Launching a Trebuchet Straight UP

It's difficult to visualise the potential energy when a heavy object is raised, so this is a demonstration of how the transfer of energy can be used to launch smaller object high into the air!
Trebuchet CAD model: www.thingiverse.com/thing:363...
The high speed (slow mo) shots were filmed with a Chronos 1.4, which I recently purchased (not sponsored, just a great camera!). More info can be found here: www.krontech.ca/store/Chronos...
Enjoy my videos? These are made possible due to help from my Patrons. Please consider supporting my efforts: / tomstanton
3D Printer filament sponsored by 3D Printz UK: 3dprintz.co.uk/
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My Other Equipment:
Main camera - amzn.to/2vlvlC6
Main lens - amzn.to/2gMrhru
Main tripod - amzn.to/2tqRjBt
Secondary Tripod - amzn.to/2t1NkMh
Microphone - amzn.to/2uuv9n0
Audio recorder - amzn.to/2v3mjcG
Banggood affiliate: www.banggood.com/?p=LT0710618...
Twitter: / tomstantonyt
3D Printer filament sponsored by 3D Printz UK: 3dprintz.co.uk/
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[@rpyrat]

10:16 can we just take a moment to appreciate this edit?

[@Maex2k]

Came down here to say the same!

[@DrZeus108]

12:21 is also impressive

[@Brixxter]

Ikr, that's incredible work right there

[@MichaelTeeuw]

That was serious spaceX promo editing!

[@AndreBandarra1]

yep, thought the same :)

[@smartereveryday]

I love this

[@tenzinkalsang1371]

I have always watch your videos and never got bored..... :) Exploding baseball on 6th sep 2020 was sooo satifying

[@subscribefornoreason1561]

Yo

[@damianyanez5931]

you guys need to make a collaboration video plz

[@subscribefornoreason1561]

Damian Yañez would be nice but it’s not a good mix in terms of expertise, I’m perfectly happy with the people Dustin works with already, and as he only uploads a video once every blue moon, I don’t want that video to be wasted

[@oo_atlas_oo]

Well hello there

[@rentaspoon219]

14:41 plane in background: "control be advised, we are being attacked by a small red and blue object, over"

[@kurumi394]

"Seems like the Koreans are attacking us Dave" "North I assume Mr. Wilson?" "No... the South for once"

[@scout5988]

“Uhh control? We are being attacked by somebody with a trebuchet with wheels. They seem to be launching... almost times two of a golf ball....” “Excuse me what?” “We are being attacked by a youtuber!” “Oh yeah.. him”

[@TheDemocrab]

@@scout5988 "You, uh, you do realise that his house is a no-fly zone for this specific reason, right?"

[@estherkarani-on6tb]

Hilarious joke

[@GoExperimental]

Your channel makes me want a 3d printer a lot!

[@obj_obj]

The Ender 3 Pro is 200 USD, they’re becoming affordable

[@nythawkfpv]

do it

[@invertedowl]

I was literally just thinking this!

[@nythawkfpv]

prusa mini has really good print quality but lacks size. Both work fabulously

[@qwertyuiop8334]

Me too

[@MrNlce30]

"Local man arrested trying to take out neighbouring village with medieval siege weapons." Love it. Keep up the good work.

[@kirkc9643]

It appears that he progressed to attempting to shoot down a jet airliner

[@1224chrisng]

by local surely you mean Florida

[@bkailua1224]

@@1224chrisng I do mean Florida but don't call me Shirly

[@1224chrisng]

Florida Man, Florida Man, doing what a Florida can

[@zakofrx]

I wouldn't be surprised by that. They are arresting people for having vegetable peelers in the UK so how long until they arrest him for this.

[@Ididathing]

Mate watching that parachute deploy was beautiful. You are a great engineer!

[@arthurfrilingos1860]

I agree, your videos are so satisfying! You are a great engineer!! (DARPA should give you an Internship?)

[@rexdomp3965]

yo @ I did a thing love your vids too!!!

[@jacobtang8949]

just 8 likes? what?

