8-31-10

Today we got our materials in and we managed to get our car looking awesome. A spring goes on the side of the wheel and by turning the wheel backwards, setting it down and letting go of the wheel the spring should send the car flying, Unfortanetley this is not currently working, the reason for this not working is newtons third law which states that for every action there is an equal and oppisite reaction, the spring only sends it going a couple inches because the force forward isn't much stronger than the force of the springs recoil.

~Matt

8-30-10

 Today, we did not work on our car. A group member forgot to bring the materials to school from home, so we improvised. All three of us worked on and perfected our bills and found ways to make them better fit the rubric. We also worked on our website. We applied Newton's 3rd law to our pencils so when we pushed down onto our paper, it made marks as the pencil had a greater force than the paper therefore leaving excess graphite behind that we made out into letters, turning into words.

~Tristan

8-27-10

Building two cars, one for each race, is out of the question. we aren't even getting much success out of even one. We might stick with building two but are probabaly only going to make one car for the round track. The second law F=MA might have to do with our failures, the mass is very light due to our materials, the acceleration is obviously not very fast since neither of the cars are moving, this means that we need to increase the force and possibly change the means by which the force is caused. However we are still going to experiment with our current idea for a while to see idf it can become a success.

~ Matt

8-25-10

Today we worked on the two bills we had to make for the rules on race day. We also constructed a prototype's prototype of one of our propulsion systems. Here is how it works: two springs are attached to a wall of cardboard or some such material inside the car, and to the axil of the front wheels. When the car is pulled back, the springs wrap around the axil and build tension. When the car is released, all that tension is also released, moving the car forward. This applies to Newton's third law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, because it is moved forward with the same force it took to pull it back. The prototype's prototype is stationary, so we could not get any speed measurements, but if it was the actual thing, I believe that with the massive amount of energy and lightweight K'nex, it would run at a velocity of about 1mps forward until the springs unwound or it hits the turn, and acceleration would be next to nothing after the initial boost, which would be around .5 mps. I expect the car to make it at least halfway around the track (6 feet) with the springs, and perhaps three more at least with the momentum.

~Tanner

8-26-10

Today we began the construction of our two prototype vehicles. Both are planned to use the spring propulsion system. One follows the blueprints mostly, and the other is almost entirely different with one huge wheel and three smaller ones. I think that the propulsion system will work on both, but as for now we can only roll them. Therefore, our velocity remains in a forward direction but the distance and acceleration vary on how hard we push. When we push them, our arms feel the same force that we are putting into the car, except we don't notice it because the energy despenses into the rest of the body. This again relates to Newton's third law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

~Tanner

8-24-10

We have finished discussing our plans, our car is going to be made with K'nex, they are lightweight and the air will pass right through it making friction in the air or air resistence little to none. magnets can be lined along the track and one on the bottom of the car which will propell the car forward contiuously since it will keep going at a continuous rate meaning it will never stop unless an outer force acts upon it. This means the rat trap car should go around the track multiple times.

~Matt