Get your very own trebuchet and catapult yourself to victory! You'll learn more about levers simple machines and the principles behind force and gravity as you experiment with projectiles and counterweights to make the perfect launch.

The trebuchet (pronounced tray-boo-shay) was a large counter-weighted weapon used in the Middle Ages during warfare to break down the walls of castles. The first ones invented used between 15 and 40 men to pull down the lever arm in order to launch it. It soon developed into a simple machine called a traction trebuchet that used gravity instead of manpower. These machines were generally larger and more difficult to reload but could catapult much bigger objects.

Here is how it worked! It had a lever that transferred gravitational energy into kinetic energy taking the force of gravity and using it to fling an object. Soldiers relied on this weapon so much that they even named them! One very large trebuchet used during the Crusades in Scotland was named Warwolf

No matter the size the main components of a trebuchet are the lever and the sling. The pivot point (or fulcrum) is located between the load and the effort and works like a see saw. On one end there is the object that is to be fired and on the other is the counterweight. Raising the counterweight above the ground causes a buildup of potential energy. When the counterweight is released and falls the lever arm pivots on its fulcrum and the other end of the projectile receives the energy.

Can you believe they used these on ships as well as land? You can probably throw a ball on land with pretty good aim. Next time you are floating in a pool or lake try throwing a ball to the shore and see what these ship-bound trebuchets were up against.