[@juanit0tackit0tackito2]

the Kingdom of GOD is coming…“Silver is for the kettle, and gold for the furnace, but The LORD is the tester of hearts- Bible” your heart is like discovered silver, dirty and not pure, when silver is purified it is melted over and over, to the point that when it’s melted and glows red hot, it is pure enough to see your own reflection in the puddle, so also does the LORD purify your heart, till HE can see HIS own reflection in it, seek the LORD and be reborn, ask The LORD to renew and restore you, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus died so that our sins will be wiped away and so that we could be made new, if would be wise you would be wise for yourself, pick up your cross and deny your flesh and follow the path of GOD, for The Kingdom of GOD is at hand, in JESUS MIGHTY NAME Amen and Amen 🙏 o

[@themastereal8345]

alex???

[@calebsherman886]

10:16 Caught me off guard with this incredible edit.

[@idontcare7961]

And a bunch of lies.

[@Jason-uv5tm]

@@idontcare7961 lmao ok

[@jimbarbwe1985]

@4:29 love this sentence "this is roughly" then proceeds to give an accurate percentage.

[@velvetcake5425]

Now instead of an altimeter ball, use a holy hand grenade.

[@ferrumignis]

But don't count to 5.

[@gert-janclaes3001]

@@ferrumignis Ofcourse not! Five is right out.. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it. ~Book of Armaments, Chapter 2, verses 9-21

[@TURNKEYiNK]

Bring Forth The Holy Hand Grenade!

[@superjugy]

Oh Lord, bless this thy hand grenade

[@filipklominek3527]

@@gert-janclaes3001speech 1000

[@MatthewEvansFPV]

Landing so close to where it was launched is very satisfying haha

[@zoltanposfai3451]

That's a very 21st century comment, isn't it? I doubt an acient trebuchet operator would subscribe to the idea :)

[@patmancrowley8509]

Next thing he knows he'll be working for Space-X (which would be a pretty good thing, eh?).

[@juanit0tackit0tackito2]

the Kingdom of GOD is coming…“Silver is for the kettle, and gold for the furnace, but The LORD is the tester of hearts- Bible” your heart is like discovered silver, dirty and not pure, when silver is purified it is melted over and over, to the point that when it’s melted and glows red hot, it is pure enough to see your own reflection in the puddle, so also does the LORD purify your heart, till HE can see HIS own reflection in it, seek the LORD and be reborn, ask The LORD to renew and restore you, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus died so that our sins will be wiped away and so that we could be made new, if would be wise you would be wise for yourself, pick up your cross and deny your flesh and follow the path of GOD, for The Kingdom of GOD is at hand, in JESUS MIGHTY NAME Amen and Amen

[@MatthewEvansFPV]

@@juanit0tackit0tackito2 ok buddy

[@7.12_am]

Tom: what's more aerodynamic than a tennis ball Me: a golf ball Tom: a golf ball Me: *I KNEW IT*

[@jonathanjames8765]

Same here, I felt proud of myself.

[@mareksykora5197]

Ha ha. Everybody knew it. You can ask why all cars, planes and rockets don't have their bodies full of dents to reduce aerodynamic drag.

[@NicksStuff]

@@mareksykora5197 Well, I was thinking water droplet

[@Ethelberd]

@@ska042 The dimples aren't for aerodynamics at all. They catch the shockwave of the golf club more efficiently than a smooth sphere, which deflects the energy outwards rather than forwards. The dimples actually increase drag

[@ska042]

@@Ethelberd got a source for that? Highly doubt the surface of the ball has more than a marginal effect on how the energy of the club is transferred - the most important aspect there is probably how the inside of the ball behaves, because that determines how flexible or rigid the whole ball is. I stand by my original statement, but if you have some good sources (read: research papers) I'm open to changing my mind

[@eggnuggs9013]

I wonder how many times he had to knock on his neighbors door and say... "I'm sorry to have bothered you at this untimely hour ma'am but it appears that of only a few moment moments ago my altimeter golf ball unfortunately descended into your pumpkin patch."

