Mainly main of card and wood, few of them now survive, though one for demonstrating the tautochrone curve of a cycloid and another for parabolic motion do remain.
2.
As Galileo showed, the net result is parabolic motion, which describes, e . g ., the trajectory of a projectile in a vacuum near the surface of Earth.
3.
:: Working through the equations for parabolic motion and conservation of momentum, if the cannon were on frictionless wheels, it would move backward at somewhat less than 5 mi / hr after the shot.