ALternative Energy Vehicle
Evidence of work:
The company Hyundai is looking for a way to make their hybrid vehicles more efficient. They want the design to be innovative and environmentally friendly. So, for the Alternative Energy Vehicle Project, our task was to take on the challenge to create an alternative energy vehicle. Our task was to create a vehicle that transfers stored energy (PE) into forward motion (KE). Our design had to be able to carry two rolls of fifty pennies five meters, the pennies mass being around 250 grams.
When the we first started this project, our class had many ideas, some so simple they just might work, others too elaborate or challenging to build. My group’s ideas included a fan powered car, a car with a sail, a ramp, and a balloon powered car. We ended up choosing the balloon powered car, and proceeded to build a car out of cardboard (to make it lighter). We attached the balloons to the vehicle, however, it did not work. We assume this is because of the weight of the pennies, which we forgot to consider when coming up with ideas.
After the balloon powered car did not work as planned, we decided to come up with another idea, and use our last two building days to create it. We decided to make a new car, out of wood this time, and let it roll down a ramp. This uses gravitational energy. Our car goes five meters, however the wheels are crooked, and this makes the car turn to the left every time we test it. After extensive research, we decided to hold the ramp at an angle so that the car would have more room to turn. Unfortunately, it still turns and hits the wall every time. The good thing is, it hits the wall right at five meters if we hold the top of the ramp at 29 inches.
A video of our working project can be seen in our slideshow
Horizontal Velocity
rate of covered distance in a horizontal direction. The equation for horizontal velocity is distance divided by time, and the unit is meters per second. We solved for the velocity of the golf ball.
Potential Energy
The energy an object has due to being at a height or its position in a gravitational field. The unit for PE is joules (J). To solve for it, you need 3 variables: mass, the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s/s), and height. Once you have these variables set and plugged in, you multiply them to find PE.
Kinetic Energy
The energy due to motion. The unit for KE is joules (J), and this concept is closely related to PE because is the energy an object has before it falls, and KE is the energy an object has after it falls, so PE is transferred to KE. To solve for KE, you need mass and velocity, and the equation looks like this: KE=1/2 m (v v), or Kinetic Energy equation one half time mass times velocity squared. Once you plug your real numbers in, you can solve the equation.
Time vs Distance
How much distance (m) is covered in one second.
Gravitational Energy
Gravitational energy was used in this project, but there are no real calculations for gravitational energy, because it is always 9.81 m/s/s. The reason for this is is because the Earth has a downward pull of that exact number, no more or less than 9.81 m/s/s.
Reflection:
This project was definitely challenging. For the first building day I wasn't here, and when I came back I found out our other plans were not efficient and we tried a few more things but it just wouldn't work. And due to the time we had left we just had to stick with our backup plan of using gravitational energy, and using a ramp for our car to go down.
During this project I think I was good at being positive and contributing ideas. I gave a lot of ideas, and I felt a bit like the leader at certain parts of the project, which is good because the last project I wanted to improve my leadership skills. But I do need to work on my time management, I wasn't working very fast with the things I had to do, which did slow our group down at times. I also need to work more on my amount of contribution, last time is contributed a fair amount but this time it was harder for me. Despite that I had a fun time working on this project with my teammates and I learned a lot.