Alternate energy car
For our third STEM project we were challenged to build an alternate energy car. This car needed to travel exactly five meters while carrying 250 grams of mass. What made this challenging however, were the restrictions. We could not use chemical or nuclear energy, could not remotely control or touch the vehicle, or modify the track in any way. Our group decided to power our car with a mousetrap. We did this by attaching a string to an extended arm of the mousetrap, then wrapping the string around the front axle. As the arm moved back to resting position the string unwinds, turning the axle. The chassis of our car is made of wood, and the wheel structure is built with K'nex. In its entirety, this project took eight days to complete. We were able to get our car to go exactly five meters.
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Physics Concepts
Types of Energy
Kinetic Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to motion
Potential Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to its position
Thermal Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to its heat
Total Energy - The total amount of energy an object contains
- We calculated all types of energy for our car at each meter mark as shown in the graphs above
Velocity - A vector quantity that describes how quickly an object changes its position
- We found the velocity of our car at each meter
Force - A "push" or "pull" interaction between two objects in which both objects are asserting a force upon the other
- We found the force exerted by the mousetrap on our car
Impulse - A change in momentum, "How hard would it be to start this object moving"
- We found the impulse of the car as it started moving
Momentum - A mass in motion, "How hard would it be to stop this moving object"
- We found the impulse of the car as it started moving
Power - The rate at which a certain amount of work is done
- We found the amount of power used by the car
Kinetic Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to motion
Potential Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to its position
Thermal Energy - The amount of energy an object has due to its heat
Total Energy - The total amount of energy an object contains
- We calculated all types of energy for our car at each meter mark as shown in the graphs above
Velocity - A vector quantity that describes how quickly an object changes its position
- We found the velocity of our car at each meter
Force - A "push" or "pull" interaction between two objects in which both objects are asserting a force upon the other
- We found the force exerted by the mousetrap on our car
Impulse - A change in momentum, "How hard would it be to start this object moving"
- We found the impulse of the car as it started moving
Momentum - A mass in motion, "How hard would it be to stop this moving object"
- We found the impulse of the car as it started moving
Power - The rate at which a certain amount of work is done
- We found the amount of power used by the car
Reflection
Our group was able to work very well together, finishing our project way before schedule. This let us have fun with the project and take time to refine our final design. Our group was very good at splitting the workload and everyone contributed in a major way. Even when our car stopped working we were able to put our heads together to troubleshoot, come up with a solution, and put the plan into action. However, we could have spent more time planning our presentation as well as simply having more information within it. Another thing we could have possibly done better would be to build another car using a different form of energy. Even with these downfalls, our team worked like a well oiled machine and our project was a great success.