Pbs Space Time
Pbs Space Time
@pbsspacetime·3.5M subscribers·442 videos

The Trebuchet Challenge | Space Time

Posted

February 28, 2018

Views

195,250

Likes

4,518

Comments

533

Engagement

2.59%

Search the Record

Indexed

Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.

Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.

Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line

YouTube Description

as posted by the channel

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here

Do you have what it takes to calculate the awesome power of the trebuchet?

You can further support us on Patreon at

Get your own Space Time t­shirt at

Tweet at us! @pbsspacetime

Facebook: facebook.com/pbsspacetime

Email us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] com

Comment on Reddit

Help translate our videos!

Previous Episode:

Death of the Sun

Kinetic and potential energy are defined as combinations of more basic quantities: position, velocity and mass. These combinations are chosen so that their sum is conserved. It’s actually remarkable that there’s any such combination of quantities that is conserved. This fact gives us insight into the fundamental symmetries of nature. It’s something we’ll get back to. Today I want to highlight the power of energy as a tool in calculation. We could get into fluid or stellar dynamics, or even quantum mechanics. But no, we’re going talk about something cooler – the trebuchet.

If you’re not familiar, shame on you, but here’s the deal: the trebuchet is, I suppose, a type of catapult, but it’s so much more. The internet agrees that the trebuchet is the greatest of all medieval siege engines. Opinion is divided on whether Chuck Norris would win a fight against a trebuchet. The hyperbole is kind of warranted. The trebuchet is incredibly efficient at converting the potential energy of a massive counterweight into the castle-destroying kinetic energy of a projectile. It relies on the mighty power of the lever.

Hosted by Matt O'Dowd

Written by Matt O'Dowd

Produced by Rusty Ward

Graphics by Grayson Blackmon

Assistant Editing and Sound Design by Mike Petrow and Linda Huang

Made by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com)

Special thanks to our Patreon Big Bang, Quasar and Hypernova Supporters:

Big Bang

CoolAsCats

David Nicklas

Faisal Saud

Anton Lifshits

Joey Redner

Quasar

Tambe Barsbay

Mayank M. Mehrota

Mars Yentur

Mark Rosenthal

Dean Fuqua

Roman Pinchuk

Frank Secilia

Hypernova

Shaun Williams

Edmund Fokschaner

Matthew O’Connor

Eugene Lawson

Martha Hunt

Joseph Salomone

Chuck Zegar

Jordan Young

Ratfeast

John Hofmann

Barry Hatfield

Craig Peterson

Thanks to our Patreon Gamma Ray Burst Supporters:

Kris Fernet

Jane Myers

Brandon Cook

James Flowers

Greg Allen

Denys Ivanov

Nick Virtue

Alexey Eromenko

Nicholas Rose

Scott Gossett

Mark Vasile

Patrick Murray

Sultan Alkhulaifi

Alex Seto

Michal-Peanut Karmi

Erik Stein

Daniel Lyons

Kevin Warne

JJ Bagnell

J Rejc

Avi Goldfinger

John Pettit

Florian Stiglmayr

Benoit Pagé-Guitard

Nathan Leniz

Loro Lukic

Brandon Labonte

David Crane

Greg Weiss

James Hughes

TJ Madison

Guests & Subjects Covered

PBS ThankPBS Member StationSpace TimeReddit HelpPrevious Episode DeathSun KineticToday IChuck Norris

Sentinel Indexing in Progress

Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.

All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.

The Trebuchet Challenge | Space Time · Pbs Space Time · Sentinel