Description:
Overall our project was very easy to complete. We ran into minimal problems. The problems we did run into were simple to fix. Originally, we had a rubber band idea for our car but we decided that would be too complicated, so we decided to do a simple balloon car. The group I had the pleasure of working with for this project was great. We all collaborated smoothly and didn't get into any arguments. Our car worked perfectly and was completed very early on. The only real problem we ran into was the straw that we used to blow up the balloon. The car went the five meters without the 500 grams, but didn't go that far with the weights on. Our solution was to cut the straw shorter so the air would come out faster and push the car forward.
We also later discovered that once we did get the car to go five meters with the weights, it went way past five meters. The goal in the project was to have our cars go as close to five meters as it possibly could. Since we had plenty of time to tweak our design, we set to trying to find a way to make the car stop at exactly five meters. We quickly figured out that the speed and distance of our car depended on how much the balloon was blown up. For example, if we wanted the car to go past five meters the balloon would be blown up really big. On the other hand, if we wanted the car to go exactly five meters we had to experiment and find a perfect amount of air to put into the balloon to have it go our ideal distance. Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to see of our car in action.
Concepts:
Energy: Capacity for doing work. The unit for energy is Joules (J).
Gravitational PE: Energy due to gravity being at a height. The variable is PEg/Ug. The equation is PE=mgh. The unit for gravitational PE is Joules (J).
Kinetic Energy: Energy die to movement. The variable is KE. The equation for kinetic energy is KE=1/2mv^2. The unit is Joules (J).
Spring Constant: Measure of the elasticity of a spring. The variable is K. The equation is F=kx or mg=kx. The unit is N/m.
Spring Potential Energy (Elastic PE): Energy due to compression or expansion of elastic material. The variable is PEs/Us. The equation is PEs=1/2kx^2. The unit is Joules (J)
Friction: Force that affects motion (resists). The variable is Ffriction. There is no equation for friction. The unit is N.
Pressure: Amount of force on a certain area. The variable is P. The equation for pressure is P=force/area. The unit is N/m^2 / Pascal.
Entrophy: Unavailable thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work in a system, randomness. The variable is S.
Power: Rate of doing work. The variable is P. The equation for power is P=W/t. The unit is J/S=Watts (W).
Reflection:
This project was very amusing to work on. I learned that balloon cars work great and are very simple to complete. Another great thing about this project was that our group worked amazing together. We all collaborated and didn't get into any fights. This project was such a joy to complete and I will for sure miss the group I got to share this experience with. I learned that shortening the length of a straw allows more air to escape through it, causing the car to push forward. One thing I learned about myself is that I am actually very good at making balloon cars. I can now also make them really quick.
There was really nothing wrong with this project. We hardly into any problems. The only problem we ran into was the issue with the length of the straw, which is discussed in further detail in the description of the project above. One bad thing was that seeing other people working on their cars was very amusing and because so, it was very easy to become distracted. Another thing wrong with this project was that our idea for the car wasn't very creative (balloon car). We decided to try the balloon car solely because it was quick, easy, and efficient.
Video of our car:
Overall our project was very easy to complete. We ran into minimal problems. The problems we did run into were simple to fix. Originally, we had a rubber band idea for our car but we decided that would be too complicated, so we decided to do a simple balloon car. The group I had the pleasure of working with for this project was great. We all collaborated smoothly and didn't get into any arguments. Our car worked perfectly and was completed very early on. The only real problem we ran into was the straw that we used to blow up the balloon. The car went the five meters without the 500 grams, but didn't go that far with the weights on. Our solution was to cut the straw shorter so the air would come out faster and push the car forward.
We also later discovered that once we did get the car to go five meters with the weights, it went way past five meters. The goal in the project was to have our cars go as close to five meters as it possibly could. Since we had plenty of time to tweak our design, we set to trying to find a way to make the car stop at exactly five meters. We quickly figured out that the speed and distance of our car depended on how much the balloon was blown up. For example, if we wanted the car to go past five meters the balloon would be blown up really big. On the other hand, if we wanted the car to go exactly five meters we had to experiment and find a perfect amount of air to put into the balloon to have it go our ideal distance. Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to see of our car in action.
Concepts:
Energy: Capacity for doing work. The unit for energy is Joules (J).
Gravitational PE: Energy due to gravity being at a height. The variable is PEg/Ug. The equation is PE=mgh. The unit for gravitational PE is Joules (J).
Kinetic Energy: Energy die to movement. The variable is KE. The equation for kinetic energy is KE=1/2mv^2. The unit is Joules (J).
Spring Constant: Measure of the elasticity of a spring. The variable is K. The equation is F=kx or mg=kx. The unit is N/m.
Spring Potential Energy (Elastic PE): Energy due to compression or expansion of elastic material. The variable is PEs/Us. The equation is PEs=1/2kx^2. The unit is Joules (J)
Friction: Force that affects motion (resists). The variable is Ffriction. There is no equation for friction. The unit is N.
Pressure: Amount of force on a certain area. The variable is P. The equation for pressure is P=force/area. The unit is N/m^2 / Pascal.
Entrophy: Unavailable thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work in a system, randomness. The variable is S.
Power: Rate of doing work. The variable is P. The equation for power is P=W/t. The unit is J/S=Watts (W).
Reflection:
This project was very amusing to work on. I learned that balloon cars work great and are very simple to complete. Another great thing about this project was that our group worked amazing together. We all collaborated and didn't get into any fights. This project was such a joy to complete and I will for sure miss the group I got to share this experience with. I learned that shortening the length of a straw allows more air to escape through it, causing the car to push forward. One thing I learned about myself is that I am actually very good at making balloon cars. I can now also make them really quick.
There was really nothing wrong with this project. We hardly into any problems. The only problem we ran into was the issue with the length of the straw, which is discussed in further detail in the description of the project above. One bad thing was that seeing other people working on their cars was very amusing and because so, it was very easy to become distracted. Another thing wrong with this project was that our idea for the car wasn't very creative (balloon car). We decided to try the balloon car solely because it was quick, easy, and efficient.
Video of our car: