Quick note: The role of medieval artillery was mainly suppression. Tearing down walls was harder. This is why other methods were developed to bring down walls: digging and collapsing tunnels underneath the foundations, flooding the walls, using all kinds of rams, ... But the walls need not always be brought down in order to capture a fort or walled city. Other tactics included : drawing the defenders out, sieging, storming with ladders and towers, bribing, etc Otherwise, good video. )
Coincidentally, I have friends who run a medieval guild for Renaissance faires and they have been asking me to redesign, engineer and modify their small, old/broken trebuchet to shoot water balloons at faires. This video was very useful. Thank you!
@@ChrisPepper1989 I may be wrong here but I think elastic would give no advantages and would just make it harder to tune the trebuchet to get the most energy into the projectile.
@@ChrisPepper1989 it should be as rigid as possible due to the potential energy getting converted into useless elastic energy so u would lose energy if u would use something elastic
In 1977, our high school Latin club built a standard lever catapult and went to Indianapolis to a catapult competition. We had key parts made with heavy timbers and rough joints. I think we moved a 10lb rock 100 feet. Another group (Zeypher) had two 55gallon drums with cement counterweight for their trebuchet, with sling on end of 30 foot arm. It threw a 100 lb rock 600 feet and created decent craters in soil Update: I forgot, I'm not in the old days: nice summary in Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Catapult_Contest According to posting, I was there on last year it was held, and the "ruins" for some catapults are still in this old farmland
I scrolled all the comments and no one made mention of this- if a trebuchet is mounted on wheels and the trebuchet is allowed to roll freely on a track, the loss of efficiency mentioned at 4:20 ("These machines are not 100% efficient. There will always be some amount of energy remaining in the system after the payload is released because the beam and counterweight will still be in motion") is lessened by the action of the entire machine moving forward as the projectile is thrown. I remember this from a Nova episode on PBS. Hint- search "trebuchet on wheels."
Destroying castle walls and fortifications was not the purpose of siege equipment. It was more to cause chaos and issues for the castle that was being sieged in order to get them to surrender. Shariversity covers this topic quite well if you want some more details. I think "Medieval castle SIEGES in-depth" about the 15-minute mark if you don't want to watch the whole thing.
Especially a trebuchet is a terrible weapon for taking down walls... not saying it won't damage the wall significantly on a direct hit on top of the wall, the problem is the steep angle of impact making it hard to hit the wall in an effective way. Rule of thumb, if you want to hit the wall itself, get a catapult or cannon, if you want to lob something over the wall, get a trebuchet.
@@naphackDT Even then, catapults were rarely used and cannons were primarily a defensive armament. The goal of most sieges would be to capture the castle or fortification intact, not destroy it. And if you really wanted to bring down a wall, you would "undermine" it. Literally dig a tunnel under the wall and then, when completed, burn the supports out of the tunnel, causing it to collapse. Check out that video I mentioned in my original comment, is it a good watch.
Kudos for just a fantastic explanation of a weapon that changed the manner in which war was waged. From the English Longbow too gunpowder, to a gatling gun/machine guns, to Howitzers/long range guns, Nuclear weapons, to laser guided missiles, drones, and who the hell knows what's next. So you were saying that you're developing videos of everything I just described?😉
The fire shooting trebuchet from the intro is still around. They launch fireballs into the water daily at the Voergaard medieval faire every year in July
Have you done a video on shepherds slings? I’ve noticed that the shorter the sling is, the more accurate it is, but the longer it is, the farther you can launch a stone
The most important thing I learnt from this video, is that it took mathemicians several centuries to grasp, what mediaeval engineers discovered through simple trial and error.😏
2:10 how does this machine's operator reach up the beam from the base? U know, to wind it down again and reload with a huge rock for the next shot? Is there a ladder or something to hinge the base gear system to the beam finger ?
The physics is fascinating, and they are certainly powerful and affective, but trebuchets have always looked incredibly awkward to me. They always make me nervous that they will release too late and throw the projectile straight at the operators, or release too soon and throw the projectile straight up. Nonetheless, I do kind of want to build one now
You made an error a bit after 2 minutes in. It's true that thickening the beam where the counterweight is attached is moving the Cg towards the pivot, but it's also *increasing* the moment of inertia. You are taking your baseline beam that has some moment of inertia, and you are then adding more mass not directly at the pivot, and there is no way to do this without also increasing inertia. It is, however, lower inertia than if you made the entire beam that thick, so that's a plus at least?
Was just watching a video from tom Stanton about trebuchets then went to my Subscription page and found this. It had only been uploaded 1 minute prior. what are the chances.
