13 points

Scientist in the UK wear surgical caps and carry stethoscopes? I guess doctors are a subcategory of scientists.

permalink
report
reply
1 point

Doesn’t becoming a doctor involve researching something new in the field of medicine?

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

You’re thinking of a PhD doctor. Medical doctors don’t have to research or publish anything new.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

Drag isn’t convinced that physicians are real doctors. Real doctors do research.

permalink
report
parent
reply
43 points

I would, too. Which is the more exciting job? Unfortunately there probably isn’t much call for a trebuchet bombardment these days.

permalink
report
reply
7 points

Not yet.

permalink
report
parent
reply
38 points

Fun fact, only one trebuchet has ever been deployed for combat in the new world.

The conquistadors and coalition forces built one during the siege of Tenochitlan, they tried to fire it but the sling snapped, rock went up, rock came back down.

Thus ended the storied military record of trebuchets in the new world.

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

That’s fascinating! You should update the Wiki on trebuchets.

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet

Clearly someone has pulled a Scots Language Wiki and has been writing bullshit on that article for years

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Perhaps this should be decreed in a new Geneva convention as the only allowed long range missile system? That would make wars less deadly and more useful.

permalink
report
parent
reply
115 points

To be pedantic, that’s still covered under E

permalink
report
reply
50 points

I don’t know of a single engineer who has never built a trebuchet.

I’m not even a “proper” engineer and I have like, five desktop trebs, 2 ballistae and some other odds and ends (3d printed, of course,)

It’s like, a right of passage or something.

permalink
report
parent
reply
22 points

I have a scar over my eye from a trebuchet I built in high school, then I went to college for engineering, so that checks out

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

yeah. Gotta be careful with them.

even the desktop variety has a lot of energy in the system.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Probably better than the scar my cousin has on his thigh from an ad hoc fulcrum catapult.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

I’m a machinist, which is kind of engineer adjacent. We make cannons.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Cannons are fun too.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Cannons are just trebuchets with extra oomph

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

In CNC as well, can confirm, cannons are made

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

btw, it’s a rite of passage.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points
*
Removed by mod
permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

I’m a software engineer and I built a trebuchet during lockdown to launch Easter eggs at the neighbours’ gardens since we weren’t allowed to go see them.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

The plastic candy-filled kind…. I hope.

Or. I hope they weren’t very good neighbors….

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

I’m a software engineer, but now I feel like I need to build a trebuchet.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

And M. A lot of M actually. And S. Also T. Put some A in it to make it not threatening.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

no M here. you can just launch shot and need no M to explain it. have you ever had fun?

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

Mother, 33, stops being a scientist to do science.

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

science engineering

Siege engineering to be precise

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

I mean, if this were 1400 AD, sure…

permalink
report
parent
reply

(Trebuchet) swinger in your area

permalink
report
reply
1 point

It’s the new pineapple on your doorstep.

permalink
report
parent
reply
21 points

What’s the distance on those things?

permalink
report
reply
-1 points

1000 meters easy.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

search YouTube “punkin chunkin”

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

“They would have been pulled up to a castle, maybe 200-300m away and they could have launched rocks, boulders and flaming boulders into castles,”…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-65099834.amp

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

And cheese my cows. They could launch cows as well.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

Depends on the mass of the projectile, and how the throwing arm is tuned.

If its release is tuned for distance and they’re flinging period-accurate projectiles, tuned firmly distance a typical period tree could throw stones about 300 meters.

Depending on the kind of fortifications they were against (and if they had siege engines of their own, or other artillery- bow and arrows, whatever) they might set up a little closer and tune instead for more forward velocity rather than range.

The typical mass was about 200-300 kilograms, or a small sedan. You could go heavier, but that typically reduced range.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points
*

200-300 kilograms, or a small sedan

A small sedan weighs about four times as much as that

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
*

Get out of here with your facts.

(for what it’s worth, a reliant robin was about 450 kilo curb weight. I’m sure we can find a car that weighs in the range.)

permalink
report
parent
reply
26 points

Over 300 meters. Truly the superior siege engine.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

But I still love the Ballista.

I’ve made several over the years for demonstrations using a couple 2x4s, 2 oak dowels, a steel rod, and nylon rope that’ll hurl a “bolt” (tube used to separate clubs in a golf bag with a tennis ball on one end) 400 yards.

They’re just fun.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Science Memes

!science_memes@mander.xyz

Create post

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don’t throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

Community stats

  • 12K

    Monthly active users

  • 2.9K

    Posts

  • 42K

    Comments