Weapons Development

Personally I believe that a country should have a way to defend themselves from anything. Weapons of mass destruction can cause lots of damage and could persuade people not to mess with that country. On the other hand weapons of mass destruction are a little bit to powerful to make the point of, 'dont mess with our country'. There has been many wars over the issue and i believe that one country cannot force another country not to build weapons but it is possible to persuade that country into not building those weapons. Ethics are called into play prior to using the weapon. When the finger is hovering over the fire button is when the person begins to think, "Hey, if I push this button people will die." At that moment most people begin to feel hesitant about pushing the fire button. If they press that fire button, a projectile is going to be heading someones way and that person may not survive that explosion.



 Kridler,Chris. Fire Button. 2002. Sky Diary.

In the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, it tells of a young boy becoming a child soldier. He is taken away by UNICEF after fighting for two years in the war and he is then on the road to redemption. The weapons used in the book ranged from Ak-47 to RPGs. Those weapons played a major role in Ishmael rehabilitation after the war. When being a child soldier, that was the first time Ishmael has ever held/used a gun. When he was in his first battle he say the destruction a gun could do by seeing the death of his fellow squad member. After he say the shooting he completely changed as a person. He began to become more violent and began to become numb to killing. That is the impact weapons had in A Long Way Gone.

Math

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.  

The problem uses the equation  h = -16t²+v₀t+h_0, where h is initial height and v is initial velocity.

h = -16t²+192t+32

The vertex  of the parabola is 608, so that means that 608 feet is the highest point the cannonball will reach.

You use the quadratic formula to find out how high the cannon ball will go, or:
x=(-b±√(b^2-4ac))/2a

a = -16 b = 192 and c = 32

When you plug in these numbers, you get 12.16, or about 12 seconds long.

Cannons in History

Prior to the 1800, cannons played a major role in the history of warfare. Many of the cannons prior to the 1800s were on pirates ships and they played a big role in the naval attacks in that time period.

Cannon Designs

• First naval cannons were breech-loaded and made of wrought iron.
• The guns were tied to their carriages with rope and the rope limited range and performance.
• Round stones were first used as cannon balls, but in the 16th century, iron cannon balls were used.
• In the 16^th century, cast bronze guns became common. 
• First they were breech-loaded then they became muzzle-loaded. 
• Bronze cannons were expensive that they were the first objects to be taken from sunken ships.
• In the 18^th century, cannons began to be made from iron.
• Also in the 18^th century, rifled barrels were introduced, improving range and precision.
• In the mid-19^th century, rifled breach-loaded cannons were being produced
• Example was HMS Warrior (1860), carrying ten 110 pound cannons. Cannon balls started being replaced with "modern-looking" projectiles.
• Cannon in the 20th and 21st centuries are usually divided into sub-categories, and given separate names. Some  are howitzers, mortars, and autocannon.
• Super guns, large barrel cannons, have also been made. 
• Cannons use to be filled with random objects such as forks and knives but soon the were filled with heavy balls. Today they are filled with large caliber rounds shaped like bullets.
   

Economic Impact and Social Impacts

• 
  Traditional English weapon was the longbow and handguns.
  The longbow couldn't reach enemies who were at a certain rage so they out of use during the 16th century.
  Muskets also help soldiers but they took too long to reload.
  Cannons caused castles and forts to be re-designed.
  Walls were made to slope outwards to deflect cannon balls.
  Instead of towers forts, towns now had bastions (triangular sections of wall that stuck out from the rest of the wall).Bastion could fire at approaching soldiers from the sides.
  Solid cannonballs were used to fire at walls and at enemy ships.
  By the late 16th century, England used royal or double cannons, which fired shot of 60-70 pounds.

n.p.  H.M.S. VICTORY'S 32-POUNDER CANNON. 2005. Trafalgar ships compared.
n.p. Cannon. Wilipedia, 18 January, 2011. Web. 20 Jan. 2011.
n.p. Naval Cannon Types. Nov. 1999. Web. 20 Jan. 2011.