Hybrid car
Our class was given a sale pitch from Honda to make a prototype that used an alternative energy source besides batteries and fossil fuels. Our prototype was to roll 5 meters and stop at 5 meters while carrying 250 grams. My groups original idea was to make a balloon powered car that failed miserably. Then I had the idea of using a rat trap or spring energy to power the car. At first, we tried a mouse trap, but it didn't propel it the 5 meters so we stuck with the rat trap. We had many failed attempts of trying to get enough force from the spring to propel it forward until Angus brought in some flexible wood as a rod that we attached a string to that was coiled around the axle of the wheels. We had a few other problems, but in the end made it go roughly 5 meters.
Concepts
Energy- Work=PE=KE are the different types of energy using the unit Joules. Our car had a total energy of 4.314 J
Gravitational Potential Energy- PE=mgh, energy due to gravity, measured in joules
Kinetic Energy- KE=1/2mv2. It is energy due to movement and is measured in Joules. Our car had approximately 0.0574 J at 1 meter.
Spring Potential Energy- It is energy due to compression or expansive material and is measured in Joules. PE=1/2kx2.
Spring Constant- It is the measurement of elasticity of a spring and in measured in Newtons per meter. Our car had a spring constant of 10.42 N/m.
Friction- It is a force that affects motion and is measured in Newtons. Our car had a lot of friction because of the weight on the wheels.
Entropy- It is disorder or randomness and it is where heat is lost to the environment.
Power- P=wt. It is the rate of doing work and our car had a certain amount of power.
Velocity- V=d/t. It is the rate of change of an object and in measured in meters per second. Our car had a velocity of 0.827 m/s at 4 meters.
Reflection
This was definitely one of the most enjoyable projects yet. I thought our car worked beautifully and I enjoyed working with this group of my peers. One of our peaks was the way we worked together as a group. This had vastly changed since the sports video. We each contributed and agreed about every step we were making, allowing the process to go a lot more smoothly. Another peak was working through all our failed attempts. We had to scrap our first idea then we had to keep making tweaks all along the way to try and get it to reach 5 meters exactly and we came pretty close to it too. One pit was our time management. Yes, we did finish in time, but we were really rushed in the end because we didn't follow our timeline, throwing together a presentation last minute. Another pit was the inconsistency of our car. It was almost lucky that our car went 5.1 meters during our presentation because sometimes our car would go pass 5 meters by a lot with more than 250 grams or not reach 5 meters with less than 250 grams.
Energy- Work=PE=KE are the different types of energy using the unit Joules. Our car had a total energy of 4.314 J
Gravitational Potential Energy- PE=mgh, energy due to gravity, measured in joules
Kinetic Energy- KE=1/2mv2. It is energy due to movement and is measured in Joules. Our car had approximately 0.0574 J at 1 meter.
Spring Potential Energy- It is energy due to compression or expansive material and is measured in Joules. PE=1/2kx2.
Spring Constant- It is the measurement of elasticity of a spring and in measured in Newtons per meter. Our car had a spring constant of 10.42 N/m.
Friction- It is a force that affects motion and is measured in Newtons. Our car had a lot of friction because of the weight on the wheels.
Entropy- It is disorder or randomness and it is where heat is lost to the environment.
Power- P=wt. It is the rate of doing work and our car had a certain amount of power.
Velocity- V=d/t. It is the rate of change of an object and in measured in meters per second. Our car had a velocity of 0.827 m/s at 4 meters.
Reflection
This was definitely one of the most enjoyable projects yet. I thought our car worked beautifully and I enjoyed working with this group of my peers. One of our peaks was the way we worked together as a group. This had vastly changed since the sports video. We each contributed and agreed about every step we were making, allowing the process to go a lot more smoothly. Another peak was working through all our failed attempts. We had to scrap our first idea then we had to keep making tweaks all along the way to try and get it to reach 5 meters exactly and we came pretty close to it too. One pit was our time management. Yes, we did finish in time, but we were really rushed in the end because we didn't follow our timeline, throwing together a presentation last minute. Another pit was the inconsistency of our car. It was almost lucky that our car went 5.1 meters during our presentation because sometimes our car would go pass 5 meters by a lot with more than 250 grams or not reach 5 meters with less than 250 grams.