Works Cited

"M61 Vulcan." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 27 Jan. 2011. Web. 01 Feb. 2011. . "Mauser BK-27 - Definition." Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - WordIQ Dictionary. 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2011. . "Parrott Rifle." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 19 Jan. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. . "Jaivana." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 14 Jan. 2011. Web. 1 Feb. 2011. . "Fire Lance." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 4 Jan. 2011. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. . "Trebuchet." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Jan. 2011. . "Weapon of Mass Destruction." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 Feb. 2011. .

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

A weapon of mass destruction is defined as a weapon that can "bring significant harm to a large number of humans (and/or other life forms) and/or cause great damage to man-made structures, natural structures or the biosphere in general." There are four classifications of WMD's. Biological Chemical Nuclear Radiological Biological weaponry often uses diseases or harmful substances (such as anthrax) to bring harm to a large number of people. Chemical warfare uses chemicals to bring harm to a large number of people (such as chlorine and cyanogen chloride). Nuclear warfare uses nuclear reactions to bring harm to a large number of people. For example, a nuclear bomb uses a small chain of nuclear reactions from large quantities of energy and relatively small amounts of matter. I don't agree with any type of weapon of mass destruction. That is potenially taking the life of someone who you don't even know. They are human just like you and I believe all humans have the right to live.

English Component

In the book "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah, he doesn't detail cannons as a weapon he used that much. He mainly used AK-47's, grenades and knives. However, those guns and cannons I believe would have had the same effect on him. Guns and war tore him apart from his family, and I think cannons would have done the same thing, if not worse. Guns made him mentally unstable, forcing him to rely on arms to keep him alive at the ages 12 to 15. No teenager should have to go through that sort of thing just to stay alive, including taking another human life or taking drugs.

Science Component

The balanced equation for ethanol and oxygen. C2H5OH+3O2->2CO2+3H2O We chose a 43 degree angle because when we did preliminary research on optimal angles to fire a cannon, some sources said 40 degrees, some said 45 degrees, so we settled in the middle at 43. The gas law that is used in this experiment is Gay-Lussac's law. Gay-Lussac's law states that pressure and temperature are directly proportional. Pressure One times Temperature One equals Pressure Two times Temperature Two. Whatever unit is missing you solve for by isolating it.

A chart with different projections of the angles

Math Component

A cannonball is shot upward from the upper deck of a fort with an initial velocity of 192 feet per second. The deck is 32 feet above the ground. Quadratic Model: h = -16t2+192t+32 How high does the cannonball go? 608 feet How long is the cannonball in the air? 12.16 seconds 1. Plug 192 feet per second in for v0 and 32 feet for h0 2. Plug formula into calculator and graph 3. Go to the table and find the vertex of the graph (this is how high the cannonball went) 4. Using the quadratic formula, find the positive x-intercept (this is how long the cannonball was in the air) 5. Check your work

Cannons 1800-1900: Parrot Rifle

The parrot rifle is a combination of cast and wrought iron. Cast iron made it good when it came to accuracy, but also left it vulnerable to cracks due to its brittleness. Parrot rifles were manufactured in different sizes, from 10 to 300 lbs. The most common in the fields, with 20 pounders being used by both the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War. Naval versions of the parrot rifles ranged from 20-100 lbs. The 100 pound cannon had a range of 6900 yards. That’s 69 football fields. It was easier and cheaper to make than other cannons, although it did posses a safety risk.

Cannons Pre 1800: Trebuchet

Another cannon that was made before the year 1800 was the trebuchet. The trebuchet was first developed in China in the 5th centruy, B.C. It mainly consisted of a sling and a lever, and a counterweight. The counterweight was suspended in air, sorta like a seesaw. When the counterweight dropped, the sling would loop over and fling the projectile forward. Trebuchets were very effective when it came to attacking and defending. It could fling a two-hundred pound object three hundred yards. That's the equivalent of three football fields. The range that it could fire warded off enemies and gave space to the people using it. Also, it was effective in developing biological warfare, i.e. flinging dead, infected and rotting corpses into towns and villages in order to scare the people into surrendering.

Jaivana Cannon

Cannons 1800-1900: Jaivana Cannon The Jaivana cannon is the world’s largest cannon on wheels. It is located at Jaigarh Fort in Jaipur, which is the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan. The barrel is 20 feet long and weighs 50 tons. That’s the equivalent of a Right Whale. Reportedly it took four elephants to swivel it around. A water tank was kept beside the cannon so the gunner (the person who was operating the cannon) could jump into it, to prevent the gunner from feeling the shockwave that the cannon blast would cause. Well the gunner for the Jaivana Cannon was said to have died on the spot because he couldn't jump into the water tank in time.

(A right whale)

(Jaivana Cannon)

Mauser BK-27

The Mauser BK-27 is a 27 millimeter revolver cannon developed by Mauser in Germany. It was made in the late 1960s for the Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) program. The BK-27 has a high muzzle velocity and link-less feed system and can fire at either 1,000 or 1,700 rounds a minute, which is good, but not nearly as fast as the M61 Vulcan. It has a very good hit-accuracy and the targeting is done in the aircraft’s HUD (Head-Up Display). Also, it has the ability to fire several different types of shells, which makes it good for both aerial and ground attacks.