@@paul_vlad very true! Guess they're more a linear spring potential force than a gravity weight pulling downward with a radius to its swing... Probably a simpler problem, but trebuchets are way more fun anyways!
Would you consider doing how raft rides work... I just wanna know how the rafts themselves work and then how the waves can get you drenched sometimes and you can stay completely dry other times
I haven't taken college level physics in 14 years now. I would have understood everything you were saying without a beat back then. Forgot all this shit now.
Great video! I was wondering if the arm length of the trebuchet affects the final velocity of the projectile (assuming that all potential energy is converted into the kinetic energy of the projectile). If so, what equation can give the final velocity of the projectile?
What effect would it have to make an "L" that angles "up" (when cocked) at the end where the counterweight attaches and attaching the weight to this raised L point instead? It would change (delay, right?) when the arm is at max V, I'd imagine, but how would it help or hurt the overall performance?
I saw a diagramme where they added wheels ro the trebuchet that allowed the base to move. The result is that the cointerweight in a straight line down as opposed ro an arc. Leading to a longer throw for the same weights. Thoughts? I know some energy is lost to moving the base. But is the benefit of the straight drop more than the loss by the moving base?
how did the oldtimers manage to do these calculations in the medieval era? before calculus, before the standard spiral notebook, and most importantly, before the all-powerful Pilot G2 pen?
Most likely they didn't beyond the simplest calculations (they probably could estimate how strong wooden beams had to be) and simply built it, tested it, and adjusted a little bit if necessary.
It's honestly a really good question. In some cases, the ropes will remain connected to the throwing arm, and they will be disconnected at the winch end once the arm is lowered and locked down. The ropes can be draped over the top of the frame so they don't swing wildly when the trebuchet is launched. In other cases, the winch ropes will be detached from the arm, but there will be an additional rope that remains connected to the beam (Example: i.ytimg.com/vi/VvWRk-I246E/maxresdefault.jpg ). This way, a person only needs to climb to the top of the frame to re-attach the ropes rather than climbing up the arm.
I've watched trebuchets on TV (Mythbusters and the like). The only thing I never really understood is how that sling at the end works. Now that I see that one end of the sling is attached to a release peg...
I love this video so much! Btw, I really want to know how to change the throwing angle but still hold the same Vo speed in this Trebuchet. I am so curious.
can't we build a trebuchet like device to lift a heavy weight that can be operated by an individual every few hours or so to spin a flywheel to store / produce electricity for a home?
why don't you explain how the operator adjust the range or direction of the weapon ? instead you mention law of conservation of energy a few times which is don't need in the operation of the weapon
if I use a 1: 4 radio can I shoot further than a 1: 5 or 1: 6? Which one must you use and be able to shoot as far as possible. What is important for a good end result. Is it true that the counterweight has to pass as close as possible to the ground? Thanks in advance. have to build one by myself😂
In theory, you should get the best range with a 1:4 ratio assuming that the other parameters remain constant. You are also correct about the counterweight - the hinged arm should be as long as possible so the counterweight just misses the ground at the bottom of the swing. This will give the best efficiency and range!
There is no single one size fits all answer. Much depends on the masses of the projectile, arm, and counterweight. Also the sling length and angle that the arm is cocked at. Taking the 6:1 ratio for an example, you'd need a lot more counterweight but could wind up throwing farther because the tip of the arm could be traveling faster than with 4:1 compared to the counterweight end. And don't forget the truism: In theory, theory and practice are the same but in practice they are not.
The ad segue at the end made me cackle. Me, thinking: "I'm so glad at least that our society has gained enough wealth from industry to not have to knock each other's castles down as often as before" [artifact of economic systems intrudes with extremely minor annoyance] "BURN IT DOWN!!!!!"
Absolutely no one:
Trebuchets: _yeet_
hey could you make a video on disney magic kingdom haunted mansion
tru
Made me laugh when you said that 😂
Quick note: The role of medieval artillery was mainly suppression. Tearing down walls was harder. This is why other methods were developed to bring down walls: digging and collapsing tunnels underneath the foundations, flooding the walls, using all kinds of rams, ... But the walls need not always be brought down in order to capture a fort or walled city. Other tactics included : drawing the defenders out, sieging, storming with ladders and towers, bribing, etc Otherwise, good video. )
@@fallentenno2297 I'd like to make a video on it one day! There's some really cool engineering in that attraction!
Its so fun how quickly I go from understanding to not understanding
Somewhere around the partial differential equations I got lost, its pchem all over again.