[@Chrisallengallery]

Amazing use of a drone ! 10:16 (Not the tree part, that wasn't very smart)

[@Lauris2211]

was it drone? i thought it was google maps.

[@Alucard-gt1zf]

lauris2211 why would google maps have a street view in his backyard?

[@nathanast7036]

Tree part?

[@Boomber123]

@@Alucard-gt1zf Google map have 3D map feature, that feature doesn't use the same method as street view and can be generated from satellite image directly. Though it isn't high resolution enough to be used like this.

[@namibjDerEchte]

@@Boomber123 It's not using satellite data, but rather planes flying over the area with cameras on them. The resolution wouldn't otherwise be sufficient.

[@XavierXonora]

Tom in 2017: air powered model planes! Tom in 2019: launching small payloads into suborbital trajectories Tom in 2021: First human to use a trebuchet to get to orbit?

[@zockertwins]

I hate to break it to you, but you can't launch into orbit with a trebuchet.

[@showalk]

@@zockertwins **YET**

[@zockertwins]

@@showalk It's physically impossible, you couldn't do it no matter how advanced the trebuchet is.

[@showalk]

@@zockertwins What about a very, very large trebuchet?

[@zockertwins]

the trebuchet needs to be at least as high as the lowest point in your desired orbit. So if you want a 100km orbit, you need at least a 100km high trebuchet.

[@KyrosQuickfist]

Launching a Trebuchet Straight UP

[@mr.e3987]

Or using a trebuchet to launch a trebuchet

[@ThePixel1983]

That's what I thought of as well.

[@thatlumberjack]

Same here!

[@kieran.grant_]

I feel like I got clickbaited

[@TheDemocrab]

Eventually we'll see a video where someone launches a trebuchet from a trebuchet.

[@davidpenfold]

I've been bingeing your videos for the past few days, and this is the best so far. What's more, you've given us the trebuchet CAD files. Yay!

[@morningreis5018]

You scaled up the golf ball 187%, but you also scaled the dimples by the same amount. I'm wondering if the aerodynamic/drag reducing effect of golf ball dimples is lost when the they are so large. It might be worth it comparing it to a smooth ball for a baseline. Also wondering if the roughness of 3d printing vs the smooth coating on the golf ball plays a part. Great video!

[@MmeHyraelle]

I remember mythbuster have some data points on this, they covered a car in golf ball dimple and they were car sized dimples :)

[@triggermovies]

I'd be interested in this comparison too. I think Tom mostly use PLA for his 3D prints. It might be worth giving ABS a try, as it can be smoothed using acetone (PLA can be smooth afaik, but it requires harder to find chemicals). Anyway, most of the energy seems to be lost in the trebuchet itself, the loss due to drag were very low in comparison, so it's probably better to work on that... Ball bearings all around ?

[@HollywoodF1]

The Cd of a sphere is one of the most volatile. It changes up and down as velocity changes. The Reynold's Number, the viscocity of air, and the density of the sphere factor into what dimple geometry is the best to achieve the greatest altitude. The easiest way to solve it is with a vertical-tube wind tunnel and some differing configurations of ball.

[@ste1l1]

@@HollywoodF1 I calculated Re to be ~2.2E+05 at 41 m/s. According to [1], "shallow" dimples would be best for this setup. Reynold's numbers of this size is in the upper end of what they tested in the lab. [1] www.scirp.org/Journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=85529

[@andrewlavey6992]

Agreed. My thoughts also.

[@kurtlindner]

12:08 Careful! -you almost hit that plane.

[@utubeaccess7]

Yeah that Dash8's SAM alert probably went off =)

[@jatoxo]

You would need a bit less than one ton of mass on that trebuchet to get enough energy to get to the height planes fly at (11km) with perfect energy conversion

[@Samuel-kz5kj]

at 14:38 too

[@jukkatakamaa7274]

He could make a weapon that could hit the plane.

