Demi-Cannon

Demi-Cannon (17th century)

The Demi-cannon was developed in the early 17th century and often used on the lower teir of english war ships. In full the cannon fired a 42 ound ball but was very unweildy. The ships that carried these cannons fought in the Anglo-Dutch war. At 11 feet long and 6 inches wide the cannon could weigh up to 5600 ounds, requiring 18 pounds of gun powder for one sufficient shot. Its range wnet up to about 1600 feeet which was average for a cannon of its time. It was extremely inacurate except for close range shots so the ships would get as close as possible before tehy shotoff the cannons. It would usually onky take a few broadside hits to defeat the enemy ship.

French Canon de 75 Modele 1897

French Canon de 75 Modele 1897

French Canon de 75 Model 1897 (aka. Mle 1897) Is probably the most significant development in land artillery in the 1800's. It combined a rapid action breech loading mechinism and a very efficient recoil system. These factors allowed for rates of firing that had never before been heard of. When it as inventing breech systems did not come with good recoil systems so the cannons would buck and bounce everywhere after every shot. t was extremely hard to control so almost no one went through the time to use it. This connon was something different all together. It could fire rounds down range all day at 15 rpm without moving anywhere. It was so succesful that it was still being used prominetly in battl in World War I by the US, France, Poland and many others. It was also the basis for the gun of the famous M4 Sherman tank, as well as many other breakthrough artillery of that time.

Tiger I

German Tiger I

Produced in 1942-1944, The Tiger I represented one of Germany's first approaches at a new kind of weapon. The tank emphasized firepower and mobility. Planning for a tank such as the tiger began around 1930. The overall layout of the tank was very simmilar to tyhe Panzer IV but the Tiger I weighed about 2 times as much, due to thicker armor and a much larger gun. All around the tank had armor anywhere from 110mm to 80mm thick. The extreme weight of this tank was too much for most bridges so it designed to be able to go through up to 4 meter deep water. It was first equipped with a 21 liter engine, which although good was not sufficient for the tank, so it was later replaced.

With is amazing armor weaponry, andother recent advances the German Tiger was able to destroy an American M4Sherman and British Churchill IV from over 2,000 meters away, and could penetrate the armor of either with ease. It was also virtually indestructable, nither the American nor British tanks were able to pentrate the armor, and could only penetrate the 80mm armor of the side from 100m away or less. It was the ultimate tank of its time. A combination of power and indestructability.

Angle Research

We used this formula:

R=Vo^2sin2(o)/gravity constant

To determine the angle we should use for our cannon

Our calculations showed that 45 degrees would make the cannon go the furthest, but then we had to consider the factor of wind. Be cuase of this we decided to use 40 degrees. It was the second longest distance and we also believed that it was an anhgle that would cut into the wind better, therefore lowering the chance of wind resistance messing up our results.