Engineer builds trebuchet that breaks sound barrier using only gravity

British engineer and YouTuber Tom Stanton has designed and built a trebuchet capable of launching a projectile past the speed of sound using no external power source. The device relies entirely on gravitational potential energy, making the achievement a remarkable feat of mechanical engineering. Stanton documented the project and shared it online, where it attracted significant attention from the engineering and maker communities. The build demonstrates how classical siege weapon mechanics can be pushed to extreme modern performance limits. Details of the project are available on his YouTube channel and were highlighted on tech blogs and Hacker News.