It’s so fun how quickly I go from understanding to realizing I’m fucked for my school project
Eh I get what he’s saying, but I haven’t taken differential equations yet and those equations look fucken complicated.
Thanks now I legit don't wanna watch it
the second he split it into separate parts and showed all the geometry for each part is when he lost me😭😂
Coincidentally, I have friends who run a medieval guild for Renaissance faires and they have been asking me to redesign, engineer and modify their small, old/broken trebuchet to shoot water balloons at faires. This video was very useful. Thank you!
Out of interest, on the sling, should you use a rope or something elastic?
@@ChrisPepper1989 I may be wrong here but I think elastic would give no advantages and would just make it harder to tune the trebuchet to get the most energy into the projectile.
that makes sense@@samuelallix5845
@@ChrisPepper1989 it should be as rigid as possible due to the potential energy getting converted into useless elastic energy so u would lose energy if u would use something elastic
In 1977, our high school Latin club built a standard lever catapult and went to Indianapolis to a catapult competition. We had key parts made with heavy timbers and rough joints. I think we moved a 10lb rock 100 feet. Another group (Zeypher) had two 55gallon drums with cement counterweight for their trebuchet, with sling on end of 30 foot arm. It threw a 100 lb rock 600 feet and created decent craters in soil
Update: I forgot, I'm not in the old days: nice summary in Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Catapult_Contest
According to posting, I was there on last year it was held, and the "ruins" for some catapults are still in this old farmland
THATS AWESOME!!
Oy, another gen x'er here to remind us that they've failed to keep America awesome.
The road to success is always under construction~ Civil Engineer
I scrolled all the comments and no one made mention of this- if a trebuchet is mounted on wheels and the trebuchet is allowed to roll freely on a track, the loss of efficiency mentioned at 4:20 ("These machines are not 100% efficient. There will always be some amount of energy remaining in the system after the payload is released because the beam and counterweight will still be in motion") is lessened by the action of the entire machine moving forward as the projectile is thrown.
I remember this from a Nova episode on PBS. Hint- search "trebuchet on wheels."
actually one of the smoothest ad transitions ever LOL great job
Thanks, I'll start building mine tomorrow
I need urgently 200 woods and 200 coins
Ooololoo ooololoo. I just gave you a finished trebuchet
Art of Engineering advanced to the Imperial Age
This is such a fantastic video. I am extremely impressed with how comprehensive this is.
Thanks. I was wondering how to lay siege to this castle I need to invade. This is most appreciated.
lol
@@topsorcery wait its you
@@eeveefever13 oh whattttt!
How its doing? Its been an 8 months siege, that's taking some time
Bro just take her out on a date.
Me at 4 am (Literally): maybe I should go to sleep.
My brain: watch a half an hour-long video about trebuchets.
For some reason this helped me understand freebody diagrams more easily
I've been curious about how this works ever since Lord of the Rings Two towers. Now I'm getting the answer. Thank you!
Great video, but they werent used for breaking stone walls(wooden ones for sure) but for killing soldiers, damaging inner building and producing fear
There's a special place in heaven for those who first invented this beauty
He was a lot better than this guy, the trebuchet is always on wheels to throw.
awesome video man, helped me win a competiton.
Awesome! Glad to hear it!
No lie the free body diagram had me break out in cold sweat. Haven't seen one since my Statics class.
Personally, I like the transition from Trebuchets to VPNs. It is so thought provoking.
Destroying castle walls and fortifications was not the purpose of siege equipment. It was more to cause chaos and issues for the castle that was being sieged in order to get them to surrender. Shariversity covers this topic quite well if you want some more details. I think "Medieval castle SIEGES in-depth" about the 15-minute mark if you don't want to watch the whole thing.
Especially a trebuchet is a terrible weapon for taking down walls... not saying it won't damage the wall significantly on a direct hit on top of the wall, the problem is the steep angle of impact making it hard to hit the wall in an effective way.
Rule of thumb, if you want to hit the wall itself, get a catapult or cannon, if you want to lob something over the wall, get a trebuchet.
@@naphackDT Even then, catapults were rarely used and cannons were primarily a defensive armament. The goal of most sieges would be to capture the castle or fortification intact, not destroy it. And if you really wanted to bring down a wall, you would "undermine" it. Literally dig a tunnel under the wall and then, when completed, burn the supports out of the tunnel, causing it to collapse.
Check out that video I mentioned in my original comment, is it a good watch.
This demonstrates how effective throwing rocks really is.
