Introduction
It a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s a stunt car. The chosen challenge for the science expo is the flying stunt car of death. The point of this challenge is to see whose car can go the farthest and land safely. In this challenge a scratch built car is sent down a ramp and takes off at a 45 degree angle. It has to go 1.5 meters and make it over a 0.5m high wall, called the wall of death. The ramp has a width of 15cm, the ramp is plywood and has walls 4cm high. It resembles a ski jump and is 2m high. The car can only use elastic, spring, and gravitational energies to complete the challenge. This is the challenge that has to be completed.
There are many factors that can make or break this challenge. One of these factors is friction; friction is the force that resists the sliding or rolling of one solid object over another. Friction can be both good and bad. Friction is bad because it slows down the car, providing less momentum, which is needed to span the 1.5m dead zone before the wall. Meanwhile, without friction the car wouldn't have any traction, so wouldn't gain any speed from going down the ski jump, so there has to be a balance between them. Our major problem will be finding this balance. An additional factor is gravity. Gravity is the universal force of attraction acting between all matter. On Earth all things have a weight, or downward force of gravity. This force is proportional to their mass, which Earth’s mass exerts on them. This is important because gravity forces objects to the ground and since there is a 0.5m wall in the path of the car; something is needed that can allow the car to overcome the obstacle of the wall. The final factor is impact because at the end of bypassing the wall and dead zone the car has to land safely. This means that something is needed that can allow the car to land safely without breaking or it has to be sturdy enough not to break. These are the factors that must be considered to make an exceptional stunt car.
Now that the problems that have to be overcome have been identified there are many ways to conquer them. To conquer friction; rubber wheels would be added to the car because they provide effective friction while still allowing the car to move at a descent speed. It has also been proven by real cars because current cars all have rubber wheels. To provide extra speed a mouse trap functioning device will be added to the car; it will provide the additional speed needed to complete the challenge. It will most likely use elastic force. Elasticity is the ability of a deformed material to return to its original shape and size when the force or forces causing the deformation are removed. Gravity is not a problem because the stunt car would have enough speed to make it over the wall; it also may have wings though just in case lift is needed to make it over the height of the wall. Lift is the force that pushes planes upward into the air. It is created by an air stream passing by an airfoil or wing, which deflects the air flow downward. The force created by this deflection of the air creates an equal and opposing force upward on the airfoil or wing. This causes the plane to rise. If the car breaks the challenge is lost, so the factor of impact is important. To overcome this the car will be extremely solid and it would have an effective suspension. This is how the stunt car can overcome all obstacles.
There are many factors that can make or break this challenge. One of these factors is friction; friction is the force that resists the sliding or rolling of one solid object over another. Friction can be both good and bad. Friction is bad because it slows down the car, providing less momentum, which is needed to span the 1.5m dead zone before the wall. Meanwhile, without friction the car wouldn't have any traction, so wouldn't gain any speed from going down the ski jump, so there has to be a balance between them. Our major problem will be finding this balance. An additional factor is gravity. Gravity is the universal force of attraction acting between all matter. On Earth all things have a weight, or downward force of gravity. This force is proportional to their mass, which Earth’s mass exerts on them. This is important because gravity forces objects to the ground and since there is a 0.5m wall in the path of the car; something is needed that can allow the car to overcome the obstacle of the wall. The final factor is impact because at the end of bypassing the wall and dead zone the car has to land safely. This means that something is needed that can allow the car to land safely without breaking or it has to be sturdy enough not to break. These are the factors that must be considered to make an exceptional stunt car.
Now that the problems that have to be overcome have been identified there are many ways to conquer them. To conquer friction; rubber wheels would be added to the car because they provide effective friction while still allowing the car to move at a descent speed. It has also been proven by real cars because current cars all have rubber wheels. To provide extra speed a mouse trap functioning device will be added to the car; it will provide the additional speed needed to complete the challenge. It will most likely use elastic force. Elasticity is the ability of a deformed material to return to its original shape and size when the force or forces causing the deformation are removed. Gravity is not a problem because the stunt car would have enough speed to make it over the wall; it also may have wings though just in case lift is needed to make it over the height of the wall. Lift is the force that pushes planes upward into the air. It is created by an air stream passing by an airfoil or wing, which deflects the air flow downward. The force created by this deflection of the air creates an equal and opposing force upward on the airfoil or wing. This causes the plane to rise. If the car breaks the challenge is lost, so the factor of impact is important. To overcome this the car will be extremely solid and it would have an effective suspension. This is how the stunt car can overcome all obstacles.