Saturday, April 24, 2010

Physics-Great Race

My car has only two power sources. I am not done with my car yet, but for the finishing touches I plan to add a a balloon to the top of my car to give it an extra boost. My other power source is plain old gravity. My car demonstrates all the laws of motion. The first law of motion states that an object will remain at rest until acted upon by another force. That other force can be interpreted as my balloon or gravity. At the top of the ramp my car will just start to go down due the force of gravity on it. The second part of the first law states that an object will remain in motion unless acted upon by another force. The force that slows my car down is friction. But the friction in my car will be greater because on side of my car is touching the floor which causes drag. The second law of motion states that force = mass x acceleration. The ramp will provide the ample time to accelerate, but currently I have found nothing to increase the mass. Most likely I will tape a somewhat heavy object to my car to overall increase the acceleration. My car is an example of the third law of motion. My second power source, the balloon, will be facing in the opposite direction of the car and the balloon will blow out air causing a speed boost. The third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In this case my balloon will blow air in the other direction causing my car to go faster in the correct direction. My overall car is done, but I have to add a few adjustments and I will be done with it!

1 comment:

Saffire_Goldstone said...

I don't think you should add the balloon. In the station, it worked, because it was attached to a straw which had a string going through the middle of it. In the car, I predict that the balloon will make the car go in circles. (Just a guess) Good Luck :)