We tried many ideas when making our car. Our first thought was to make it out of wood. We quickly realized that wasn't going to work. The wood made the car have too much mass so it didn't even accelerate. We also found out that not having a nozzle would be a mistake. We didn't think we would need one but it turns out that was essential. It caused the action-reaction pair to be strong resulting in better take-off. We also put our nozzle directly on the car without placing it or anything. After our first trial, we made a station for the nozzle to be placed in. It improved the distance by a lot. Those were our three major mistakes.
Our three biggest acomplishments with the car mostly had to do with the wheels. Our wheels were CDs which were perfect for the car. They made long strides and were easy to turn. The second thing we did that worked was changed the base from wood to cardboard. The cardboard was light but not too light so it still had so momentum after the balloon blew out. I feel our best decision was making axels for our wheels. They fit snugly and rolled well keeping our balloon car straight. The most valuable part of this project was seeing our lesson in action! We finally made the connections between mass and momentum and action and reaction pairs. It finally made sense it real life.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Analysis
1. Use Newton's first law of motion to explain why your car began to move as well as why your car eventually came to a stop.
Newton's first law of motion states, an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon an outside force. Our car began moving because the balloon, a force, pushed it forward. The car kept moving because the outside force, the friction of the wheels, hadn't acted yet. Our car eventually came to a stop because the wheels created friction on the ground, which was the outside force.
2. Use Newton's second law of motion to explain how the mass affected the acceleration of your balloon car at the start.
Newton's second law of motion states, the net force of an object is equal to the product of its acceleration and its mass. This means that force and acceleration are directly proportional or, as one goes up so does the other. However mass and acceleration are indirectly proportion so as the mass goes up, the acceleration goes down. Our car was pretty heavy as balloon cars went and I noticed that it was very slow to start. It's because the matter in our car was very great resulting in a slower acceleration.
3. Please use the concept of momentum to explain how the mass and velocity affected your balloon car continuing to move after the balloon had run out of air.
Momentum is the product of an object's mass and velocity. Velocity and mass have to do with an objects inertia. Inertia is an objects tendency to stay at rest or keep moving. Our balloon car was moving so the inertia refers to its movement. Our car had a very large mass. Mass does not help acceleration...but it sure helps momentum. The reason our car kept moving a fairly far distance after the balloon was out was because our mass kept the momentum going.
4. Please use Newton's first law of motion to identify the action and reaction pair of forces that caused the initial forwards acceleration of your car, allowing it to leave the resting state.
Newton's third law of motions states, for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. The reaction pair in our balloon car was the balloon and the car. The balloon blew out air behind the car. That caused an opposite (but equal) reaction resulting in pushing the car forwards with the same force the balloon was pushing out in the back.
Newton's first law of motion states, an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon an outside force. Our car began moving because the balloon, a force, pushed it forward. The car kept moving because the outside force, the friction of the wheels, hadn't acted yet. Our car eventually came to a stop because the wheels created friction on the ground, which was the outside force.
2. Use Newton's second law of motion to explain how the mass affected the acceleration of your balloon car at the start.
Newton's second law of motion states, the net force of an object is equal to the product of its acceleration and its mass. This means that force and acceleration are directly proportional or, as one goes up so does the other. However mass and acceleration are indirectly proportion so as the mass goes up, the acceleration goes down. Our car was pretty heavy as balloon cars went and I noticed that it was very slow to start. It's because the matter in our car was very great resulting in a slower acceleration.
3. Please use the concept of momentum to explain how the mass and velocity affected your balloon car continuing to move after the balloon had run out of air.
Momentum is the product of an object's mass and velocity. Velocity and mass have to do with an objects inertia. Inertia is an objects tendency to stay at rest or keep moving. Our balloon car was moving so the inertia refers to its movement. Our car had a very large mass. Mass does not help acceleration...but it sure helps momentum. The reason our car kept moving a fairly far distance after the balloon was out was because our mass kept the momentum going.
4. Please use Newton's first law of motion to identify the action and reaction pair of forces that caused the initial forwards acceleration of your car, allowing it to leave the resting state.
Newton's third law of motions states, for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. The reaction pair in our balloon car was the balloon and the car. The balloon blew out air behind the car. That caused an opposite (but equal) reaction resulting in pushing the car forwards with the same force the balloon was pushing out in the back.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The Trials
Trial One
Date: December 5th, 2011
Distance: 12.8 Meters
Problems: It was slow to start off, we could maybe think of a way it could speed up quicker.
Why it succeeded: The car was very balanced so it did not spin out of control and stop.
Date: December 5th, 2011
Distance: 12.8 Meters
Problems: It was slow to start off, we could maybe think of a way it could speed up quicker.
Why it succeeded: The car was very balanced so it did not spin out of control and stop.
Trial One
Side note: This was filmed at Johnny's house. We did not have anything to record at the official trial.
Trial Two
Trial Two
Date: December 6th, 2011
Distance: 16.3 Meters
Problems: None! It surpassed our expectations.
Why it went faster: We adjusted the nozzle so it was more faced down, which improved the speed greatly.
The Design Process
The Design Process
Materials
We had a basic idea of just a block of wood and four wheels, but we quickly realized a block of wood would be WAY to heavy so we traded in for cardboard. We first took a square piece of cardboard and taped 2 straws at the end. We then attached 4 CDs to act as wheels. And then we had the base of our balloon car. (Pic. 1, below)
We then realized that we could even use a lighter material than cardboard so we swapped in for a thin plastic. We also created a nozzle for the balloon to fit snuggle and take off! (Pic. 2, below)
Materials
- Wood
- Cardboard
- Straws
- CD
We had a basic idea of just a block of wood and four wheels, but we quickly realized a block of wood would be WAY to heavy so we traded in for cardboard. We first took a square piece of cardboard and taped 2 straws at the end. We then attached 4 CDs to act as wheels. And then we had the base of our balloon car. (Pic. 1, below)
We then realized that we could even use a lighter material than cardboard so we swapped in for a thin plastic. We also created a nozzle for the balloon to fit snuggle and take off! (Pic. 2, below)
Pic.1 Our basic Balloon Car
Pic.2 Balloon car with new base and nozzle
Total Amount spent:
We have spent no money so far making this because we have used household stuff.
Outside sources:
We haven't looked up any information on balloon cars, because Johnny is good with building and we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to make.
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