The Physics of War

Concepts such as forces, classes of levers and moment calculations are not often discussed in the "woodwork" class, but that's exactly what our Term One topic for Materials Technology was about. Students looked at some basic physics along with theory on structures as they aimed to build their best model siege weapons (catapults and trebuchets). 

Workshop skills had to be applied to build their structures. They then had to test it and use the physics knowledge they've gained to make improvements that would allow them to throw their projectiles as far as possible. After several rounds of testing and making changes, most of the students produced successful siege weapons. These models, no bigger than 500mm, managed to throw marbles in excess of 25 meters. It was great to see the range of designs that students developed and their overall enthusiasm for the project.

In term two, we'll continue with the topic and produce at least one large catapult and one large trebuchet as a class.