[@WiinoGP]

@@jatoxo U seems to be a very funny guy. Im sure people love talking to you at parties

[@wernerherrmann]

i LOVE your videos. Actually been watching them all weekend. EXCELLET

[@mikevanin1]

Superb content, excellent production! Well done Tom!

[@hungryhungryhummer]

Launch a GoPro. I wanna see what it looks like

[@kirkc9643]

Just imaginging that makes me feel nauseas

[@jklalskjdjhg7227]

360 camera would work better

[@markchinguz4401]

Spinny

[@Damsel_In_Distress_528]

It wouldn't look that nice. Literally just imagine using the camera on your phone to record and then shaking your phone rapidly. That's what it would look like. Just a bunch of blurry flickering video. - What would be interesting would be for him to put in a 360° camera or an auto balancing camera. (Then you wouldn't have to worry about the swaying)

[@wiseguygazette]

@@Damsel_In_Distress_528 Until the parachute deploys. That would be pretty cool footage.

[@FirstnameLastname-is2tu]

It’s more efficient than petrol combustion. Our next step is trebuchet travel.

[@j.q.higgins2245]

Yeah, my lumbar discs are all beside themselves with anticipation...

[@Hugo-pj4bm]

You still need to Power that thing though

[@brandonkeeber3799]

@@j.q.higgins2245 Oh they'll definitely be beside themselves after a trebuchet launch

[@razorvla]

It promises a lot of new sensations !

[@Tore_Lund]

@@Hugo-pj4bm Yes, human power is 6 times as dirty as the internal combustion engine.

[@zsoca31]

That animation!!! Love your channel man!

[@petewhitnear6877]

Fantastic Tom, I've really enjoyed watching all of your videos, particularly the trebuchet ones but this has been my favourite, Very satisfying watching that parachute deploy first time!!Keep it up .

[@CodeLeeCarter]

Don't you just love it when a project works like you hoped it would do?... We heard the excitement when it worked the first time, It was that little natural touch that made me react the same way. Awesome work, and thanks again, my Man.

[@nairsreehari96]

Which galaxy are you from?😂

[@polychoron]

@@nairsreehari96 Any alien in contact with us would be from our own milky way, most likely. Long distances require serious engineering.

[@nairsreehari96]

@@polychoron Ya... Else they won't be watching videos on making trebuchet 😂😂😂

[@csours]

Darn you Tom Stanton, I was about to go to work!

[@mostman911]

I’m going to be cutting it very close!

[@RCFlyBoy314]

12:08 It's 2019 and you just invented the first Anti-aircraft trebuchet :D

[@BBBoy990]

Love your video's, as you stated stuff like this never gets tired. It appeals to the child in all of us. I remember when model rockets first came out, about 50+ years ago. We attached about a dozen motors to a flying saucer we made. No physics or science involved. Trying to ignite all the motors at once. It was a total failure, but what a blast, literally. Keep up the good work.

[@TobiLobi]

OMG I absolutely love the edit at 10:16

[@benjamincolback525]

So satisfyingly awesome

[@daylen577]

Next up you should make an RC glider that you can launch with a trebuchet

[@png.broccoli4093]

i think he should make giant golf ball v2 the ball with built in whistle

[@embretr]

Rc glider with foldable wings for maximum release velocity.

[@jackvac1918]

Combine the above two: make a trebuchet-launched Golden Snitch!

[@jamesmcdonald2680]

I came here to say this, but you already did, so...Please combine this with FPV.

[@dexterousmuffin]

@@png.broccoli4093 with a built in siren, just like Stukas during WW2 lol

Love your channel. So much fun and learning about things I have no clue about.

[@hjohnson143]

I've been watching your channel for about a year now and this video is far and away the coolest thing you have published. Don't get me wrong, I have enormous respect for all the other projects, but this one takes me back! When I was a little kid growing up in Toms River, NJ (USA), I used to make parachutes out of anything, toss them into the air and watch them fall gently back to earth. Or get stuck in a tree. Or power lines. So this project takes directly back to the times of my youth. Thanks for all your efforts and keep on coming up with new and interesting projects!

