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Can anyone share their best landing distance for 1kg counterweight+racquet ball and 2kg counterweight+tennis ball? Been to one invitational, and saw 8m and 11m for these two combinations. Anyone seen bigger numbers?

best i’ve seen is
1kg -> 12.5m
2kg -> 18.5m
best i’ve done is
1kg->10.5m
2kg ->16.5m

Is it required that i have to build a trebuchet or am I allowed to build some other kind of device?

caterpillareater wrote: ↑January 25th, 2023, 3:40 pm Is it required that i have to build a trebuchet or am I allowed to build some other kind of device?

Hi there, and welcome to Scioly.org!

The official Storm the Castle rules don't specify what kind of device you build; they simply say "a single device capable of launching projectiles," along with various specifications like maximum size. You'll want to download the official Science Olympiad rules manual to see what exactly you're allowed and disallowed to build for Storm the Castle, because this is the official source for how the supervisor will score your team at competitions. Best of luck!

Banana2020 wrote: ↑January 21st, 2023, 9:29 pm best i’ve seen is
1kg -> 12.5m
2kg -> 18.5m
best i’ve done is
1kg->10.5m
2kg ->16.5m

Hi, I am a elementary school team coach. My students built one floating arm trebuchet, and the best it can do is 3m and 6m, can you please share some experience? I feel your records sound impossible to me. Really need some help here. Thank you so much!!!

Hi! Just some elaborating stuff, could you post a picture or video of the trebuchet firing/in resting position. I can't really help much without this info.

Here is the pic, we didn’t use sling, cause it’s even worse with it.

Banana2020 wrote: ↑February 25th, 2023, 10:00 pm Hi! Just some elaborating stuff, could you post a picture or video of the trebuchet firing/in resting position. I can't really help much without this info.

Please see the picture above, forgot to quote your post.

Well, I think you already identified your issue, you need to use slings instead of the cup thingy. I think one of the reasons it might be worse is because idt you have a base? Our device uses a PVC pipe to guide the sling so it won't drag. Also how did you construct the sling that you tried? The ideal length is 4/5 the throwing arm length, you could use like cloth or some material in a triangle for a start and then progressively try new designs. My only other issue is that the arm ratio looks a bit off maybe? 1:2ish to 1:3 has worked better for me personally.

General advice: if your device isn't performing as well as you hope, grab your cellphone and video it firing, from the side, in slow motion mode. The go through the video, and you'll see exactly how the device is moving.