Kudos for just a fantastic explanation of a weapon that changed the manner in which war was waged. From the English Longbow too gunpowder, to a gatling gun/machine guns, to Howitzers/long range guns, Nuclear weapons, to laser guided missiles, drones, and who the hell knows what's next. So you were saying that you're developing videos of everything I just described?😉
The fire shooting trebuchet from the intro is still around. They launch fireballs into the water daily at the Voergaard medieval faire every year in July
I am waiting for your videos every single day! Amazing work. Can't describe the feeling I feel when I see a new video from ya :D
Thanks so much! 😊
@@ArtofEngineering can you try and post more often if possible love the vids keep up the fantastic work
I'm watching this so I can apply this concept to my disc golf drive.
Awesome channel! Now I know why a trebuchet is obviously a much more superior siege engine than the catapult.
High quality underrated video
1:01 nice to see 11
Have you done a video on shepherds slings? I’ve noticed that the shorter the sling is, the more accurate it is, but the longer it is, the farther you can launch a stone
The most important thing I learnt from this video, is that it took mathemicians several centuries to grasp, what mediaeval engineers discovered through simple trial and error.😏
I dont know how, but i knew exactly what he was talking about
How does the sling know when to release one end of the rope so the payload is released? And how is it released?
I'm just here to try to learn how to hit my golf ball further. Thanks
2:10 how does this machine's operator reach up the beam from the base?
U know, to wind it down again and reload with a huge rock for the next shot?
Is there a ladder or something to hinge the base gear system to the beam finger ?
The physics is fascinating, and they are certainly powerful and affective, but trebuchets have always looked incredibly awkward to me. They always make me nervous that they will release too late and throw the projectile straight at the operators, or release too soon and throw the projectile straight up. Nonetheless, I do kind of want to build one now
My man, don't give Elon Musk any ideas...
You made an error a bit after 2 minutes in. It's true that thickening the beam where the counterweight is attached is moving the Cg towards the pivot, but it's also *increasing* the moment of inertia. You are taking your baseline beam that has some moment of inertia, and you are then adding more mass not directly at the pivot, and there is no way to do this without also increasing inertia.
It is, however, lower inertia than if you made the entire beam that thick, so that's a plus at least?
In england, we did the same thing with small wooden lollipop sticks in year 3. It worked :))
Was just watching a video from tom Stanton about trebuchets then went to my Subscription page and found this. It had only been uploaded 1 minute prior.
what are the chances.
The algorithm works in mysterious ways.
Im using this for fishing casting research
Didn’t the Chinese first invent the Trebuchet? Seems comically fitting something super math(y) comes from them.
nice tutorial. most useful attribute is the wench
The bigger question is: how do we combine this with theme parks?!
Slingshot ride
Double Pendulum 1 looks too intense for me!
@@paul_vlad very true! Guess they're more a linear spring potential force than a gravity weight pulling downward with a radius to its swing... Probably a simpler problem, but trebuchets are way more fun anyways!
@@ArtofEngineering a double pendulum ride might be a bit too chaotic for me ;)
They did make a human trebuchet once… ._.
During the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, they built a trebuchet to help with a siege. It fired exactly one shot - straight up into the air and down.
Would you consider doing how raft rides work... I just wanna know how the rafts themselves work and then how the waves can get you drenched sometimes and you can stay completely dry other times
Love the segue into the advert 👍👍
I haven't taken college level physics in 14 years now. I would have understood everything you were saying without a beat back then. Forgot all this shit now.
Great video! I was wondering if the arm length of the trebuchet affects the final velocity of the projectile (assuming that all potential energy is converted into the kinetic energy of the projectile). If so, what equation can give the final velocity of the projectile?
Fantastic video. Can I use it in the Class room ?
Trebuchets and mangonels are the best siege!
New video idea? 👀
This was incredible. Thank you fo the presentation and the breakdown
nice video! even the math was ok to follow for me
Now I'm curious, if the trebuchet design is based on a double pendulum, is there an equivalent triple pendulum design?
Inb4 Quadruchet
What effect would it have to make an "L" that angles "up" (when cocked) at the end where the counterweight attaches and attaching the weight to this raised L point instead? It would change (delay, right?) when the arm is at max V, I'd imagine, but how would it help or hurt the overall performance?
I actually built a trebuchet of my own In grade 5. My dad helped me out with it
Very informative , enjoyed watching.
I saw a diagramme where they added wheels ro the trebuchet that allowed the base to move. The result is that the cointerweight in a straight line down as opposed ro an arc. Leading to a longer throw for the same weights. Thoughts? I know some energy is lost to moving the base. But is the benefit of the straight drop more than the loss by the moving base?
