Physical Principle of a Catapult to The Fire Service

A catapult does many different things that relate to different physical principles. The big physical principle of the catapult is it uses Newton's first, second and third law. In fact, also all three of Newton's law can relate a lot to the fire service and how it operates. This essay will relate the physical principle of the catapult, to Newton's laws and how it relates to the fire service. It addresses three main ideas: what Newton's laws are, how it relates to the catapult and how does newton’s laws relate to the fire service. This will pinpoint main ideas of the fire service and how Newton's laws are used every day in the service. Knowing how catapults and the laws work, could greatly help the fire service in everything it does on the fire ground. Newton's First Law states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force. That objects will remain in their state of motion unless a force acts to change the motion.

Newton's First Law relates to the catapult. The arm of the catapult is pulled back and let go, this causes a change in motion, which makes the projectile object move. Specifically, tension and elastic force put the object into motion when the arm is released, by causing an unbalanced force. Newton’s second law states that the acceleration of an object as produced by a force is proportional to the magnitude of the force, in the same direction as the force, and proportional to the mass of the object.

Catapults are one good way to learn about the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. The mass and weight of the payload will affect the power distance of the launch also the less mass the payload has the more resistance it will get from air resistance. Newton’s third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. The size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object.

Newton's Third law of motion states that for every action force, there is a reaction force that is equal in strength and opposite in direction. The catapult arm is pushing up on the elastic bands with a lot of force, but my hand is pushing back, in the opposite direction, making the catapult arm move downwards. Only when I remove my hand and the elastic takes that force and moves the arm up, will you have the greater force.