Hybrid Car Design
For this project each group had to design and build a car. It had to go and stop at five meters( 16.4 feet) The cars had to store potential energy then convert it to kinetic energy to move this self. So anything thing was acceptable except for chemical and remote control. My group went through several ideas before deciding on a final plan. While building we couldn't obtain the required parts so we changed the design once more. We ended up building a rubber band power car. After a few days of fixing and modifications we finished our car the SPS car.
The car itself has base made of two pieces wood. The axles of the car also wooden. The axles are held in place by small pieces of pvs pipe. The front wheels are made of cardboard and the back wheels are CD discs. This car is rubber band power. It gets potential energy when the rubber band strand is wrapped around the back axle. As the rubber band stand unwinds it creates kinetic energy and turns the axle which turns wheels moving the car. |
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Concepts
So if your wondering what potential energy and kinetic energy is I'll be explaining it here, along with other physics and engineering concepts that were used in this project. Concepts Description
Personal Reflection |
This project was a great success, well at least the end result was. Getting there was a little rough and took some good last minute work. We had a major problem with building quality. The first few attempts of building were quick slapped together builds, but for our final car we put a lot more time into it. Making sure it ran properly, smoothly, and worked consistently. The group had many ideas and all of them were great. The only problem with our ideas was that they were to expensive, could not bring proper materials, or we did not bring materials needed. Our teamwork was very good. Even after scraping our old ideas with the little time we had left we still got a lot of work done. The start of the project was very unorganized. The design kept changing so building a final product was difficult. Building kept taking a lot of different turns so we were not able to be fully completed car. Near the end of this project we really pulled it together. We decided on a final design and completed the car. I think that I have become a better leader during this project. My work ethic though was not the greatest I will get more work done on future projects. I learned that I am very particular about product quality. I was always making little adjustments on the car. I should have done the calculations better. My first set of number for velocity were wrong. I will work on my calculation skills so I do not mess up next time. This was a fun project and messing around with the car was great.