About Catapults
Whether they are being used as giant machines of warfare or tiny slingshots in a children's game, catapults have been around for thousands of years. They have existed in many forms and countries, and are one of the most recognizable and interesting mechanisms created for siege purposes.
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Function
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A catapult is a mechanism designed to throw projectiles of varying shapes and sizes over a long distance.
History
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The earliest use of a catapult occurred in 339 B.C. during a siege on the city of Syracuse. A Greek task force developed a mechanism to fire arrows. Most early catapults fired arrows in a similar fashion to a crossbow. In the time of Alexander the Great, catapults were constructed to fire stones as well as arrows. During medieval times, catapults were adapted to throw many forms of projectiles, usually over castle walls, that included garbage, dead bodies and flaming missiles. The last large scale use of catapults occurred during WWI when they were used to throw hand grenades into enemy trenches.
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Types
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An Onager was a Roman catapult that utilized pressure from a twisted rope to shoot items. It was used to besiege forts with large stones. The Trebuchet was a catapult that gained popularity in the Middle Ages. It smashed walls and threw projectiles over them, using the mechanics of leverage to fling its items. The Ballista was a catapult developed in ancient Greece that shot heavy darts and stones during warfare by utilizing a torsion spring method. Another type of catapult, the Mangonel, was used in medieval times to throw items at castle walls. It threw lower than a trebuchet, but with a higher velocity, and shot its heavy projectiles from bowl-shaped buckets at the end of a long arm. A modern catapult is the Aircraft catapult, which is used to launch aircraft from ships such as aircraft carriers.
Time Frame
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Catapults were widely used from the fourth century B.C. until the twentieth century for warfare purposes.
Geography
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Catapults were used all over the world, from ancient Rome and Greece to medieval England and China. Eventually they were also used in Europe and even the United States.
Size
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While modern model catapults are usually only about 1 or 2 feet tall and may weigh less than 10 lbs., the giant machines used for warfare could weigh several tons and be over 2 stories tall.
Misconceptions
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While people might automatically think of just the large machines of war used to hurl giant boulders over castle walls when they think of catapults, really any type of machine that hurls a projectile can be considered one. This includes slingshots that hurl tiny pebbles all the way up to airplane launchers that help aircraft take off.
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