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Process of Making The Alternative Energy Vehicle
Process of Making The Alternative Energy Vehicle
Hyundai Motor Company is asking designers to create a vehicle that uses alternative energy sources. We were tasked with creating one of these vehicles ourselves. My group decided to use spring potential energy from rubber bands to power up our car in an eco-friendly way. Our vehicle will be traveling on a smooth linoleum floor. Our vehicle had to travel safely and be able to transport 2 passengers (rolls of 50 pennies) with a total mass of 250 grams a length of 5 meters. The most important goal was to get our vehicle as close as possible to travel a distance of five meters. The main things we took into consideration when building our car was accounting for friction.
Our first prototype of our car had some flaws that effected the vehicle from moving. In the begging our car wasn't sturdy because we only had four CD discs. So we improved our car by tapping Two more CD discs to each wheel to create friction on the wheels. Then we added a zip tie to the axle so the rubber band would grip onto the axle as it unwinded. We also made a three rubber band chain instead of one rubber band connecting from the axle to the nail. We did this so we could wind up the car nine times which made the vehicle travel and stop right at five meters.
Content
Content
Spring Potential Energy: Spring potential energy Is energy stored in the stretch or compression of an object. The equation used to find spring potential energy is PE spring= 1/2kx^2. The spring potential energy decreases every meter for our car because every meter the rubber band unwinds twice.
Kinetic Energy: Kinetic energy is energy due to motion. The equation use to calculate this is KE= 1/2mv^2. Our kinetic energy almost stayed at a constant rate because
Total Energy: Total amount of energy. The equation used to find this is total=PE+KE+TE. We used this in our project to find how much total energy our car had.
Thermal Energy: Thermal energy is energy lost to heat. The equation used to calculate this is TE=total E-PE-KE. We subtracted the KE from PE because the PE that did not transfer to KE transferred to thermal energy.
Rotational Inertia: Since our wheels are CD Discs they have less mass on the outside and more mass in the middle causing the wheels to have less rotational inertia. Having less rotational inertia means it is easier for the wheels to spin and it's easier for the vehicle to travel five meters.
Gravitational Potential Energy: Is the energy an object has due to its position at a height or in a gravitational field. Since we used spring potential energy for our vehicle we did not use gravitational potential energy.
Momentum: The amount of "oomph" an object has. It is the quantity of motion an object has. How hard is it to stop the object.
Slide Show
Slide Show
Video
Video
IMG_1317.movReflection
Reflection
The two C's I did well on was being a conscientious learner and having good collaboration skills. I was the leader for the group and made sure that I took initiative. As the leader I made sure we got things done in time and always made sure we were on task in order to have good time management. I advocated my ideas to to the group and made sure my idea was heard. I was very productive and focused on making our vehicle the best it can be. For the group I made out a plan that involved the work ethic we were going to set for this project. I think I did a good job on figuring out how to do the calculations and then teach and show the rest of my group how to do it. This was the best work ethic because we accomplished a lot by splitting the work up.
The two c's I did poorly on were communication and character. I did not listen to my teammates ideas and instead decided what we were going to do. I had trouble listening to them because I was so focused on what I was working on. Also half the time I thought their ideas were not going to be good. I showed little respect and my attitude was not the best. Next time I need to have more empathy for my teammates feelings. I came across as bossy and that was not my intention. In the next project, I will have to work on these skills to become a better teammate.
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