Discussion
Discuss results and observations from the preliminary tests.
The observations and results from the preliminary tests shows how the car achieved poorly. It achieved average in the first two trials, scoring 3.2 and 3.7 metres. However, the last 4 trials were atrocious, all below 1 metre. Giving the average a pitiful 2.76 metres. This is mainly because the car wheels weren't stabilised properly, which caused the wheels to lose energy faster. This is because the wheels are wasting energy wobbling side to side, instead of just going straight ahead. This also caused the car to run into the wall repeatedly. Which cut into the distance even more. On two occasions the car rolled sideways of the ramp, because of the severity of the wheel shaking.
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The car, being above the ground, has gravitational potential energy. Which, when placed on the ramp, transforms into kinetic energy. This kinetic energy pushes the car down the ramp, towards the ground and the momentum carries the car forward. The wheels allow it to gain more distance, as using wheels is the most effective way of transporting something. Having only 3 groups of wheels reduces friction compared to having 4 groups of wheels. Another factor is the balloon. As the air being pushed out the balloon creates a force pushing it forward. These factors help the car achieve the distance it reached.
5. Compare the results of the tests complete with both cars.
The tests results for the two cars were incredibly different. As the results of the second car was a lot better than the first one. The lowest score for the first car was only 0.8 metres compared to the remodelled car's 4.7 metres, almost 4 metres further. The furthest the first car made was 3.7 metres whereas the remodelled car achieved 7.2 metres, 3.5 metres further. With the average of the first car being only 2.76 metres and the remodelled car achieving 5.78 metres. This shows that the balloon improved the distance by a massive 3 metres. The remodelled car achieved a much further distance than the original car.
6. Propose future modifications and/or
The reason for minimising the length of the lever arm was to prevent the lever arm from bending and not letting the mousetrap fully release. therefore meaning that if if the mousetrap is not able to fully release meaning that the mousetrap car will travel as far as possible this is explained because as the lever arm was bending there was not enough potential energy building up and as a result the car would not travel as far.
In this lab, we applied the concepts of velocity,force, acceleration, time, and distance in order to calculate which trial had a higher velocity. We also learned the relationship between each of the factors and how altering one plays a role in the other factors. For example, if we were to apply more force the velocity of the cart would increase, as well as the amount of time it took for the cart to go down the
As the car go down it looses its potential energy because it is not at the same height anymore. As it loses the potential energy it gains kinetic energy. Kinetic energy came along because of its high speed. The mathematical equation for this is initial kinetic energy plus initial potential energy plus external work equals final kinetic energy plus final potential energy. To find work the equation is force times distance. To find power the equation is work divided by time.
The objective of the lab was to program a vehicle to continuously drive in a one meter square. The square was to be completed in less than 20 seconds, and only the wheel encoder could be used to navigate the vehicle. All of this was done by using the Arduino software tool and the Redbot library to create a program that would satisfy the given lab requirements.
Next, the independent variable was the sail car and shed car. The speed acceleration was the dependent variable. The constants marble distance of photogate the angel of the track.
The purpose of this laboratory experiment is to construct a mousetrap vehicle. The vehicle needed to go travel five meters. My partner and I build a mousetrap car that obtain a two-axle vehicle with four CDs making the produce optimum acceleration and travel.
We were given groups to design and make a mousetrap powered car that will roll as far as possible. This will be measured and be put into a graph. We will make three modifications to our mousetrap car over the course of the experiment. We have a variety of different materials, including plastic, wooden wheels and a dowel, screws, mousetrap, blue tack and a piece of string. Forces were acting in a negative way and a positive way on the car. Gravity was pulling the car down to the ground. Uplift was pushing up upon the car against gravity. Drag was also known as friction, holding back the car while it was moving. Thrust was in the cars favour, pushing forward against the force drag. There were also many forms of energy being used and being wasted like heat and sound energy. Potential energy was stored in the mousetrap, propelling itself forward. Kinetic energy was also demonstrated when the car started to roll.
At 1 second, the mousetrap car was traveling at a speed of 3.2m/s and as the mousetrap car moved down the track, at 5 seconds, the mousetrap car was traveling at a speed of only .98 m/s. The difference between the speed at 1 second (3.2 m/s) and 5 (.98 m/s) seconds was 2.22 m/s, the speed of the mousetrap car decreased 2.2 m/s as the car moved down the track. If I would’ve done this experiment at home, I would’ve improved it by letting one group go at a time because the noise from the other groups around the room interfered with our data once or twice. An experimental error that occurred during the lab was that once, the line on the graph increased at a smaller rate than the other trials. This was because we released the mousetrap car too early and because the car was father away from the motion detector at the start the motion detector picked up the car’s movement from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. Extension suggestions I have for a new experiment is, I would extend the trials so we would stop recording the positon the mousetrap car when the mousetrap would stay completely
The aim of the experiment is to examine how the acceleration of the car differs when the angle of inclination of the ramp is amplified and to record and analyse findings.
The mousetrap car, Versace, was tested multiple times to test how far it went. When constructing the car, the group members had different ideas, but all ideas were put into the construction of the car. The car was tested with CDs as wheels and then paper plates as wheels. Each time, when testing the car, the axle gearing had different measurements and distances. The group had finally gotten the best distance on the car. The group was also able to find the kinetic energy of the boat. Then the data from the tests were used to find the efficiency of the car. Overall, the car did very well.
The balloon powered race car will be powered by the balloon. The balloon will be blown into and the straw will be the source of the air going into the balloon and then pinched so there is no release of air, then release the air, measure the distance and speed of the car when air is released. This uses the three Newton laws and they are when an object is at rest it stays at rest and an object is in motion it stays in motion in a straight line at constant speed unless acted upon by an unbalanced force, the next is the acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the force applied, the last is every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The background research had talked about different types and sizes of wheel and the distance in can cover in a certain amount of time.
How does the incline of the ramp effect the time it takes for a car to go down a ramp?
The toy has uses two main energies, Kinetic and Potential. Potential energy is made by the pulling back of the car. Kinetic is made when after the car is
The average driver doesn’t think about what keeps their car moving or what keeps them on the road, but that’s because they don’t have to. The average driver doesn’t have to worry about having enough downforce to keep them on the road or if they will reach the adhesive limit of their car’s tires around a turn. These are the things are the car designers, professional drivers, racing pit crews, serious sports car owners, and physicist think about. Physics are an important part of every sports and racing car design. The stylish curves and ground effects on sports cars are usually there not just for form but function as well allowing you to go speeds over 140 mph in most serious sports cars and remain on the road and in