How Catapults Works

There are three different technologies that fall into the catapult category: the ballista, the trebuchet and the catapult. Check out this HowStuffWorks podcast to learn more about the differences between catapult technologies.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com.
We're Smart happens him Marshall Brain with today's question, how
does a catapult work? There are three different technologies that
fall into the catapult category. They include the catapult itself,
the ballista, and the tributche. The catapult is a winch

(00:21):
down bucket that people normally think about when they hear
the word catapult. A ballista is a very large crossbow.
A tributee is a weighted beam that swings a sling
carrying the projectile. Both catapults and ballista's work by storing tension,
either in twisted ropes or in a flexed piece of wood,

(00:44):
in the same way that an archery bow does, but
on a much larger scale. A tribute tends to be
easier to build because it consists simply of a pivoting
beam and a counterweight that rotates the beam through an arc.
Catapults can launch things a fair distance. Five hundred to
a thousand feet is common. It's surprising how much energy

(01:04):
they can store. The winch is important on a catapult
because the winch allows one person to put a great
deal of energy into the catapult over a long period
of time, then all that energy releases at once throwing
the projectile. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for
this podcast? If so, please send me an email at

(01:25):
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