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Overview of Fire Away Project
Overview of Fire Away Project
In this project, we had several days to create a catapult that went as far as possible. The catapult couldn't exceed 1 meter in any direction, and it had to include a swinging axle, an arm, and two legs.
Our Design
Our Design
Our trebuchet had a thick base, two wooden legs, and a long & skinny arm. We had a metal pole acting as an axle. The arm had a nail sticking out of one end to hold our projectile, and a hook for the rubber bands to attach to at the other end. On our base, we attached another hook for the rubber bands to attach to. We used six rubber bands to connect our arm to the base.
Overview of Alternate Energy Vehicle Project:
Overview of Alternate Energy Vehicle Project:
In this project, we were to design a car that was able to go as close to 5 meters as possible quickly. It had to use an alternate energy source to travel, meaning anything other than chemical or nuclear. It also had to carry two penny rolls securely. The penny rolls acted as passengers. After testing and refining our design, we had to advertise our car in a slideshow, shown to the left.
Our Design:
Our Design:
Our design went through many modifications. Our original idea was to build a 3 wheeled car that ran on solar power. However, as we worked on this idea more, it became evident how difficult it would be for the car to meet the requirements. When there was an unexpected complication regarding the solar panel's arrival, we had to quickly come up with a completely new plan. We got teacher approval to use a battery for our energy source, which did go against the original requirements. The one condition to that exception was that we needed to clearly explain in our slideshow how the solar panel would be worked. Following this condition, we created a car made out of floral foam shaped in a triangle. We used two wheels made for rough terrain, and 1 back wheel that was smooth. On top, we used skewers to hold up the passengers. In the middle of the foam, we carved out an area for the equipment that would be necessary for both a battery operated car & a solar powered car. This equipment included wires, an Arduino board, and a port for the battery (or a solar panel) to be connected into. We also added an infrared sensor to increase accuracy in its drive.
Content for Fire Away & Alternate Energy Vehicle
Content for Fire Away & Alternate Energy Vehicle
- Spring Potential Energy: When the 6 rubber bands used in our catapult design were pulled taut, they had a spring potential energy of 117.7J. The equation we used was PEspring=1/2kx2. K was the spring constant, which we calculated to be 980 N/M. The spring potential energy started in the rubber bands, then was transferred kinetic energy into the arm, and finally the projectile as it was launched.
- Gravitational Potential Energy: Our catapult included gravitational potential energy when the catapult was about to launch the projectile. The projectile hung by a string from a nail, and as it was being launched, the gravitational potential energy increased. As it was launched, that potential energy changed to kinetic energy.
- Kinetic Energy: When our projectile was in the air after being launched by our catapult, we found that it had a kinetic energy of 5.3 joules. The equation we used to find the kinetic energy of the projectile was KE=1/2mv2. We determined that most of the potential energy was going to other factors of the interaction.
- Total Energy: For our alternate energy vehicle, our total velocity didn't change the entire time. It was kept at around 8.66 Joules of energy. We went through a long process to convert the information we had to come out to a unit of energy. We looked up the necessary information regarding our materials on the internet and consulted our teachers to determine how to do this.
- Thermal Energy: For our alternate energy vehicle, we found the thermal energy, we subtracted the potential energy & the kinetic energy from the total energy. This amount changed as our vehicle continued to drive, because the car produces a fair amount of heat as it moves. For our catapult, the thermal energy was present in the friction that occurred between the rubber bands, arm, and projectile as it was launched.
Reflection:
Reflection:
Fire Away: Two things I think I did well in this project was determination & respecting others perspectives. My group didn't have the best catapult, but we were able to constantly make improvements to it until it could go a distance we were satisfied with. There was many differences in perspectives in our group regarding how we should go about completing both projects, and yet we were able to persevere through those to get a final outcome we were all satisfied with. Even though we all had different perspectives, I think I did a good job understanding everyone's opinions and treating them with respect. It was difficult sometimes to come to a compromise, but my group was able to eventually. Two things I think I needed to improve on in this project were leadership and contributing ideas. In this project, we had several natural leaders, so I was able to step back while still contributing more than my share. However, it would have been good practice for me to act as more of a leader, as it is something I need to improve on in general. I also needed to work on sharing my ideas. I did have a few that I shared with the group, but mostly the ideas I shared remained in my head because I didn't think they would work out.
Alternate Energy Vehicle: Two things I think I did well in this project was compromising & perseverance. There were a lot of challenges we faced regarding how each person thought the project should go, and I was able to find a compromise between everyone's decision multiple times. This required me to improve my collaboration skills, as there was a large knowledge gap in our group for some things we were working with, and so oftentimes we couldn't really understand each other's ideas. I was able to persevere with my group through most of the setbacks we encountered. We never gave up at any point, we just kept working with what we had and trying to create a product we were satisfied with. Two things that I needed to improve on in this project were leadership and time management. Although we had a group member who took the position of a leader almost immediately, it ended up not working out as well as we thought. I think I should have been a little stronger in my efforts to turn the project in a direction the rest of the group was content with. I was focused on remaining polite as to not stir up tension in the group, but I think in order to make more progress it was necessary for me to be a little stronger. I also needed to work on time management. Because of all the setbacks, our group did fall decently behind, although we were able to get caught up again. This caused our project to not be the best it could have been if we had thought out our plan more, although I would say it was the best we could do with what we were working with in the end. If we were able to slow it down and give ourselves time to think in the beginning, and then work more efficiently near the end of the project, I think our project could have improved a little bit.
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