Project Overview
In this project we wanted to design, build, and present an idea for a hybrid vehicle that transfers stored potential energy into kinetic energy. We need to build a car that goes five meters carrying a mass of 250 grams or 100 pennies. We also had to make a presentation on what we did and how cost efficient our final car was.
A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that utilizes more than one form of energy to achieve motion. In theory, that means a hybrid will have a traditional internal-combustion engine and a fuel tank, as well as one or more electric motors and a battery pack. The hybrid we made runs off simple machines, using a spring’s potential energy to turn the wheel’s axel.
Creating Ideas
We started this project by brainstorming what we could do to achieve this task. We initially decided to start by building a frame that could use any kind of potential to power the car, and then we could decide what method we wanted to use that would be most efficient to power the car. In the end, we decided to use spring potential energy to power our car because it seemed the easiest to design and build, the consistently reliable method, and we didn't want to use batteries or motors because that already exists and is not very energy efficient nor is it very creative.
Building Our Car
After deciding what method we were going to use, we looked at what materials we had and began to build the frame. we started with a bicycle wheel, and two pieces of wood and went from there. As soon as we had the frame finished, we started the actual spring part by wrapping string around the axle and attaching it to three springs. We attached the springs by weaving their coils together. After building the car, we needed to face he problem of getting the car to go exactly five meters. Our car is used by winding up the back wheel, and when fully wound the car goes twelve meters (2.4 times the distance) Finding how much to wind the car was our biggest problem, because the spring stretched every time we used it, making it difficult to pinpoint a location to wind it up to. Immediately after building the car, winding it up 1.4 feet brought it five meters. Now we need to wind it just over two meters.
Concepts
Speed: the amount of distance an object covers in a given amount of time.
Velocity: speed with a direction. Speed and velocity are both calculated by dividing distance and time.
Acceleration the rate of change in an object's motion. It is calculated by dividing the change in velocity and the change in time.
Potential energy: 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.
Kinetic energy: how much energy an object has due to motion. It is calculated by multiplying 1/2 mass and velocity squared. f
Graphs
In this project we wanted to design, build, and present an idea for a hybrid vehicle that transfers stored potential energy into kinetic energy. We need to build a car that goes five meters carrying a mass of 250 grams or 100 pennies. We also had to make a presentation on what we did and how cost efficient our final car was.
A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that utilizes more than one form of energy to achieve motion. In theory, that means a hybrid will have a traditional internal-combustion engine and a fuel tank, as well as one or more electric motors and a battery pack. The hybrid we made runs off simple machines, using a spring’s potential energy to turn the wheel’s axel.
Creating Ideas
We started this project by brainstorming what we could do to achieve this task. We initially decided to start by building a frame that could use any kind of potential to power the car, and then we could decide what method we wanted to use that would be most efficient to power the car. In the end, we decided to use spring potential energy to power our car because it seemed the easiest to design and build, the consistently reliable method, and we didn't want to use batteries or motors because that already exists and is not very energy efficient nor is it very creative.
Building Our Car
After deciding what method we were going to use, we looked at what materials we had and began to build the frame. we started with a bicycle wheel, and two pieces of wood and went from there. As soon as we had the frame finished, we started the actual spring part by wrapping string around the axle and attaching it to three springs. We attached the springs by weaving their coils together. After building the car, we needed to face he problem of getting the car to go exactly five meters. Our car is used by winding up the back wheel, and when fully wound the car goes twelve meters (2.4 times the distance) Finding how much to wind the car was our biggest problem, because the spring stretched every time we used it, making it difficult to pinpoint a location to wind it up to. Immediately after building the car, winding it up 1.4 feet brought it five meters. Now we need to wind it just over two meters.
Concepts
Speed: the amount of distance an object covers in a given amount of time.
Velocity: speed with a direction. Speed and velocity are both calculated by dividing distance and time.
Acceleration the rate of change in an object's motion. It is calculated by dividing the change in velocity and the change in time.
Potential energy: 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.
Kinetic energy: how much energy an object has due to motion. It is calculated by multiplying 1/2 mass and velocity squared. f
Graphs
Calculations
Reflection
In this project we built a spring-powered hybrid car. I learned a lot about springs and their spring constants. In this project I collaborated well with Cole and Peter, who I have known pretty well before. I think that this was a successful project because of how much we learned and how successful our project actually was. I think that our group worked extremely well together and all of us were very proud of our product.
I think that I need to work on time management, even though my time management was better than creating our Physics of Sports video. Our project was done in time and a little earlier, I believe that we could have not messed around and wandered about the class room and focus more on our work. I also think that we could have practiced our presentation much more and we could have been better prepared for the presentation.
Overall, this was an absolutely great project. I enjoyed it a lot and had a lot of fun doing it. I think that we could have worked harder, but our project turned out extremely good. I think that we did very well and everything worked out very well. This was very different compared to the Rube Goldberg and Physics of Sports video. I enjoyed this project and had a lot of fun. I am very proud of our project.
In this project we built a spring-powered hybrid car. I learned a lot about springs and their spring constants. In this project I collaborated well with Cole and Peter, who I have known pretty well before. I think that this was a successful project because of how much we learned and how successful our project actually was. I think that our group worked extremely well together and all of us were very proud of our product.
I think that I need to work on time management, even though my time management was better than creating our Physics of Sports video. Our project was done in time and a little earlier, I believe that we could have not messed around and wandered about the class room and focus more on our work. I also think that we could have practiced our presentation much more and we could have been better prepared for the presentation.
Overall, this was an absolutely great project. I enjoyed it a lot and had a lot of fun doing it. I think that we could have worked harder, but our project turned out extremely good. I think that we did very well and everything worked out very well. This was very different compared to the Rube Goldberg and Physics of Sports video. I enjoyed this project and had a lot of fun. I am very proud of our project.