Fire Away!/ Alternative Energy Vehicle
Description
Fire Away!
Our group's amount of work fluctuated day to day. Our group was severely behind from the very beginning. On the first day of building, there was a limited amount of drills. Us and one other group got unlucky and weren't able to acquire a drill. But the second day, we got a drill in the beginning and were able to start our work. We were able to construct the main pieces of our project. And on the third day, we were able to finish.
Alternative Energy Vehicle
Our Vehicle build process started much smoother than the other project. We were able to get started right away and had almost finished our car on the first day we worked on it. The second day went just as smooth, as we were able to finish our car.
Then we started to run into major issues. The first issue was that our rear axle kept breaking. The second one was that our car was not going nearly as far, as it would only go 1 meter. So on our second to last project day, we changed the body into a small piece of long wood that made the car much lighter. Once we did this, the axles stopped breaking and our car doubled its old distance. But it still only went 2 meters. We asked Mr. Williams for help as it was our last day in class and we had not even started our calculations yet. He told us just to move our rubber band holding nail further away from the axle and our car immediately went 5 meters.
Calculations (Alternative Energy Vehicle)
Spring Potential Energy
Our average potential energy was .81215 J.
Here is our Potential energy at each meter.
0. 2.78998618
- 1.3348
- 0.48096454
- 0.213762016
- 0.053440504
Kinetic Energy
Our average Kinetic energy was .24318 J.
Here is our Kinetic energy at each meter
- 0.20216
- 0.546875
- 0.35
- 0.28919835
- 0.070875
Total Energy
The total energy always stayed the same since you cannot create or destroy matter. Our total energy was 2.78998618 J.
Rotational Inertia
All of our original energy was put into rotational inertia as our machine ran from the axle being spun. But most of this energy did not stay as rotational inertia because our wheels had good grip. The wheels grip allowed the wheels rotational inertia to be transferred into kinetic energy. The spin pushed on the body of the car, causing it to move forward.
Thermal Energy
All of our energy was eventually converted to thermal energy. This is why the car stops. Our average thermal energy was 1.7346 J.
Here is our Thermal energy at each mark.
- 1.25302618
- 1.76214664
- 2.226224164
- 2.447347326
- 2.71911118
Distance Vs. Time
Our actual distance over time is the thicker line while our average distance over time is the thin line
Velocity Vs. Time
Our actual velocity over time is the green line while our average velocity over time is the blue line
Reflection
2 Things I Learned
One thing I learned about myself is that I can advocate for me and my group. When our car did not work, we had to ask a teacher for help. I learned that I can stand up for our group and ask.
Another thing I learned is that I can work well under pressure. We were running out of time on our project and were still able to finish it even though we were 3 days behind.
2 Things To Work On
The first thing I need to work on is making sure our project will work before we make a big commitment (Like the body of our car).
The second thing I need to work on communication with my group. One of our group members kept wondering off and I need to improve on communicating to them that they need to stay on task.