A trebuchet (French: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The first is the traction trebuchet, or mangonel, which uses manpower to swing the arm.

The main types of catapults used were the trebuchet, mangonel, onager, and ballista.

The 3 main types of Catapults were Ballista, Mangonel, and Trebuchet.

Now catapults are used in target practice to shoot clay pigeons in the air, to launch food at siblings, and the most common use to launch planes into the air.

Catapults evolved from simple slingshots to siege weapons. Today, catapults can be used to launch airplanes from aircraft carriers, or to demonstrate physics and mathematics to students.

There are five historical types of catapults: the mangonel, onager, ballista and trebuchet, using three types of motive force: tension, torsion and gravity.

France

Da Vinci is known to have developed two designs, the single and double arm system, for his ideal catapult, each of which utilized what is referred to as the leaf-spring system to optimize the weapon’s accuracy and power. …

Greek Dionysius the Elder of

The catapult was invented around 400 BC in Greek town Syracus. The very first catapult invented resembled a crossbow. It was called the Gastraphete. The Greeks, impressed by the destructive power of this new weapon, created a bigger version called a Ballista and it was used as a defense weapon against raiding armies.

The catapult was replaced by the more effecive Trebuchet which could launch projectiles over even longer distances. The Trebuchet was also easier to build.

The earliest catapults date to at least the 4th century BC with the advent of the mangonel in ancient China, a type of traction trebuchet and catapult. Early uses were also attributed to Ajatashatru of Magadha in his war against the Licchavis.

A catapult’s maximum weight tops out at about 180 pounds; trebuchets top out at about 350. Second, compared with a torsion engine, it’s a fairly robust machine. Lastly, for a given weight of stone, the trebuchet has a longer range. The big ones there, of course, are the maximum projectile weight and range.

Nearly all catapults employed in ancient and medieval artillery operated by a sudden release of tension on bent wooden beams or of torsion in twisted cords of horsehair, gut, sinew, or other fibres. When the torsion was released, the arm swung upward and hurled the stone with great force.

It shoots really far!

1. Here’s what you need to make one:
2. Step 1: Grab 6 sticks and warm up the glue gun.
3. Step 2: Make two triangles by gluing three craft sticks together.
4. Step 3: Cut a piece from the bamboo skewer.
5. Step 4: Hot glue the skewer to each of the triangles.

Onager, in weaponry, ancient Roman torsion-powered weapon, similar to a catapult. The skein was twisted tight by geared winches, and the beam was then pulled down to a horizontal position, further increasing the twist (and thus the torsion) of the skein. …

Ammianus Marcellinus

A trebuchet works by using the energy of a falling (and hinged) counterweight to launch a projectile (the payload), using mechanical advantage to achieve a high launch speed. This is the principle of mechanical advantage, and is what allows the payload to reach a high launch velocity.