The Duck Truck
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For our third project of the year, we made hybrid cars. The rules for the hybrid car was that it had to travel five meters, and not require a gas engine. For our project, we made "The Duck Truck." The name, "Duck Truck," comes from the wheels of the car. which were made out of "Duck Tape" brand duct tape. The car consists of two wood boards, rubber bands, straws, and wooden skewers. It was very cost efficient because it does not require gas, and it is made out of cheap materials, which most people already have at home. It is also very environmentally friendly. It runs on elastic energy, which is powered by the rubber band, and does not run on gasoline. which is very bad for the environment. To make the car go, wrap the rubber band around the axle about ten times, then let go. The car should go five meters most of the time.
Concepts (you can see all of the calculations in the slideshow)
For this project, we focused mostly on energy. We calculated the potential energy, kinetic energy, thermal energy, and the total energy of our car.
To find the potential energy (the amount of energy stored in an object), we used the formula PE=1/2kx^2
To find the kinetic energy(energy in motion), we used the equation KE=1/2mv^2
Thermal energy is the amount of energy lost to friction
In addition to finding the energies to the car, we also found the velocity of the car.
To find the velocity, we used the formula V=d/t
To find the acceleration, we used the formula A=F/m
To find the potential energy (the amount of energy stored in an object), we used the formula PE=1/2kx^2
To find the kinetic energy(energy in motion), we used the equation KE=1/2mv^2
Thermal energy is the amount of energy lost to friction
In addition to finding the energies to the car, we also found the velocity of the car.
To find the velocity, we used the formula V=d/t
To find the acceleration, we used the formula A=F/m
Reflection
While this project was very challenging, it was fun and interesting. I liked my group and how well we worked together. While we all worked together, nobody solely took the leadership role. We all contributed and led each other. The first few days, we designed and built our car. Then we tested it several times. After about twenty tries of it traveling two of the required five meters, we started to tweak our to make it travel further. When the tweaking did not help, we were thinking about redesigning our whole car, but we decided it was too late to start over, so we tried moving the screw that held the rubber band into a different spot, and we tried a different rubber band, it went about four meters. So we kept testing and testing until it reached five meters! After it reached five meters for the first time, it consistently went five meters. It was very exciting! We then started to work on the presentation. Finding the calculations was really hard, so we had to redo it a few times. I learned a lot about elastic energy and many other concepts during this project. One thing I improved on this project was work ethic and productivity. In past projects, I tended to get sidetracked and distracted very easily, but during this project, I really worked on improving and significantly raised the amount of work I contributed to my group. I really enjoyed the project and my group and I am looking forward to the next project.