[@RamyRC]

Retrieving the parachute was really genius, Maybe! :D Great video Tom I love it.

[@markstevenson4030]

This is seriously the, THE best channel on youtube. I love you man

[@MrEmrys24]

That escalated quickly....

[@TheIdeasGuy]

I take some small offence to that comment Mark Stevensson! Lol

[@MattyH73]

Thoroughly enjoyed this, great video

[@aimusoorii4484]

I love your reaction its so pure.

[@danmaho6762]

You nailed the video editing for this one!

[@nathangek]

The trebuchet is without a shadow of a doubt the most effective siege engine known to man. What other structure can launch a 90kg projectile over 300 meters?

[@juliusEST]

Came looking for this exact comment

[@planbuildrepeat8264]

A cannon?

[@planbuildrepeat8264]

@Michael Smith to be sure. Just trolling a bit

[@brainmind4070]

Guns on naval ships fire a 150kg projectile nearly 30,000 meters.

[@PseudoResonance]

@@brainmind4070 Those didn't exist even 100 or so years ago though.

[@musicman53]

Excellent stuff Tom. I calculated the height reached by your tennis ball by simply timing the action from launch to hitting the ground, the average was 7.0 seconds. The fall from the apex therefore took 3.5 seconds, (t) average velocity (v) was t (3.5) x g (9.81)/2 m/sec = 17.2 m/sec distance traveled (height) was v x t = 60.1 m Lines up pretty closely with your way more high tech method :)

[@DCT_Aaron_Engineering]

Excellent video Tom. You have provided comprehensive detail and some of the best video editing I've seen on KZbin. Keep up the excellent work. Kind regards, Aaron.

[@Nuovoswiss]

I'd love to see you remake this trebuchet with some glass fiber composite components in order to be able to up the max energy to the kilojoule range. Making DIY glass fiber composite panels/beams/poles is pretty straightforward and inexpensive, and could offer a lot of strength over just wood.

[@captainnerd6452]

Also look at ways to minimize friction at the fulcra.

[@Deqster]

Golf. Ball. That parachute and data package design is absolutely brilliant!

[@davedonovan2681]

you are officially my new favorite youtube channel. Thanks Tom for your incredible videos.

[@juancortez4726]

I love your videos and how you explain everything you're doing! Amazing mastery of the physics of this thing and truly impressive! Kudos!!

[@HS-fk6hb]

So much work got into making this video, just wow. Keep it up!!

[@Ghostywalker1]

Such good production quality, nice edits, good explanations, overall just super clean, I love the way this channel is going gw Tom!

[@CaptApril123]

Excellent production quality. You could probably package these for schools & teaching as a side business. I've seen 'paid for' training videos less than half the quality of his videos.

[@RawRapper]

Can’t believe how much this channel has grown since I started watching it well done 👍

[@cj4138]

This is a great video, and a great experiment/build! Just great job all over!

[@gamernick1533]

Ball stuck in tree Me: I bet he tries the stupid thing... Tom: Tries the stupid thing Me: SCORE!

[@benjaminbrowning206]

Holy shit! That pan at 10.15 was PERFECT video editing!

[@brunorendon9770]

Excellent work man!!

[@lindhe]

Watching this channel feels a bit like making all those cool mini-projects you think about, but without the tedium of actually spending the time... Very nice work!

[@dedasdude]

you have both altimeter and a accelerometer. why not just coordinate those two to make sure it launches the parachute at 10m height on the way down. have a loop for parachute enable once the acceleration drops (free fall), then have the altimeter trigger the parachute.

[@mihalis1010]

Spin of the ball might cause the accelerometer to never be able to detect free fall. The centrifugal force might always keep the accelerometer under load.

[@BlurbFish]

​@@mihalis1010 I don't know the limits of an arduino controller, but with an altimeter it should be trivial to deploy the parachute immediately after the projectile has reached peak height. Log the height measurements in intervals, then force linear regression on the most recent data points. If the slope of these measurements is negative, then the ball is moving downwards and the parachute should be deployed.

