Catapults are siege engines using an arm to hurl a projectile a great distance. Any machine that hurls an object can be considered a catapult, but the term is generally understood to mean medieval siege weapons. The name is derived from the Greek κατα (against) and παλλειγ(to hurl (a missile)). Originally, "catapult" referred to a dart-thrower, while "ballista" referred to a stone-thrower, but over ...

Including:

• Catapult - Types
• Catapult - History
• Catapult - Chinese siege warfare

Read more here: » Catapult: Encyclopedia - Catapult

See also:

Catapult, Catapult - Types, Catapult - History, Catapult - Chinese siege warfare

Read more here: » Catapult: Encyclopedia II - Catapult - History

Catapults can be classified according to the physical concept used to store and release the energy required to propel the projectile. The first catapult distinct from hand-held launchers (bows, crossbows, slings etc.) was the greek gastrophetes, a crossbow so large it was braced against the abdomen rather than being held in the hand, hence the nickname belly-bow. The next step from this was a larger form a crossbow mounted on a stand, including early versions of the oxybeles (Greek for bolt shooter) and the ballista (the Roman version ...

See also:

Catapult, Catapult - Types, Catapult - History, Catapult - Chinese siege warfare

Read more here: » Catapult: Encyclopedia II - Catapult - Types

Ever since historian Ananda Coomaraswamy extolled the Nataraja bronze (dancing Shiva) from Tamil Nadu as ''poetry but nonetheless science’’, interpreting the Nataraja as the ''cosmic dance’’ of Shiva has been widely accepted.

Fritjof Capra catapulted Nataraja into a modern-day scientific icon when he euphorically stated in his cult book of 1974 The Tao of Physics that ''the dancing Shiva is the dancing universe, the ceaseless flow of energy going through an infinite variety of patterns that melt into one another’’.

(See also: Nataraja, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for land-based aircraft. Modern navies, who operate such ships, treat aircraft carriers as the centerpiece of the fleet, a role previously played by the battleship. The change, part of the growth of air power as a significant part of warfare, took place during World War II. Unescorted carriers ...

Including:

• Aircraft carrier - Flight deck configuration
• Aircraft carrier - Common types
• Aircraft carrier - Initial designs and inter-war developments
• Aircraft carrier - World War II developments
• Aircraft carrier - Post-war developments
• Aircraft carrier - History and milestones
• Aircraft carrier - Genesis
• Aircraft carrier - The inter-war years
• Aircraft carrier - The Second World War
• Aircraft carrier - Wartime innovations
• Aircraft carrier - Light Aircraft Carriers
• Aircraft carrier - Escort Carriers and Merchant Aircraft Carriers
• Aircraft carrier - Catapult Aircraft Merchantmen
• Aircraft carrier - The Angled Deck
• Aircraft carrier - Post-War Developments
• Aircraft carrier - Aircraft carriers today
• Aircraft carrier - Modern carriers
• Aircraft carrier - Future aircraft carriers
• Aircraft carrier - French Marine Nationale
• Aircraft carrier - Indian Navy
• Aircraft carrier - Italian Marina Militare
• Aircraft carrier - People's Republic of China
• Aircraft carrier - Royal Navy
• Aircraft carrier - Russian Federation
• Aircraft carrier - Spanish Armada Española
• Aircraft carrier - US Navy
• Aircraft carrier - Aircraft carriers in fiction

Read more here: » Aircraft carrier: Encyclopedia - Aircraft carrier

A CAM ship was a World War II-era British merchant ship used in convoys as a quick emergency solution to the shortage of escort carriers. "CAM" was an acronym for "Catapult Aircraft Merchantman" and a CAM ship was equipped with a rocket-propelled catapult launching a single Hawker Sea Hurricane, dubbed a "Hurricat" or "Catafighter". The ship was not fitted for landings so the pilot would bail out or ditch in the sea at the end of the flight and the plane would be lost. In 1940-41 35 ships were converted, starting with SS Michael E, and continued ...

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Poonam Dhillon is an Indian movie actress who started her career with Trishul and subsequently Noorie, which catapulted her to the ranks of upcoming heroines in the late seventies. Other related archivesTrishul

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CAM is an abbreviation for all of the following: Cartoon Art Museum Catapult aircraft merchantman, a type of merchant ship which could launch, but not recover, a fighter aircraft during World War II Cell adhesion molecule, a protein located on a cell surface involved with the binding with other cells. Center for the Ancient Mediterranean at Columbia University Christ's Ambassador Mission, an evangelical missionary organization. Classical Association of Minnesota Comple ...

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An anti-personnel weapon is one primarily used to injure or kill people. While the distinction is very old—a spear is anti-personnel, while a catapult is of more use against buildings than individuals—the large-scale development of military technology in the 19th and 20th centuries has made the concept a key consideration in design. For instance, an anti-personnel landmine will explode into small and sharp pieces of shrapnel that tear flesh but have no effect on metal surfaces, and w ...

Read more here: » Anti-personnel weapon: Encyclopedia - Anti-personnel weapon

Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC - 400s BC - 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC Years: 405 BC 404 BC 403 BC 402 BC 401 BC - 400 BC - 399 BC 398 BC 397 BC 396 BC 395 BC 400 BC - Events. Carthaginians occupy Malta. The catapult is invented by Greek engineers. 400 BC - Births. Kidinnu, Chaldean astronomer (approximate year) 400 BC - ...

Including:

• 400 BC - Events
• 400 BC - Births
• 400 BC - Deaths

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Coffy, Jack Hill's 1973 film about an African American woman vigilante, catapulted Pam Grier to stardom as one of blaxploitation's biggest icons. According to writer/director Hill, the project began when American International Pictures' head of production, Larry Gordon, lost the rights to the film, Cleopatra Jones after making a handshake deal with the producers. Gordon subsequently approached Hill to quickly make a movie about an African American woman's reveng ...

Including:

• Coffy - Plot summary
• Coffy - Trivia

Read more here: » Coffy: Encyclopedia - Coffy

Vivian Malone Jones (born Vivian Juanita Malone on July 15, 1942, in Mobile, Alabama) is an African-American woman, one of the first two African-Americans to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1963 and was made famous when Alabama Governor George Wallace tried to block them from entering, triggering a showdown with federal troops. She became the first African-American to graduate from the University of Alabama. She was catapulted into the national spotlight on June 11, 1963, when, accompanied by federal marshals and ...

Read more here: » Vivian Malone Jones: Encyclopedia - Vivian Malone Jones

A well-known type of assisted take off is the aircraft catapult. In modern systems fitted on aircraft carriers, a piston, known as a shuttle, is propelled down a long cylinder under steam pressure. The aircraft is attached to the shuttle using a tow bar mounted to the nose landing gear (an older system used a steel cable; the forward ramps on older carrier bows were used to catch these cables), and is flung off the deck at about 15 knots above mimimum flying spe ...

See also:

Assisted take off, Assisted take off - Catapults, Assisted take off - JATO and RATO, Assisted take off - Jet Donkeys

Read more here: » Assisted take off: Encyclopedia II - Assisted take off - Catapults

One of the first operations that Force H took part in was connected with the reason for its formation. French naval power still existed in the Mediterranean, and the British Government viewed it as a threat to British interests. It was feared that the Vichy government of Petain would hand the ships over to Germany, despite a vow that would never happen. Such an incidence would almost certainly decisively tip the balance against Britain in the Mediterranean. Consequently, Force H was ordered to execute Operation Catapult (see Dest ...

See also:

Force H, Force H - Operation Catapult, Force H - Convoy Operations, Force H - Sink the Bismarck!, Force H - Britain at Rock Bottom, Force H - Amphibious Assaults

Read more here: » Force H: Encyclopedia II - Force H - Operation Catapult

The end of 1941 saw the nadir of British naval fortunes in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Fleet lost its aircraft carrier to bomb damage, had one battleship sunk off Crete and its two remaining battleships put out of action by Italian human torpedoes. Force H in its turn suffered as well: Ark Royal was sunk by the German submarine U-81 in November 1941. It was only Italian lack of action that p ...

See also:

Force H, Force H - Operation Catapult, Force H - Convoy Operations, Force H - Sink the Bismarck!, Force H - Britain at Rock Bottom, Force H - Amphibious Assaults

Read more here: » Force H: Encyclopedia II - Force H - Britain at Rock Bottom

The most famous incident involving Force H in 1941 did not occur in the Mediterranean, but in the Atlantic Ocean. The German battleship Bismarck had sailed in company with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from Germany to commerce raid in the Atlantic. It went round the north of the UK, passing through the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland. There it was intercepted by a powerful British force made up of the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the old battlecruiser HMS Hood. The engagement was a disaster ...

See also:

Force H, Force H - Operation Catapult, Force H - Convoy Operations, Force H - Sink the Bismarck!, Force H - Britain at Rock Bottom, Force H - Amphibious Assaults

Read more here: » Force H: Encyclopedia II - Force H - Sink the Bismarck!

Launched roller coaster - Hydraulic. Hydraulic-launched roller coasters give the riders high acceleration, yet with improved smoothness, over the electromagnetic and catapult launch mechanisms. The Swiss manufacturer Intamin AG pioneered this new style. The heart of the system is a powerful hydraulic motor, often around 7000 to 10000 horsepower (5 to 8 MW). Hydraulic fluid fills up the top half of a cylinder, and the bottom half of the cylinder, filled with compressed gas, is separated from the top half by ...

