Social Studies Component: 1700's Cannon

Catapults are one of the world's oldest type of canons, which are just anything that can launch a projectile. A catapult at it's base is just that: it is a machine that hurls projectiles across long distance. The design of the Catapult dates back to China where it was like a very large crossbow. The catapult design is most famous in medieval times where much like in China crossbows became larger and larger until the catapult we know developed. The catapult did not always have it's swinging arm, that came into its design over time. With the swinging arm's development catapults did not have any restriction of what it could launch; in some places they launched the bodies of dead soldiers or anything else that was available. The materials that were required to make a catapult were usually long timbers that were held together by wooden screws. The materials changed depending on what type of catapult was being made, but the usually design was of the picture above. Four wheels for movement, gears that were hand operated to tighten the catapult and a big wooden head to hold the projectile. The launching of a catapult was somewhat of a long process, but after it was et up the gears simply needed to be released and tension did the rest. Catapults were very powerful canons during thier time, but with the development of fire arms and artillery the catapult was quickly abandoned.