[@Calmarius]

It's free fall right after the projectile leaves the treb.

[@tommihommi1]

Apogee detection is a solved problem, there's tons of papers on it

[@ILPYou]

Incredible visulisation!

[@patricklaqua5590]

Great video as always Tom, keep up the great work.

[@user-fb2xl8zn5e]

awesome stuff man. always cool to see your work, keep it up!

[@stormillion5002]

Professional quality!!

[@error8641]

11:28 can we just take another moment to appreciate this precision

[@666pmt]

every once and a while i find a channel that i fall in love with and binge watch. thank you!!!

[@flirkami]

You really are one of the guys I would call a role model in my life! Amazing stuff!

[@dunklematerie3990]

5:30 I love the whistle sound it makes

[@davidreinhart373]

You could add a flare to the ball and make it look like a spotting flares from movies. You know when they need to illuminate something at night.

[@runforitman]

Those do exist

[@eriklindbergs5017]

Parachute flares already exist.

[@davidreinhart373]

Erik Lindbergs I know you smartasses.... I even said they use it in military movies when they want to illuminate something.... They used them in WW1 for night fighting. I just thought that DIYing it would be fun project when he has it practically done he just needs to add flare...

[@chad_bro_chill]

@runforitman/Erik Lindbergs, how many trebuchet-launched flares exist, though?

[@Battlefox64_RL]

That's incredible 😍 great work

[@elekrazy433]

This is realllyy smart and well made!!!

[@joonasfi]

Aw man, I was so happy along with you when the chute deploys successfully. Feels good man :)

[@sexythegod614]

I’m not sure if you mentioned in the efficiency section but if the ball isn’t launching perfectly straight up then some of the energy would be put into horizontal momentum which would add into the 65% of energy lost

[@jamesk8730]

Plus launching the ball upwards as opposed to launching it forwards gives the trebuchet less time to accelerate the ball, since it has to release it earlier.

[@VachicorneOld]

@@jamesk8730 Also, you can see later that the Trebuchet moves forward and back on its wheels, which is also another loss of energy, instead of moving the ball, the potential energy rocks the trebuchet forward and back.

[@jsax01001010]

@@VachicorneOld If you watch Tom's Optimizing a Trebucet video, you can see him explain why rocking back and forth on the wheels actually increases the efficiency. His earlier trebucets didn't have wheels, and they were less powerful. If I remember correctly, it has to do with ensuring that the weight falls as straight as possible instead of swinging around the pivot.

[@robbert-janmerk6783]

Seeing how close to the trebuchet the ball landed, the horizontal momentum is very small. Sure a bit of energy loss, but probable miniscule compared to the trebuchet's inefficiency and the ball's drag.

[@TheJohnreeves]

@@robbert-janmerk6783 I think he's actually launching forward and the backspin on the ball is helping push it back towards the start. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_effect

[@Spartacusse]

WOW, Thumbs up for the drone footage edited with the ball. Great work!

[@mikefelber5129]

You’re an awesome man sir- I enjoy seeing your wildly scientific creations & also the mishaps. Keep it up!

[@Killernova86]

Damn thats so cool! The animation must've been a lot of work ;)

[@janfrodenss8352]

Solid science there, Mr. Staton. I could not help myself, and measured the time-of-flight for the enlarged golf ball: ~6.8 sec. This equals an altitude of 56.8m. Fairly close to your result. But your method with a self deploying parachute contraption was way cooler.

[@leonardmilcin7798]

It is difficult to calculate altitude from time of flight alone if you have no idea of aerodynamic drag vs speed. You could measure the time it takes to go up and then separately the time it takes to go back down to the same altitude it leaves the trebuchet and estimate from there. But you can calculate elevation very accurately using camera and trigonometry assuming the object is launched directly in plane of the moving arm of trebuchet.

