- The Rat Attack
In this STEM project we had eight days to build an alternative energy car that had to carry 250 grams of mass exactly five meters. The tricky part of this was we could not use chemicals nor nuclear energy. We also could not push the car, use a remote control, nor modify the track. Then after making the car we had to come up with performance graphs showing the potential, kinetic, thermal, and total energy of our car.
For our hybrid car our group decided to build a mousetrap car. We made this by attaching a string to the extended arm of the mousetrap, then wrapping that same string around the front axle. As the mouse trap snaps up and the arm moves backward, the string undos, turning the axle, causing the wheels to move. The main part of the car is made from wood and from a mousetrap. The wheel structure of the car was built with k'nex in which our gracious partern let us use. When we were done building this car it went exactly 5 meters.
For our hybrid car our group decided to build a mousetrap car. We made this by attaching a string to the extended arm of the mousetrap, then wrapping that same string around the front axle. As the mouse trap snaps up and the arm moves backward, the string undos, turning the axle, causing the wheels to move. The main part of the car is made from wood and from a mousetrap. The wheel structure of the car was built with k'nex in which our gracious partern let us use. When we were done building this car it went exactly 5 meters.
Physics Concepts:
Spring Potential Energy: energy stored by the compression or expansion of a spring. To find this we used PE =1/2 times Spring Constant times x squared. X represents the distance moved by the spring.
Potential Energy :The amount of energy an object has due to its height or position in a gravitational pull. The equation for it is PE=mass x gravity x height.
Kinetic Energy (KE): The amount of energy an object has due to it's motion. The equation for Kinetic Energy is KE=1/2 x mass x velocity squared.
Spring Constant (k): a measure of how easily a spring is compresses and expanded. To find this we used Spring Constant=Force/Distance.
Thermal Energy:the amount of energy an object has due to its heat
Total Energy: the total amount of energy an object contains. It includes kinetic, potential, and thermal energy in a moving object.
Power: the rate of doing work or the amount of energy used per unit time.
Distance vs Time: In our graph you can see that the distance over time remains relatively the same. This shows that the car remains at a relatively same speed. It starts at 0, but grows about 1.5 meters every 3 meters throughout the graph. It also shows that it takes about 12 seconds for are car to go 5 meters.
Potential Energy :The amount of energy an object has due to its height or position in a gravitational pull. The equation for it is PE=mass x gravity x height.
Kinetic Energy (KE): The amount of energy an object has due to it's motion. The equation for Kinetic Energy is KE=1/2 x mass x velocity squared.
Spring Constant (k): a measure of how easily a spring is compresses and expanded. To find this we used Spring Constant=Force/Distance.
Thermal Energy:the amount of energy an object has due to its heat
Total Energy: the total amount of energy an object contains. It includes kinetic, potential, and thermal energy in a moving object.
Power: the rate of doing work or the amount of energy used per unit time.
Distance vs Time: In our graph you can see that the distance over time remains relatively the same. This shows that the car remains at a relatively same speed. It starts at 0, but grows about 1.5 meters every 3 meters throughout the graph. It also shows that it takes about 12 seconds for are car to go 5 meters.
Reflection:
This project went very well. At first , though, figuring out what we wanted to do went poorly It took us a couple of days to decide what we wanted to do. After that it took us a couple of trys to get it to work. Other then that we worked great together all contributing more than one thing to the project. We even finished early allowing us sometime to decorate and enhance its appearance. Later, we realized that the project stopped working because the spring was wearing out. So we all got together and brainstormed until one of us thought of adding rubber bands to it, to help the mousetrap continue its motion. Once that we were done we worked on our presentation and presented it to our class.
Some things I did well in this project was I had a better attitude and I was more optimistic. When the car wasn't properly functioning on the last days, I didn't freak out and get stressed like the other projects. I just took a deep breathe and stayed calm throughout that time until we solved the problem. I also wasn't controlling or possessive of the project. Usually, I like things a certain way and that way may not be always right. In this project, I wasn't overbearing, in fact, I was pretty lose on what we were going to build our car out of and how we were going to get it to go 5 meters.
Some items I will continue to work on is my work production. In this project, I was getting sidetracked on the enhancing the look of the project more than getting it to work. I wanted it to look nice, so I spend a little to much time on it, but thankfully I did not spend all my time on it. Next time I will focus on the decorations for after we get it working. Another item I could work on is understanding what we were building before we actually built it. When we first started I had no clue how it worked so when it came to ideas on how to build it, I had a lot less. Eventually, I understood how it worked and why, but next time I should figure out how to do my project before I start working on it.
Some things I did well in this project was I had a better attitude and I was more optimistic. When the car wasn't properly functioning on the last days, I didn't freak out and get stressed like the other projects. I just took a deep breathe and stayed calm throughout that time until we solved the problem. I also wasn't controlling or possessive of the project. Usually, I like things a certain way and that way may not be always right. In this project, I wasn't overbearing, in fact, I was pretty lose on what we were going to build our car out of and how we were going to get it to go 5 meters.
Some items I will continue to work on is my work production. In this project, I was getting sidetracked on the enhancing the look of the project more than getting it to work. I wanted it to look nice, so I spend a little to much time on it, but thankfully I did not spend all my time on it. Next time I will focus on the decorations for after we get it working. Another item I could work on is understanding what we were building before we actually built it. When we first started I had no clue how it worked so when it came to ideas on how to build it, I had a lot less. Eventually, I understood how it worked and why, but next time I should figure out how to do my project before I start working on it.