Some of the concepts that we learned about were kinetic energy, and types of levers, and how they work, and how you can change the length of the lever to change how much force is applied over a certain distance. I also learned about the wheel to axle ratio, and how you can manipulate it to increase acceleration or efficiency.
Learning goals for this project were mainly to understand the use of a few basic machines, like the wheel and axle, including wheel to axle ratio, and the basics of how to use levers.
For my design I decided to use records for the wheels as they would provide more distance per rotation of the axle. As for the body itself, we tried to make it small and lightweight so less force is needed to move it. We also put the mousetrap on the side so that the lever is directly over the rear axle. Our car was able to travel a maximum of 45 feet on our best trial.
As for positive feedback, we learned that shorter levers worked better on this particular design, as we needed more force in order turn the larger, heavier wheels.
The resources of technology were materials, for the record wheels, the plywood chassis, the mousetrap, the lever and zip ties, the CDs, and the mousetrap itself. Time, we had about 3 weeks to research and build our car. People, we all had a group of 2 people so that the work could be split up. Tools, we used a lot of different tools like band saws, scroll saws, and hacksaws.
One thing that we had to overcome was trying to get the wheels lined up correctly, so that the the vehicle will move forward straight.
I learned a lot from this challenged, but most of what I learned related to being able to get the most out of the bit of kinetic energy that we had built up in the spring. Such and using large wheels to get a greater distance per rotation, and using the lever to maximize force.
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