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Ancient Engineering SeriesMANGONEL.com
Ballistic Technologies of Antiquity

Science Project Catapult with Experiment Guide.



Designed especially for school science experiments, this catapult/trebuchet stands 15 inches long, 11 inches wide and 10 inches tall at the axle. The arm is 16 inches long and can hurl a marble up to 30 feet. This machine is designed to be configured and fired in a multitude of ways to test different theories about efficient projectile motion.


Which works better, a sling, or a spoon-type arm? Is a counterweight better than a spring? What about wheels, some people think wheels make a trebuchet better, others disagree. Now you can test all those things, and any combination of them as well, and come to your own conclusions.


Ideal for Science Olympiad, Six Sigma, Design of Experiment (DOE) and other statistical methods courses, this kit even comes with a 23 page booklet including ideas, experiments, tips and tricks you can do with the kit, from basic kid-friendly concepts all the way up to college level material, including how to effectively organize and display (graph) your results.


The experiment guide includes:

  • 13 steps to a successful project
  • The science of projectile motion
  • Definitions of kinetic and potential energy
  • Effects of configuration changes
  • Safety issues
  • Useful equations (basic math)
  • Advanced calculations (trigonometry)
  • Standard deviations
  • Graphing results
  • Five different experiments with questions to answer for each
  • Data Log sheets
    And more!


    The kit includes everything you need to build and operate the kit. The only thing you need to supply is a standard Phillips screwdriver and a few rubber bands. The kit is easily convertible from any configuration to another in a matter of seconds. It's a fantastic learning platform!


    This product is manufactured in Canada.



    The basic counterweight with sling configuration.



    Rubber band (spring) powered with spoon-arm.


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      • Price: $49.00
      Our Price: $39.00
      Minimum age: 8
      Availability: In stock.

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      Item code: 11002

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    Interesting Notes

    What is a Mangonel?


    The term "mangonel" literlally means "engine of war." It is a ballistic device, usually some type of artillery. In other words, a catapult. But "catapult" is a more general word that includes a broad range of things that use mechanical means to shoot a projectile, including slingshots and aircraft carrier launch systems. So a mangonel is a unique type of catapult.

    The word Mangonel derives from the ancient Greek word "Manganon", literally meaning "engine of war". The Romans called it a Manganum. In pre-medieval French the word Manganum was changed to Manganeau, and the English changed that to Mangonel in the 1300s.

    The history gets a little sketchy in the middle ages, but some historians believe that "mangonel" was shortened to the word "gonnel" about the same time that cannons were being developed, and later still, "gonnel" was shortened to "gun." And to this day, in the military a gun is strictly big artillery. (Rifles and pistols are referred to as "weapons", NOT "guns".)

    The three most common types of ancient mangonels are the Greek Ballista, The Roman Onager, and the Trebuchet.

    In France, the word Mangonel is used for a Trebuchet that uses a fixed counterweight for power. (The other kind of trebuchet, the hanging counterweight type, is called a "Trebuchet". Go figure!)

    The English use the term Mangonel and Onager interchangeably for the Roman single-arm torsion machine.

    The Greek catapult, probably the first machine to be called a mangonel, was also known as the Ballista and is where we get the word "ballistic".