Third Law Cars (Jake Dickerman)

Author(s)

Jake Dickerman, Grant CPDA Magnet

NGSS Engineering Standards

The Engineering Process

PROBLEM - How do you get a message across the room?

DESIGN - Students need to get a note from one side of the room to the other. They are asked to get an object as far across the room as possible as quickly as possible. Students are encouraged to use cardboard, dowels, CDs, balloons, straws, and tape.

OPTIMIZATION - The project takes place over multiple days. Each day, students are asked to revise, rebuild, and retest. The project leads up to a race where students are trying to get their object to move as far as possible as quickly as they can.

Materials needed

Blank CDs

Cardboard

Wooden Dowels

Balloons

Straws

Lots and lots of tape

Group tracking form

Procedure

Day 1:

• Students are given a brief overview of Newton's Laws of Motion (see this fantastic visualization lesson) and then presented with the essential problem - how do you get an object across the room?

• Students work in groups of three or four

• All students are tasked with creating an initial design

• Groups must come up with a group design together

Day 2:

• Students build their first designs.

• Testing

• Students are then asked to determine what works and doesn't work about their designs

• Revise designs

Day 3:

• Repeat Day 2

• This can be done as many times as desired

Final Day:

• Students do their final fidgets on the newton car.

• Head to head battle for supremacy.

Questions

• Describe three types of changes that could make your car go further.

• A catapult is put onto a set of wheels. The catapult fires to the right. Which direction will the catapult move?

Movies

References

Provide links to relevant websites.