning of the test day, we practiced some shots but we weren’t getting them so we changed our target ranges. When it was actually time to shoot it front of Mr. Peasley, it failed first three times because there was too much wind difference from when we practiced to the actual shooting. After we had determined how much the wind was effecting our throw, we changed our ranges accordingly. Eventually we did manage to hit the targets. Overall this project was fun and a great learning experience for people who want to pursue a career in the engineering field.
One advice from Deepsimrat: Always film the commercial before the testing day because you might break it during the testing day
Ashanth:
One advice from Ashanth: