Rubber Band Car
Procedure
Use a pencil to trace a circle on the bottom of two paper cups.
Cut out the circles.
Put the bottoms of the cups together so the holes align.
Use the duct tape to secure the cups together at the bases.
Using a pencil or pen, poke holes in the center of plastic cup lids.
Connect 2 thin rubber bands together 3 times. Insert one rubber band halfway through the middle of another, and then tuck one side through the center of itself.
Insert your rubber band chain through the holes in the bottom of the cups.
Feed each end of the rubber band chain through the hole in each lid.
Attach the lids to the cups.
On one side, attach a popsicle stick to the rubber band so it cannot fall back into the cup.
On the other side, insert the rubber band through the middle of 4 washers one at a time.
Get a chopstick or a straw and thread it through the thin rubber band
twist the thin rubber band 20 times around
measure the distance it went.
Repeat 2 times
Repeat all the steps but with a thicker rubber band car with 4 thick rubber bands
Hypothesis
I think the thick rubber band will make it travel faster because it will get tighter than the thin one.
Question
Can a rubber band car with 6 thin rubber bands go faster or one with 2 thick rubber bands?
Conclusion
My date agreed to my question, Can a rubber band car with 6 thin rubber bands go faster or one with 2 thick rubber bands? Because I tested a rubber band car with 2 thick rubber bands and one with 6 thin rubber bands. Although my data agreed with my question it did not agree with my hypothesis I thought the car with the thick rubber bands would go farther but the one with the thin ones did. My data was accurate because I tested it more than once, but I could have tested it more times to get an more accurate answer.
Abstract
Rubber Band Car
The project I have decided to do is a rubber band car. I am trying to figure out if a car with six normal sized rubber bands (Thin) can travel further than a rubber band car with four thicker rubber bands. I chose to do this because I like to build things and test them. I also like to improve them until they are perfect.
In my experiment I built two rubber band cars one with normal sizes rubber bands and one with thicker rubber bands. I built them with two cups with the lid’s, popsicle sticks, duct tape, washers, pencils, and rubber bands. Then after I built my two cars I put a tape measure across my living room to help me measure the distance. I wound each car 30 times around and let it go from behind the tape measure. I measured in inches. I tested it two times each car. Then found my averages.
My averages for each car were pretty reasonable.For my Thick rubber band car it got an average of 194 inches for that car. For the thin rubber band car my first test it got and average of 220 inches. Those are the averages for each car.
What I learned from this project is that size doesn’t matter and that you will always have room for perfection My hypothesis was wrong because I thought the thicker rubber band car would get tighter and go farther. Instead the thinner one went further. I edited my design from the beginning by add info a broken popsicle stick instead of a paper clip. I also added three more washers to decrease friction. I could have done more tests to make it more accurate and I also could have tested the material it went on. I choose to do a rubber band car as my project and it was fun.
Graphs
