Phun With Fro! - Trebuchet Phun!

You know you are a nerd when your first YouTube video is a physics model of a siege engine.

This is a Movie of a Trebuchet modelled in Phun. It was captured using Yukon and edited under Cinelerra. This is the first time I have used either of these two pieces of software and they were easy as pie and 100% open source.

A Trebuchet is a counter weight powered siege engine used up until the 17th century (when gun powder became common) and, potentially, as early as 4th century BC. They use the power stored in a a large counter raised off the ground. As this weight is dropped, the arm of the Trebuchet accelerates. At an optimal point, the missile (typically a rock) is released. This is controlled by a sling which cups the missile until there is enough centrifugal force for the sling to release. There are several methods for making the sling release, all adjustable, but in this example, I simply used a spring and tweaked the strength of the spring and the weight of the missile until everything worked as desired.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Trebuchet
• sling
• missile
• Phun
• cinelerra
• yukon
• linux
• computer
• science
• engineering
• math
• physical

[MarcoFriendino]

"You know you are a nerd when your first YouTube video is a physics model of a siege engine."

LOL

[abownes]

Very nice, 'cept there's no centrifugal force, only tangential motion, but the mechanic still works and good job!

[zocker113]

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Knock me down

[lightfu]

What is the song on this video?

[pianosketcher]

i made a more authentic one, see my video. it looks like the real thing

[GrassLMAO]

uoeeee x(

[dempere02]

lol headshot, I think is was F00tShot

[FroobBlade]

HEADSHOT

[GrumpEBear]

Oops hehe was only half way through when I commented on that one, he did later on

[GrumpEBear]

He could have also used (if his version of Phun has it) the "Follow Object" command...