Our Task
Our task for this project was to build a car using alternative energy to power the vehicle and propel it forward five meters. We had to steer clear of two energy sources, electricity and gas. We chose to use springs, in the form of rubber bands, as our form of alternative energy. Once we made blueprints, prototypes and had gone through the building process of the car, we had to present the data of our car and we also had to make our car move the five meters, with 250 grams of weight or 100 pennies. Our car was pretty consistent on reaching the needed distance at 4-6 meters.
Physics Concepts
We used 3 main physics concepts throughout the course of the project, including acceleration, spring potential energy, and velocity.
Spring Potential Energy: Spring potential energy is the amount of energy that can be stored in a spring when it is stretched or compressed. The spring potential energy, or K, is measured in joules or J. You can find K by using the equation K=F/D. This means that the spring potential energy is the force divided by the distance the spring is compressed or stretched.
Acceleration: We used acceleration to see the change of velocity over time and see where our car accelerated, peaked, and then decelerated and eventually stopped. The equation to find this is A= change in velocity over the change in time.
Velocity: We used velocity to find out how quickly our ball was moving on its way to the five meter mark. To find this you use the equation V= change in distance over change in time.
Reflection
Overall, I think our end product is something I am very proud of. When we were given the task, things were off to a great start. We first started with our blueprints. We had two designs, both involving rubber bands. Our first design was to have the rubber bands release a wound-up fan. Our second idea was the one we ended up using. We decided that our first idea was too ambitious and we would not be able to finish it in the timeframe that we were given. Then, things weren't so good. This is because in the middle of our project, we had a time where we were stuck and didn't know what to do next. We needed to improve the distance we were getting. Our car was doing great without the weights, but once the weights were put in, it wouldn't move an inch. We had to make changes. First, we decided to stretch the rubber bands, while winding them tighter and making more wraps around the axle. Another change we made was adding a front wheel. We decided to add on a small toy car as the front wheels, which helped a lot. Things were going well, until one piece broke due to overuse. This was only a minor setback however and we kept going and we had a great stretch of work. If I could go back and change something, it would be to go back and change the time in the middle, where we didn't know what to do to improve the distance of the car. I also wished we tested more ideas out to see if they worked, instead of moving slower and making the window to finish tighter.
Our task for this project was to build a car using alternative energy to power the vehicle and propel it forward five meters. We had to steer clear of two energy sources, electricity and gas. We chose to use springs, in the form of rubber bands, as our form of alternative energy. Once we made blueprints, prototypes and had gone through the building process of the car, we had to present the data of our car and we also had to make our car move the five meters, with 250 grams of weight or 100 pennies. Our car was pretty consistent on reaching the needed distance at 4-6 meters.
Physics Concepts
We used 3 main physics concepts throughout the course of the project, including acceleration, spring potential energy, and velocity.
Spring Potential Energy: Spring potential energy is the amount of energy that can be stored in a spring when it is stretched or compressed. The spring potential energy, or K, is measured in joules or J. You can find K by using the equation K=F/D. This means that the spring potential energy is the force divided by the distance the spring is compressed or stretched.
Acceleration: We used acceleration to see the change of velocity over time and see where our car accelerated, peaked, and then decelerated and eventually stopped. The equation to find this is A= change in velocity over the change in time.
Velocity: We used velocity to find out how quickly our ball was moving on its way to the five meter mark. To find this you use the equation V= change in distance over change in time.
Reflection
Overall, I think our end product is something I am very proud of. When we were given the task, things were off to a great start. We first started with our blueprints. We had two designs, both involving rubber bands. Our first design was to have the rubber bands release a wound-up fan. Our second idea was the one we ended up using. We decided that our first idea was too ambitious and we would not be able to finish it in the timeframe that we were given. Then, things weren't so good. This is because in the middle of our project, we had a time where we were stuck and didn't know what to do next. We needed to improve the distance we were getting. Our car was doing great without the weights, but once the weights were put in, it wouldn't move an inch. We had to make changes. First, we decided to stretch the rubber bands, while winding them tighter and making more wraps around the axle. Another change we made was adding a front wheel. We decided to add on a small toy car as the front wheels, which helped a lot. Things were going well, until one piece broke due to overuse. This was only a minor setback however and we kept going and we had a great stretch of work. If I could go back and change something, it would be to go back and change the time in the middle, where we didn't know what to do to improve the distance of the car. I also wished we tested more ideas out to see if they worked, instead of moving slower and making the window to finish tighter.