The Team: Pranav Pannala, Andersen Teoh, Luke Venezia
Our fourth project of the year we had an objective to make the world a cleaner and better place. We were told to move two passengers of 250kg (which were two rolls of pennies) a distance of 5m in the fastest amount of time, without hurting the passengers. But the trick was that it had to be a alternative energy car rather then the simple gasoline vehicle. We could use anyway of transportation as long as the pennies were still intact at the end.
Evidence
We began our project by using the new and improved maker space in the 700 building on campus. Before we started building we needed to brainstorm what design and power source would work best for us. We had three full days of building our design, mixed with learning physics concepts for the project in between. Next we spent the next week cleaning everything up on our design and then working on the actual presentation for our project. At this point everything was all built all we had to do was connect the solar panel to the motor. We spent the first two days finishing our design and then testing it outside. It worked flawlessly, but it needed a lot of repairs throughout the process because of many moving parts it had. Once we had perfected our design, we started to work on the calculations and graphs for our presentation. Lastly we incorporated all of this into a google slides presentation and spent our last day practicing and refining our presentation. Below is a video of the car working fully and our three graphs that we used in our presentation. Our Google slides presentation will also have a file listed below.
Distance V.S. Time- This is the change in distance compared to the change in time. Usually used to measure distance of the car in a certain direction compared to the time. Measured in meters and seconds. Thermal Energy- Is the internal energy of our car due to the kinetic energy of its atoms and/or molecules. The atoms and/or molecules of a hotter object have greater kinetic energy than those of a colder one, in the form of vibrational, rotational, or, in the case of a gas, translational motion. Measured in joules.
Velocity- The speed of the vehicle in a given direction. Measured in meters per second or m/s.
Potential Energy- Potential energy is the energy of an object in a certain position. PE is calculated by multiplying mass, acceleration due to gravity, and the height of the object. If you are calculating the spring potential energy, you would use the spring constant. When we stretched out the rubber bands they had spring potential energy. Measured in Joules.
Kinetic Energy- Kinetic energy is how much energy an object has due to motion. It is calculated by multiplying 1/2 mass and velocity squared. When the car is moving it has kinetic energy. Measured in Joules.
Reflection
So far throughout this school year this was my most favorite project of the year. I found it very challenging but also very fun and creative. I feel this is one of my best projects(academically speaking). I had a lot of fun in this project and also learned several new skills relating to electronics. One completely new skill that I learned over this project was how to solter. Soltering is how many electrical circuits are connected and how they stay connected through bumpy rides. It is pretty easy to understand and accomplish, but to do it well you must have a steady hand and lots of practice. Another skill I learned during this project was electric circuits. Prior to this, I had a simple knowledge of electrical circuits, but during this project I learned that electricity can be used in many indirect ways. Such as using electricity to move a motor, which moves gears, which moves an axle. Electricity is mainly interpreted in a simple manner, but can be used in many complex ways. One thing that I think I could've done better on was my time management skills. We originally had three days to build, but my group was unsure of what design we wanted, which in the end cost us two extra days of building which could have been used to better our presentation. Another thing that I feel I could've done better throughout this project was accepting things the way they were. After we finished our design we kept on critiquing our design and trying to get it work perfectly rather then focusing on bigger things such as the calculations for our energy graphs, which we ended up doing at the last minute.