rat trap hybrid car
The last 3 weeks have been very hectic, for we have been designing our hybrid car. Okay let me try again. Our class was given a sales pitch by the car company Honda. We have to design a car that uses an alternative energy source beside fossil fuels, and batteries. It also must be able to roll 5 meters, stop exactly at 5 meters, and carry 250 grams. The first thing me and two other members in the group jumped to was balloons, but thoes ended up not working at all what so ever. My group member Angus then had a brilliant idea, why not make a car powered by a rat trap. That idea became what our car was going to be. We first tried to use a mouse trap, but it didn't have enough power to propel the car 5 meters. We then rebuilt our car but instead this time we used the rat trap. Two of my team members wanted to use a stick attached to a bar of the rat trap. Half of the pieces of would we attempted to put on ended braking, when we put of the second spring. Angus then brought in some flexible wood, and it ended up actually working. The reason we wanted the rod is it created a slower releas which held more power, and was able to get the car to stop at about roughly 5 meters. We had a few bumps in the road but in the end, and on presentation day our rat trap powered hybrid car went 4.9 meters.
Physics Concepts
Energy- W=PE=KE, it is the capacity for doing work, and it is measured in Joules. Our car had a total energy of 4.314J
Gravitational Potential Energy- PE=mgh, it is energy due to gravity/being at a height, it is also measured in Joules.
Kinetic Energy- KE=1/2mv^2, it is energy due to movement, it is measured in Joules. Our car had approximately 0.0574J at 1 meter.
Spring Potential Energy- Energy due to compression or expansion of an elastic material, measured in Joules, PEs=1/2kx^2.
Spring Constant- Measure of elasticity of a spring, measured in Newton's/meter(n/m), F=KX. Our car had a spring constant of 10.42n/m.
Friction- Force that affects motion, measured in Newton's. Our car was a little slow because of the friction from the wheels against the ground.
Pressure- Amount of force on a certain amount of area, P=force/area. The weight put a certain pressure on the car where they we placed.
Entropy- disorder, heat that is lost to the environment and cant be used, randomness.
Power- Rate of doing work, P=w/t, our car had a certain amount of power.
Velocity- Rate of change of an object, V=d/t, measured in meters/second. Our car had a velocity of O.827m/s at 4 meters.
Reflection
This had to be on the top list of my favorite projects. It was a really fun expirence and I got to learn so many new things. I thought our car worked amazingly, but I wish we could have figured out how to get the string that propeld the car to have the correct tension and length to make it go exactly 5 meters. I learned that I am really good at making quick decisions in an under pressure situation. As a group we were having a lot of trouble deciding on something, so quickly I stated the pros and cons, and then we were able to decide. I also learned that I am really open to suggestive ideas, I dont just hold onto one idea, I tend to vary until we decide as a group. We had two ideas going, twoards the way the fishing line was going to release, I didnt decide on what I wanted to do until we decided as a group, and I got to see the way both worked. Some things I could improve on are including everyone. When I did the calculations I just did them myself, I should have included everyone so that they could understand it to. I could have also worked a little more on the car. I am not saying I didnt, but I wish I would have come in at lunch and found out how much tension the fishing line had to have, and how long it had to be to get the car to roll exactly 5 meters. Throughout this project I have gained many new ideas on how to make cars more enviormently friendly and efficient, and I hope to take those ideas to the future.
Physics Concepts
Energy- W=PE=KE, it is the capacity for doing work, and it is measured in Joules. Our car had a total energy of 4.314J
Gravitational Potential Energy- PE=mgh, it is energy due to gravity/being at a height, it is also measured in Joules.
Kinetic Energy- KE=1/2mv^2, it is energy due to movement, it is measured in Joules. Our car had approximately 0.0574J at 1 meter.
Spring Potential Energy- Energy due to compression or expansion of an elastic material, measured in Joules, PEs=1/2kx^2.
Spring Constant- Measure of elasticity of a spring, measured in Newton's/meter(n/m), F=KX. Our car had a spring constant of 10.42n/m.
Friction- Force that affects motion, measured in Newton's. Our car was a little slow because of the friction from the wheels against the ground.
Pressure- Amount of force on a certain amount of area, P=force/area. The weight put a certain pressure on the car where they we placed.
Entropy- disorder, heat that is lost to the environment and cant be used, randomness.
Power- Rate of doing work, P=w/t, our car had a certain amount of power.
Velocity- Rate of change of an object, V=d/t, measured in meters/second. Our car had a velocity of O.827m/s at 4 meters.
Reflection
This had to be on the top list of my favorite projects. It was a really fun expirence and I got to learn so many new things. I thought our car worked amazingly, but I wish we could have figured out how to get the string that propeld the car to have the correct tension and length to make it go exactly 5 meters. I learned that I am really good at making quick decisions in an under pressure situation. As a group we were having a lot of trouble deciding on something, so quickly I stated the pros and cons, and then we were able to decide. I also learned that I am really open to suggestive ideas, I dont just hold onto one idea, I tend to vary until we decide as a group. We had two ideas going, twoards the way the fishing line was going to release, I didnt decide on what I wanted to do until we decided as a group, and I got to see the way both worked. Some things I could improve on are including everyone. When I did the calculations I just did them myself, I should have included everyone so that they could understand it to. I could have also worked a little more on the car. I am not saying I didnt, but I wish I would have come in at lunch and found out how much tension the fishing line had to have, and how long it had to be to get the car to roll exactly 5 meters. Throughout this project I have gained many new ideas on how to make cars more enviormently friendly and efficient, and I hope to take those ideas to the future.