The MeterMobile
In this project we were asked to build a car that could go 5 meters with an energy source other than electricity and gasoline, so we started by finding out what other types of energy we could use and we thought why not use rubber bands as a spring, so we chose spring energy to propel our car to the 5 meter mark.
Our deisgn
At first we made it a little complex with a funky shaped chassis but we decided to make it like a wind up car by atatching a nail to the axle then to the front of the car then spun our CD wheels backwards to wind the rubber bands around the wheel, and we tested and tested how many rubber bands we should use after we had to modify our vehicle to make the chassis just a simple rectangle and lengthen where the front nail was. That was our final design.
Potential Energy (PE)
Potential energy is the energy that acts when the rubber bands are let go to move the vehicle and later turns into kinetic energy.
Kinetic Energy (KE)
Kinetic energy is the energy that happens when all of the PE converts into kinetic energy.
Thermal Energy (E)
Thermal energy is the energy that acts from heat and friction.
Velocity
Velocity is the speed in meters per second of our car.
Reflection
In this project there were many moments of bad and good. this project was rough, the start of the projects wasnt bad but it went downhill from there. After we made our car we wanted it to go the full way to 5 meters so we werent getting data and we lost track of time so in the end we had to work every minute we got and one of our group members decided the car needed a last minute base change and that set us back as well. so in the end we were missing important energies and we didnt even get it to go 5meters. The project was good when we actually focused on the task at hand. so in all I learned to focus on what needs to be done and quickly.