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.

Design

We chose this design because we believe that with the cumbustion chamber being smaller it will have less space to combust therefore creating more pressure. We then made the barrel 1.5 times bigger than the cumbustion chamber because after various research we found that the ratio should come out so that the barrel is 1.5 times bigger than the cumbustion chamber.

Hypothesis

I believe that our cannon will shoot relitively far. We have the 1 to 1.5 ratio and did a lot of research on which angle would be the best to use. With these two put together I believe that our cannon will shoot at least 20 feet if not more.

BOOM!

Today we shot off our cannon. To our disapointment, and surprise, our hypothesis was wrong. Our cannon did not even make the ball budge, it just burned the plastic in our cumbustion chamber after a few seconds and had to be put out.

Experiment Reflection

Our cannon did not even make the ball move. Absolutely nothing happened except for a little bit of plastic melting. Actually no ones budged. we believe this is due to the Gay-Lussacs law which states that temperature and Pressure are directly proprtional and because it was so cold outside the pressure on the inside of our cannon was greatly lowered, causing it to be ineffective and not go off. Another reason I believe it did not go off it bevcause of the double layering we had in the cumbustion chamber we had to poke a hole through two layers. It was a lot harder tahn we expected and when stivking the wood splint through the hole it actually only made it through one layer, never really making it to the chamber. Just burning up the inside layer, also cauing the reaction to stop. One last reason is later we found out that the ratio we made our canon was actually backwards. It should have been that the cumbustion chamber was 1.5 times bigger than the barrel, i believe that also greatly effected the outcome of our cannon.

If we were to ever make a cannon again I would say we should not have a double layer where the hole is or it should be more secure on the inside, so we dont run inot the problem of the splint only ging through one layer. I would also want to shoot it off is much warmer temperaturews to be sure the pressure would not be affected by the temperature. Finally I would reverse the sizes of the cumbustion chamber and barrel.

Overture of 1812 Responce

The overture of 1812 is a beautiful piece. In the beggining of the piece it is slower and more calm, which makes you imagine the troops sneaking through the brush to surprise attack the opponent. The suddenly it gets louder and much faster, signifying that the enemy has spotted them, you then hear the first cannon in the background. The first shot. the battle has begun. The music continues getting faster and louder with more cannons in the background, the battle has begun and soldiers are rushing around, shots and cannons are being fire from both sides. For a few brief minutes the feild is a mass of extreme chaos. Then the music slows again and takes on a sad tone. The battle is now over and those who survived are looking around at the wreakage, the bodies of fallen comrades and friends, also the bodies of enimies. When the music then speeds up but still ahs a sad undertone to it, the soldiers are back on the move, heading back to camp to prepare and rest for another days battle and losses.

Motivation: Writing before Reading

An organized society is about people obeying to the laws and rules out upon them even when it is not what they want to do, or in the same sense an authority figure. Their is one example that the majority of teenagers can relate too. When your parents say no to soomething you really want to do, or really want to have it is horrible. Every bit of you is screaming for you to just do what you wnat anyway, but because your parents are authority you have to obey or suffer consequences.

It is necessary for military commanders to enforce harsh puncishment on their team. In a war situation where at a split secoind your direction and everything you are doing can change discipline is key. In order to maintain that amount of discipline it is the military leaders responsibility that their team is punished enough when they do wrong. the soldiers in turn learn to respect authority and gain strength. They all end up thanking their commanding officers because it's that discipline that saves lives, without it thoushands upon thousands of lives could be lost. Or the team the commanding officer is on could even lose the war. Along with this discipline also comes excellent team work, which is simmilarly key in war, for the same reasons as discipline.