Hey can you provide the steps to those differential equations?
You should do a follow up on floating arm trebuchets
Thanks for the video
how did the oldtimers manage to do these calculations in the medieval era? before calculus, before the standard spiral notebook, and most importantly, before the all-powerful Pilot G2 pen?
Most likely they didn't beyond the simplest calculations (they probably could estimate how strong wooden beams had to be) and simply built it, tested it, and adjusted a little bit if necessary.
The pilot g2 pen was invented by medieval scholars because quills were too hard to write with
Field test after completion is the thing that make the model like what we know, I guess
Noob question: How does the throwing arm gets connected to the winches? Does someone have to climb up on that swinging pole with a rope or ... ?
It's honestly a really good question. In some cases, the ropes will remain connected to the throwing arm, and they will be disconnected at the winch end once the arm is lowered and locked down. The ropes can be draped over the top of the frame so they don't swing wildly when the trebuchet is launched. In other cases, the winch ropes will be detached from the arm, but there will be an additional rope that remains connected to the beam (Example: i.ytimg.com/vi/VvWRk-I246E/maxresdefault.jpg ). This way, a person only needs to climb to the top of the frame to re-attach the ropes rather than climbing up the arm.
Is there a video explaining the math behind trebuchets in more detail? I probably learned it in school but forgot :/
I've watched trebuchets on TV (Mythbusters and the like). The only thing I never really understood is how that sling at the end works.
Now that I see that one end of the sling is attached to a release peg...
Very well explained!
I love this video so much! Btw, I really want to know how to change the throwing angle but still hold the same Vo speed in this Trebuchet. I am so curious.
Really enjoyed this video!
Can you do a video on The Rockin' Roller Coaster in Hollywood studios at Disney?
How to win in age of empires II :
History Channel version about the history of the Trebuchets:
*Aliens*
can't we build a trebuchet like device to lift a heavy weight that can be operated by an individual every few hours or so to spin a flywheel to store / produce electricity for a home?
"...fruit throwing competition..."
It's punkin-chunkin, dammit
if i lived 3 or 4 blocks from Mara logo i would have a great way to get rid of cat poop .. and 10 points if you hit the conman
My earliest comment yet! Great video I'm sure. I'll get back one I watch it!
Can you make a video on how mobile cranes work?
That's some serious math.
Been way too long since you made a warfare based videos
why don't you explain how the operator adjust the range or direction of the weapon ?
instead you mention law of conservation of energy a few times which is don't need in the operation of the weapon
Thanks for explanation
guys better trebuchet or catapult ?
I like your funny words, magic man.
if I use a 1: 4 radio can I shoot further than a 1: 5 or 1: 6? Which one must you use and be able to shoot as far as possible. What is important for a good end result. Is it true that the counterweight has to pass as close as possible to the ground? Thanks in advance. have to build one by myself😂
In theory, you should get the best range with a 1:4 ratio assuming that the other parameters remain constant. You are also correct about the counterweight - the hinged arm should be as long as possible so the counterweight just misses the ground at the bottom of the swing. This will give the best efficiency and range!
There is no single one size fits all answer. Much depends on the masses of the projectile, arm, and counterweight. Also the sling length and angle that the arm is cocked at. Taking the 6:1 ratio for an example, you'd need a lot more counterweight but could wind up throwing farther because the tip of the arm could be traveling faster than with 4:1 compared to the counterweight end.
And don't forget the truism: In theory, theory and practice are the same but in practice they are not.
sad he only uploads 3 times a year
There's something new coming this week 👀
@@ArtofEngineering still waiting
can you make a video on how Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean works.
So any opinion optimum finger angle?
MANNING SIEGE EQUIPMENT!!!!!!
Stick fling rock using bigger rock. Kinda simple
The ad segue at the end made me cackle. Me, thinking: "I'm so glad at least that our society has gained enough wealth from industry to not have to knock each other's castles down as often as before" [artifact of economic systems intrudes with extremely minor annoyance] "BURN IT DOWN!!!!!"
Who got annoyed at the angle the projectile is launched in the cartoon each time?
nice video
Hasn’t been used in combat in over 500 years…if only they new 2024 has a trebuchet bingo space
gracias, mi tarea ya esta hecha gracias a ti
Problem is, the trebuchet is supposed to be left on its wheels. Throws a lot farther.
yes
Wunderbar
When I think Siege Engine, I think; Trebuchet.
Golf swing lag is the same as how trebuchets work.......
How far could they throw a Critter ? They tend to be on the thin side, so may 130 pounds? 😇
And you said it was just "fairly complicated" 😉