In this project, the goal was to create a car that ran only off the energy created by a mousetrap.
I was partnered with Carson Stringer for the creation of both the car in our physics class and a brochure in our humanities class.
At the start of this project I was worried. Although both Carson and I were creative and intelligent, we weren't so scientifically gifted. But, with the creation of our first car it seemed we were off to a good start. Our first car only went about 2 feet, but compared to other cars that didn't go at all, we were getting there. We weren't yet at the 3 meter requirement though. So we looked into way to make it better.
We started off by pointing out all the things that needed changing, and with help from classmates to find even more details, we figured out how to clean the car up. We made the car much lighter, more air-dynamic, and used graphite (a dry lubricant) to allow the axles to rub less in the car.
Unfortunately this wasn't enough. There was still too much friction in the axles against the car, it still weighed a bit too much, and it just wasn't long enough for the mousetrap (with a stick extension) to pull the entire way. So with hopes seeming to be lost we invested our hopes in one more set up. We made a two piece car, with thin walls so the axles would have as much wood to rub against. We made larger wheels in the back for a longer distance and smaller wheels in the front for accuracy. We crossed our fingers during the first test and when it came out better than we had anticipated, we were satisfied in the work. The car meets all the requirements and is even one of the faster ones in our class.
I was partnered with Carson Stringer for the creation of both the car in our physics class and a brochure in our humanities class.
At the start of this project I was worried. Although both Carson and I were creative and intelligent, we weren't so scientifically gifted. But, with the creation of our first car it seemed we were off to a good start. Our first car only went about 2 feet, but compared to other cars that didn't go at all, we were getting there. We weren't yet at the 3 meter requirement though. So we looked into way to make it better.
We started off by pointing out all the things that needed changing, and with help from classmates to find even more details, we figured out how to clean the car up. We made the car much lighter, more air-dynamic, and used graphite (a dry lubricant) to allow the axles to rub less in the car.
Unfortunately this wasn't enough. There was still too much friction in the axles against the car, it still weighed a bit too much, and it just wasn't long enough for the mousetrap (with a stick extension) to pull the entire way. So with hopes seeming to be lost we invested our hopes in one more set up. We made a two piece car, with thin walls so the axles would have as much wood to rub against. We made larger wheels in the back for a longer distance and smaller wheels in the front for accuracy. We crossed our fingers during the first test and when it came out better than we had anticipated, we were satisfied in the work. The car meets all the requirements and is even one of the faster ones in our class.