The goal of this project was to build a car that ran on an alternative energy other than gas, that goes 5 meters. As you can see if you scroll down a little, we have made a prototype that not only goes exactly 5m (sorry for lack of footage), but uses the amazing power of... SPRINGS!! Yes, that's what we've done (as well as several other groups *sad face*), to make an efficient rolling machine that comes with speakers (not in picture), safety on the road due to our fabulously designed Death Spikes of Doom, and an amazingly detailed flag. What might it be called? The Peter Pan V. It shall be eternal on this website (hence Peter Pan) and it was our fifth redesign (hence the V).
Looking back... we had A LOT of trial and error. We started of with a spring design which failed due to lots of friction and cramped engine department. Then we went on trying to elongate the car to see if we could get 5m worth of spring power to fit, failed due to friction on wheels. The third try was just an even longer version of #2 which failed due to not being able to support itself. Number 4 tried using CO2 canisters to propel a windmill-ish wheel, it failed because of no safe way to puncture CO2 canister. Finally we really put our heads together and procured this beast of exactness. It not only went EXACTLY 5m, but did it with style, music playing and everything.
Concepts
Friction- when something rubs against another thing. (Caused us a lot of failure. ._.)
Spring Constants- the constant elasticity of a spring. (We used it to find the perfect spring.)
Trial and Error- test 1, failure, tweak, test 2, failure, tweak, repeat. (Can't get around it, seriously... takes forever too.)
Concepts
Friction- when something rubs against another thing. (Caused us a lot of failure. ._.)
Spring Constants- the constant elasticity of a spring. (We used it to find the perfect spring.)
Trial and Error- test 1, failure, tweak, test 2, failure, tweak, repeat. (Can't get around it, seriously... takes forever too.)