Balloon Car Rocket Project

Erin B.Trevor S. Emily B.Hour 2

Introduction

• Distance Traveled: 2.5 meters• Mass: 39.7 grams• Special Features: The car has a 3 straw nozzle for enhanced acceleration.• Design Strategy: We used a water bottle for a

lightweight design. We also had a straw as a nozzle because then we could direct the airflow. By directing the airflow, our car could achieve maximum distance and speed.

Introduction: Group RolesEmily: • brought our car’s wheels (Vitamin Water caps) and nozzle (straws)• contributed by devoting her class time and bringing it home for the

weekend to finish building and testing the car• was the RecorderErin:• brought the tape and rubber bands to put our car together. • also our project manager because she helped out in every aspect to

reach optimal performance. • put together the powerpoint once everyone added their information

to Google DocsTrevor: • brought in the water bottle and axles (bamboo skewers). • thought of the car design, which gives him the Engineer role. • carried out the design plan with the group for help to correct errors

and enhance the car design if needed

ResultsThe 1st experiment we did was to figure out how to make our current nozzle (3 straws) work. At first, we tried to keep the balloon on the nozzle with 1 rubber band, but the air came out of the balloon when I blew. Next, we tried putting on a couple of rubber bands, and the balloon was able to be blown up, which made the car move.

Results

Our next experiment was to figure out what wheels helped the car to move quickly. We tried using bottle caps from sparkling water because there weren’t many ridges on it, so we thought that there would be less friction. The wheels didn’t work as well as we’d hoped, so we tried Vitamin Water caps next. They had tiny ridges, which would decrease the amount of friction between the car and the floor. The wheels ended up working very well, and the car could move quickly.

Research• Our group watched this video to get more

information on Newton’s 3 Laws. We used the information from this video and applied it to our car.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH48Lc7wq0U&feature=player_detailpage

• We also used this video to help us better understand Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFI29NoG-Ko

Newton’s 1st Law• definition: An object at rest stays

at rest unless acted upon by a force.

• Any object with acceleration requires a force

• At the start, our car was at rest. It didn’t move until it was acted upon by the air blowing out of the balloon. The air blowing out is the unbalanced force acting upon it.

These are the straws we used to help the car move.

Newton’s 2nd Law• the force needed to accelerate an

object equals the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration

• it will have more acceleration if its mass is less

• We made sure that our car didn’t have a lot of mass so that there would be less force acting on it and it would have more acceleration.

The mass of this car greatly affected the distance of this car.

Newton’s 3rd Law

• Definition: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

• This law was very important to our car. The air blew out of the balloon, causing the car to go in the opposite direction

The straws helped push the air out of the balloon, making the car move in the opposite direction.