[@robertlangley258]

Really enjoyed this video thanks for sharing. When I was 10 I took one of my Dad’s handkerchiefs attached strings on the four corners and tied it around the head of one of my WWII army soldiers and would carefully roll it up and send it skyward with a homemade slingshot. There is no telling how many hours I entertained myself with this, my little mind put me in full military dress with a machine gun parachuting down behind enemy lines in Germany somewhere fighting SS Troops. I can still remember lying on my back on the ground watching my army guy slowly floating back to the earth. I’m 70 years old now and watching this video reminded me of this. I have always loved Trebuchets and always wanted one for real. I could never quite get the hang of making one though. Thank you again for the fond memories. 🙏

[@sephjfox]

This is really cool, Tom always shows up with superb engineering and testing

[@zapfanzapfan]

Your neighbors must love you :-)

[@martinda7446]

Hard to give enough credit to this lad. Amazing...What did you do today?

[@DaveItYourselfChannel]

Tom, this video is one of my TOP 3 favorite videos on KZbin of all time! I am becoming interested in Arduino just from your vids! Kudos to you brother! Best of future luck and my regards, Dave.

[@siranderoo389]

This is the best use of a Trebuchet I've seen, spectacular execution and explanation!

[@rasmus9311]

Would love to see you deploy the parachute as close to the ground as possible ;D nice project that first launch with everything in the ball was amazing!

[@otm646]

I've tried to accomplish something similar. Folding technique becomes a huge factor. You need a mechanical way to deploy the chute, relying on drag is too variable to get below a few dozen meters

[@arjovenzia]

I cant help but wonder... if you have an altimeter and Arduino, why an accelerometer and timer? Trigger when the altimeter goes down X meters from max height. Im sure there is a good reason, but aside from having 2 separate, redundant, systems, i cant see it. N if one fails, the other is a misfire anyway.

[@batt3ryac1d]

Now scale it up and launch that tennis ball into the clouds.

[@MmeHyraelle]

Yea the trebuchet was optimised for the tennis ball, more mass makes it outside this optimised range. Aka an other 5kg on the counterweight might be something to try :)

[@pauloreyes2971]

I love the trebuchet videos that you make man. keep it up.

[@tomryner5830]

Wow! The thinking that goes in to something like this is... Brill!

[@venkatpuneeth]

Can we build a different type of trebuchet that works as a slingshot. Launching the projectile after spinning it for a couple of times before launch. Like a hammer throw. CAN WE ?

[@Ultionem_Dorus]

Please do a video where you explore even more efficiency increasing methods

[@elijahrobertscinema6351]

Nice animation with the ball in the sky bro! Lol awesome video. Love love love it

[@VictorianAerialVision]

Awesome video, glad you added the unsuccessful launches/landings to show things don't always go to plan for you as well as us.

[@astrorad2000]

I enjoy your enthusiasm and ingenuity. I noticed the trebuchet lurches forward during launch. Does that contribute to inefficiency?

[@sako1212]

it's exactly waht I am thinking, I think that is a loss of kinetic energy !

[@orirune3079]

His "optimizing a trebuchet" video addresses this - short answer, it increases efficiency by allowing the counterweight to fall in the straightest line possible, so less energy is lost to rocking back and forth.

[@robmckennie4203]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaGphax7YtychNE Tom explains it in this video, briefly, by allowing the trebuchet to roll forwards over the counterweight, the counterweight drops slightly further, allowing slightly more energy to be transferred to the projectile.

[@Hoch134]

It's quite late for a reply but I guess that it's mainly inefficient because the energy isn't fully transferred to the object. Maybe a heavier object would get launched equally fast which would lead to higher kinetic energy.

[@IminNye]

You might be losing energy through the wheels. I think this would be worth revisiting with the wheels sandbagged. Really interesting video

[@alexanderwatson9845]

See his video on this- the wheels increase efficiency

[@kevinwalker2529]

Nice project. It's good to see someone just having fun while genuinely conducting scientific experimentation!

[@robertpanes]

You got a like half way through as I was so impressed by the parachute deployment system! Right, back to the video! My favourite phrase - "that never gets old"

[@vidalroland]

Hi, great video as always. The accelerometer solution is very efficient but why not using the altimeter ?