See also:

Launched roller coaster, Launched roller coaster - Electromagnetic, Launched roller coaster - LIM / LSM, Launched roller coaster - Fluid pressure, Launched roller coaster - Hydraulic, Launched roller coaster - Pneumatic, Launched roller coaster - Other styles, Launched roller coaster - Catapult, Launched roller coaster - Inverted coaster, Launched roller coaster - Impulse

Read more here: » Launched roller coaster: Encyclopedia II - Launched roller coaster - Fluid pressure

Launched roller coaster - LIM / LSM. LIM and LSM coasters use propulsion via electromagnets, which utilize large amounts of electricity to propel the coaster train along its track into the ride elements (e.g. inversions, twists, turns and short drops). Two design companies managing these types of rides are Vekoma Industries and Premier. Often large in scale, the rides often initiate by launching into a tower element achieving 200 feet (61 m) or higher, followed by inversions and an upward rise. Once moment ...

See also:

Launched roller coaster, Launched roller coaster - Electromagnetic, Launched roller coaster - LIM / LSM, Launched roller coaster - Fluid pressure, Launched roller coaster - Hydraulic, Launched roller coaster - Pneumatic, Launched roller coaster - Other styles, Launched roller coaster - Catapult, Launched roller coaster - Inverted coaster, Launched roller coaster - Impulse

Read more here: » Launched roller coaster: Encyclopedia II - Launched roller coaster - Electromagnetic

Modern aircraft carriers have a flat-top deck, the flight deck that serves as a take-off and landing area for aircraft. Aircraft take off to the front, into the wind, and land from the rear. Carriers steam at speed, for example up to 35 knots (65 km/h), into the wind during take-off in order to increase the apparent wind speed, thereby reducing the speed of the aircraft relative to the ship. On some ships, a steam-powered catapult is used to propel the aircraft forward assisting the power of its engines and allowing it to take off in a short ...

See also:

Aircraft carrier, Aircraft carrier - Flight deck configuration, Aircraft carrier - Common types, Aircraft carrier - Initial designs and inter-war developments, Aircraft carrier - World War II developments, Aircraft carrier - Post-war developments, Aircraft carrier - History and milestones, Aircraft carrier - Genesis, Aircraft carrier - The inter-war years, Aircraft carrier - The Second World War, Aircraft carrier - Wartime innovations, Aircraft carrier - Light Aircraft Carriers, Aircraft carrier - Escort Carriers and Merchant Aircraft Carriers, Aircraft carrier - Catapult Aircraft Merchantmen, Aircraft carrier - The Angled Deck, Aircraft carrier - Post-War Developments, Aircraft carrier - Aircraft carriers today, Aircraft carrier - Modern carriers, Aircraft carrier - Future aircraft carriers, Aircraft carrier - French Marine Nationale, Aircraft carrier - Indian Navy, Aircraft carrier - Italian Marina Militare, Aircraft carrier - People's Republic of China, Aircraft carrier - Royal Navy, Aircraft carrier - Russian Federation, Aircraft carrier - Spanish Armada Española, Aircraft carrier - US Navy, Aircraft carrier - Aircraft carriers in fiction

Read more here: » Aircraft carrier: Encyclopedia II - Aircraft carrier - Flight deck configuration

Aircraft carrier - Genesis. As heavier-than-air aircraft developed in the early 20th century various navies began to take an interest in their potential use as scouts for their big gun warships. A number of experimental flights were made to test the concept. Eugene Ely was the first pilot to launch from a stationary ship in November 1910. He took off from a structure fixed over the forecastle of the US armoured cruiser USS Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia and landed nearby on Willoughby Spit after som ...

See also:

Aircraft carrier, Aircraft carrier - Flight deck configuration, Aircraft carrier - Common types, Aircraft carrier - Initial designs and inter-war developments, Aircraft carrier - World War II developments, Aircraft carrier - Post-war developments, Aircraft carrier - History and milestones, Aircraft carrier - Genesis, Aircraft carrier - The inter-war years, Aircraft carrier - The Second World War, Aircraft carrier - Wartime innovations, Aircraft carrier - Light Aircraft Carriers, Aircraft carrier - Escort Carriers and Merchant Aircraft Carriers, Aircraft carrier - Catapult Aircraft Merchantmen, Aircraft carrier - The Angled Deck, Aircraft carrier - Post-War Developments, Aircraft carrier - Aircraft carriers today, Aircraft carrier - Modern carriers, Aircraft carrier - Future aircraft carriers, Aircraft carrier - French Marine Nationale, Aircraft carrier - Indian Navy, Aircraft carrier - Italian Marina Militare, Aircraft carrier - People's Republic of China, Aircraft carrier - Royal Navy, Aircraft carrier - Russian Federation, Aircraft carrier - Spanish Armada Española, Aircraft carrier - US Navy, Aircraft carrier - Aircraft carriers in fiction

Read more here: » Aircraft carrier: Encyclopedia II - Aircraft carrier - History and milestones