The Pitsco Laser-Cut Basswood Trebuchet Kit provides students in grades 6-12 a hands-on activity to build a model trebuchet that demonstrates the scientific concepts of force, gravity, simple machines, and Newton's laws of motion, and it includes basswood parts to build the trebuchet. The kit includes laser-cut basswood parts, basswood strips, brass tubing, plastic tubing, large paper clips, ripstop nylon, a laser-cut plywood lever arm end cap, nylon string, brass washers, a template sheet for bending paperclips, and instructions. The trebuchet launches clay projectiles (clay sold separately) in varying weights with different counterweights for experiments in projectile motion and tangential velocity, and it demonstrates principles of levers, inertia, momentum, and friction. The kit reinforces technology, engineering, and math concepts as students build and experiment with a model trebuchet. The finished trebuchet measures approximately 9-1/2 x 2-1/2 x 12 inches (H x W x D). (H is height, the vertical distance from lowest to highest point; W is width, the horizontal distance from left to right; D is depth, the horizontal distance from front to back.) A trebuchet kit is typically used in an educational setting to demonstrate physics and simple machines.
Construction requires glue such as Pitsco HD Bond glue or Pitsco Insta-Cure glue, a hobby knife, needle-nose pliers, a ruler, scissors, and sandpaper (all sold separately). Launching requires safety goggles, clay, and mass plates (all sold separately).
Science education products incorporate applied math and science principles into classroom and homeschool-based projects. Teachers in pre-K, elementary, and secondary classrooms use science education kits and products alongside science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum to demonstrate STEM concepts and real-world applications through hands-on activities. Science education projects include a broad range of activities, such as practical experiments in engineering, aeronautics, robotics, energy, chemistry, physics, biology, and geology.
Pitsco Education develops K-12 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum, educational kits, and classroom tools. The company, founded in 1971, is headquartered in Pittsburg, KS.
What’s in the Box?
- Sheet of laser-cut basswood trebuchet parts (1 per trebuchet)
- 1 x 12-inch basswood strip (1 per trebuchet)
- 1/4 x 4-3/4-inch basswood strips (4 per trebuchet)
- 1/8 x 3-inch brass tubing (1 per trebuchet)
- 5/32 x 1/2-inch brass tubing (1 per trebuchet)
- 1/4 x 1-inch plastic tubing (1 per trebuchet)
- Large paper clips (2 per trebuchet)
- Strip of ripstop nylon (1 per trebuchet)
- Laser-cut plywood lever arm end cap (1 per trebuchet)
- 36-inch length of nylon string (1 per trebuchet)
- 1/8-inch brass washers (2 per trebuchet)
- Design template for bending paperclips (1 per trebuchet)
- Instructions