[@hunterwilk]

that's what I was thinking. it's got an arduino, just tell it to wait until the altimeter starts losing altitude?

[@OrbitalRose_01]

I think he wanted to make sure his solution would work before committing the presumably much more expensive altimeter to a test that could potentially destroy it

[@hunterwilk]

@@OrbitalRose_01 oh, duh, yeah that makes sense.

[@vidalroland]

@@hunterwilk not that simple but almost, first make sure that it climbed more than 20m in less thant 10 sec otherwise it will open on the ground due to pressure variation

[@adakalyoncu1913]

@@vidalroland He could have make the altimeter save data with regular intervals and calculate the diffrence. And set it to deploy when the diffrence becomes negative.

[@BuckJolicoeur]

6:45 I'm curious why you didn't make the pin trigger when the accelerometer detects 0 G's after high G's?

[@nixxonnor]

I would like to see a G-load vs. time plot during launch and flight. It should be very high intil sling is released, and then almost zero until the ball reaches its highest point. Then increasing slowly up to 1G as terminal velocity is reached. And then a bump as chute deploys, and 1G during chute descend and then a few G's as the ball hits the ground.

[@johnuferbach9166]

@@nixxonnor i'd say it would be (obviously) quite a lot before / during start, a bit more than 1g during rise, a bit less than 1g going down, bump when parachut / ground also the ball is spinning so there will be some centrifugal force superposed on the other stuff

[@dpro369]

it would triggered even before it is deployed!

[@marks6663]

@@dpro369 why? at rest is is always at 1 G. To reach 0 Gs, it needs to go from 1 g to greater than 1, then to 0 at the apogee, then back to 1 again.

[@dolvaran]

@@nixxonnor Consider yourself travelling up in a lift (elevator). You only experience that feeling of greater weight whilst the lift is accelerating. Once it has achieved constant velocity, you are back at 1G.

[@Redneckmfg]

Amazing Video content and Editing as always.... Love what you do and How you do it !!!

[@bonob0123]

beautiful stuff. thanks for sharing

[@_BlackSpectrum]

Can you do something to increase launch efficiency and add more weight so it goes much higher?

[@benhardwiesner6963]

Yash Shah right now the weight is probably limited by the durability of the wood... the swingarm already broke at this force

[@ericandresen680]

You are a smart man, why do you mix imperial and metrics? :P The ball travels in miles per hour, and a distance of meters? ;)

[@rogerbeck3018]

trying to keep the non metric world on side. they will change at some time in the future

[@ericandresen680]

@@rogerbeck3018 Haha, nah that will never happen. UK say they have converted, but still they mix everything :D And USA cant see outside of there borders so they think the ALL other countries should convert to measure everything in body parts ;)

[@Nodeoergosum]

@@ericandresen680 Body parts, atomic parts, electromagnetic parts - whatever...

[@PeterAuto1]

he is brit and they use miles per hour for speed but otherwise metric

[@pisario]

Tom U Are Awesome. Love Your projects. Keep up doing gr8 job!

[@fmphotooffice5513]

Excellent presentation.

[@MoonFlux]

so... where is the part where you toss the actual Trebuchet up?

[@GlidingBoulder]

I noticed something at 11:55, you're using wheels, to be able to move it around, but not securing the trebuchet when launching. It rolls backwards, stops, then rolls forwards. You know exactly where this is going now, lol. The arm is transferring energy to the wheels, to move it in not just one direction, but stopping and reversing the whole of the mass of the trebuchet. That could possibly be the difference in your calculations vs testing.

[@NoHandleHere42]

Just check his video in which he builds and optimizes the trebuchet. The frame of the trebuchet does not weigh as much as the counterweight, so by moving which one do we loose less energy? -> the lighter one, the frame.

[@terrystephens1102]

Congratulations, brilliant experiment 👌👌👌

[@BushImports]

I think that's the most successful project I've seen you do and it is interesting.