Manual for Castle Park Motor Company Engineers

First Edition

The Balloon CarFall 2014

1 This section outlines the purpose, background, and rules of the project.

Protocol

Rules

1. Working in pairs, build a car in class. Parts may be prepared or brought in, but all construction is done in class.

2. Before building, submit detailed blueprints/designs for approval.

3. The car will be powered by ONE 9-12” balloon. The boss will only provide 2 balloons: once at the beginning of trails and once on race day.

4. You can build your car out of any of the materials on the list. Request for additional materials can be submitted for approval with a Materials Request Form.

5. The car must have at least three wheels. (Wheels are anything that is round, but cannot be from something designed to be a wheel (i.e., toy car.)

6. The car may not leave the ground

2

PurposeThe purpose of this project is to conduct an investigation to un-derstand of Newton’s Laws of Motion, engineer a car that is powered by a balloon, and communicate your findings in a sci-entific report.

BackgroundFederal regulations require all vehicles be fuel efficient to 5 me-ters per ballon by November 2014. You are an engineer at Cas-tle Park Motor Company. Your job is to design, test, and present a vehicle that meets requirements by the project deadline.

Performance Objectives1. Construct a car powered by a balloon that demonstrates

Newton’s Laws of Motion

2. Explain how forces, including friction, act on your car

3. Calculate and graph the velocity and acceleration of your car

4. Write a scientific paper that explains the design features of the balloon car

Section 1

Protocol

3

Build a Balloon CarYour car must follow all the rules on the previous page.

It must travel at least 5 meters.

You must have your blueprints approved prior to building.

Your will conduct three time trials to gather data on velocity, ac-celeration, and force. Modifications ARE allowed (and re-quired!) after each trial.

Balloon Car DerbyAfter trials are compete, successful balloon cars will compete against each other in the following categories:

! Best Looking Car

! Fastest Car

! Farthest Distance Traveled

Write a Scientific ReportWrite a double-spaced, 12 pt font report on your balloon car fol-lowing the Framework in Chapter 2.

The report will be graded according to the rubric in Chapter 3.

Collaborate With a PartnerYou will work with a partner on your balloon car. You will evaluate your partner on how well they contributed to the pro-ject at the end, so make sure you are sharing the work.

Key VocabularyConsider these terms as you conduct the investigation and write your report.

inertia acceleration speed

force balanced net force

mass unbalanced friction

Section 2

Work Product & Goals

4

These Are The Approved Materials

Cardboard! ! Rubber bands! ! Foil

Styrofoam! ! Wood! ! ! ! Balloons

Rods! ! ! Spools! ! ! ! Straws

Paper! ! ! String! ! ! ! Plastic

Tape! ! ! Legos! ! ! ! Glue

Cups! ! ! CD! ! ! ! ! Clay

5

But I Want More!If you want to request materials that are not on this list, you must submit a Materials Request.

Be prepared to justify WHY you need more materials!

Section 3

Material List

2 This chapter outlines all the parts required in your Scientific Report.

Framework

Ask Yourself This Question:

1. What design will help my balloon car meet the requirements of the project?

7

TaskUsing the question to the left and the Materials List in Chapter 1.3:

1. Design a blueprint for your car.

2. Write a description of your blueprint, including why you chose this design.

Here is one possible sentence starter:

We decided to design our car this way because...

Section 1

Part 1: Problem/Question

Consider The Following First:

1. What key ideas do you need to know about to design a balloon car that meets the requirements?

8

TaskWrite a hypothesis using the following sentence frame to guide you (it doesn’t have to be exact). REMEMBER: A hypothesis is a testable statement that you can design an experiment around!

If we build the car _____ (list specific design features), then it will travel 5 meters because _____ (support with theory such as Newton’s Laws, friction, forces, etc.)

Section 2

Part II: Hypothesis

Consider These Questions:

1. What will you do to test your hypothesis?

2. How will you select your materials and make your design based on your hypothesis?

9

Task1. Describe the steps you are going to take to test your hy-pothesis.

2. Justify why you chose your materials and design based on your hypothesis.

Here are a few sentence starters to consider:

We chose to build our car this way because....

The materials we used to make our car will...

We decided to create our car this way because...

Section 3

Part III: Design Experiment

Follow These Steps

1. Conduct three trials in class to test your balloon car

2. Make modifications to your balloon car after each trial to help it perform better

10

Task1. Create a data table to track time, distance, and speed for

each trial.

2. Take pictures of your balloon car before each trial.

3. After each time trial, document (words and pictures) what changes or modifications you made to your balloon car to im-prove its performance.

Section 5

Part IV: Conduct Experiment

For Each Time Trial:

1. Look at your data table for distance, time, and speed

2. Construct graph a speed vs. time graph

11

Task1. Using your data table, create a speed vs. time graph for

each trial. Use a different color for each trial

2. Under your graph, write answers to these questions:

a. Where was your balloon car at constant speed?

b. Where was your balloon car accelerating?

c. Where was your balloon car decelerating?

d. What does the slope of your line indicate?

Section 5

Part V: Analyze Data

Consider The Following Questions:

1. Was your hypothesis valid? Why or why not?

2. What were the changes you made through the testing and production phases?

3. How was Newton’s 1st Law displayed in your car?

4. How was Newton’s 2nd Law displayed in your car?

5. What knowledge/experience did you gain from this process?

12

TaskWrite a conclusion that answers all the of the questions to the left.

Here are some sentence starters to consider:

In the beginning of design I thought that (insert hypothesis). Now I think...

My evidence that my hypothesis was valid/invalid was... (refer to data)...

We changed our design after Trial (#) because...

I showed Newton’s 1st/2nd Law with my balloon car by...

We designed our car with our knowledge of Newton’s __ Law by...

The main purpose of this project was...

One way this project applies elsewhere in life is...

I still have questions about....

I was surprised to learn that...

Section 6

PART VI: Conclusion

3 This chapter contains the rubric for peer review and teacher review.

Grading Criteria

You Will Be Graded By

Your Partner On:

1. Work Ethic

2. Design

3. Testing & Production

4. Report

14

Section 1

Peer Review

Your Teacher Will Grade

You On The Following:

1. Work Ethic

2. Design

3. Testing & Production

4. Report

15

Section 2

Teacher Review