Our project was to create a prototype hybrid car for the Nissan design contest. There were 3 requirements that we needed to satisfy, 1) that the car travel 5 meters, 2) the overall cost be low and maintenance be cost efficient, and 3) the car must use some sort of non-fossil fuel, non-electrical energy.
In the end, we developed the "Duck Truck". A car was designed using rolls of Duck tape, drinking straws and a rubber band. Our team members included Lara (Duck Car designer), Eva (Car Builder), Alex (Master Tester), and myself, Justin (Supplies Collector). The Duct Truck successfully went 5 full meters and was cost efficient.
The team decided to use rubber bands for the propulsion. Because rubber bands do not generate a lot of power, we went with a dune buggy design. That meant the frame had to be built close to the ground, be light and have large wheels. In building the car we used numerous units and concepts such as potential energy, kinetic energy, thermal energy, acceleration, and velocity.
Potential Energy: PE=mgh (m=mass g=force due to gravity h=height). We used potential energy to show how much energy was stored in the car. Kinetic energy: KE=.5mv*2 (m=mass v=velocity). We used Kinetic energy to show the conversion of potential to kinetic energy. Acceleration: a=f/m (f=force m=mass). Acceleration was used to show how much our car sped up and slowed down. Velocity: v =d/t (d=distance t=time). Velocity was used in one of our graphs to show the speed of the car as it went the 5 meters.
Potential, thermal, and kinetic energy were used to chart the energy stored in and used by the Duck Truck. We also used velocity and acceleration to graph the performance of the car.
Although the Duck Truck performed as we had hoped, over the course of the project I realized that our group could have done some things better. First, we could have come up with some more ideas to make our car more effective. Even though our car traveled the required 5 meters, it didn't do it in a straight line. Perhaps with a different design it would have been more stable and traveled more efficiently. Second, we could have put more time into making the presentation. We did not use the 5X3 format which resulted in our presentation being too long and not as concise. We lost our audience. In my previous projects, we barely had enough time to finish because the team sat around and didn't come to decision, and no one took the lead. My goals for this project was to ensure the team stayed on task and to take a leadership role.