Project Description
This was the last project of the year, so Mr. Williams told us to pick one of the projects we did in the past and to make it even better. My group chose to do the hybrid car. I wanted to do the hybrid car because it was fun and I think that was one of my weaker projects in the past so it would be easier to make it better. The goal of our car was to make it go 5 meters at a fast speed. We realized that the objective was really boring and it wasn't any better than our past car. So, we chose to make the car go off a ramp and reach the 5 meter mark, but the car didn't have nearly enough speed to go off a ramp and reach 5 meters. Because of this we chose to make our car go through an obstacle and reach the 5 meter mark. We decided to make a big wall of jenga blocks and have the car run into it and reach the 5 meter mark. This was much more reasonable with the amount of time we had which was only 2 weeks compared to last time where we had a month of building. I definitely enjoyed this project because we had a lot of leeway to what we wanted to do.
This was the last project of the year, so Mr. Williams told us to pick one of the projects we did in the past and to make it even better. My group chose to do the hybrid car. I wanted to do the hybrid car because it was fun and I think that was one of my weaker projects in the past so it would be easier to make it better. The goal of our car was to make it go 5 meters at a fast speed. We realized that the objective was really boring and it wasn't any better than our past car. So, we chose to make the car go off a ramp and reach the 5 meter mark, but the car didn't have nearly enough speed to go off a ramp and reach 5 meters. Because of this we chose to make our car go through an obstacle and reach the 5 meter mark. We decided to make a big wall of jenga blocks and have the car run into it and reach the 5 meter mark. This was much more reasonable with the amount of time we had which was only 2 weeks compared to last time where we had a month of building. I definitely enjoyed this project because we had a lot of leeway to what we wanted to do.
Concepts
- Potential Energy (spring): How much energy a spring, or rubber band, is storing. Measures in Joules (J). We used this to calculate how much energy the rubber band car had before we released.
- Kinetic Energy: Energy due to motion. Measured in Joules (J). We used this to see how much of our potential energy was converted to movement force.
- Thermal Energy: The energy not converted to kinetic, and instead converted to things like sound and friction. Measured in Joules (J). We used this to see how ineffective our cars could be.
- Spring Constant: How difficult it is to move a spring. the higher the spring constant, the harder it is to move. We used this to help us find out how difficult, or easy, it was to stretch our rubber band.
Reflection
This project was definitely one of the most fun projects we did this year especially because there wasn't a set of guidelines to follow. I think many things went well during this project. My first peak was that I was on task the entire time. Usually I am not always on task because I am easily distracted but I was able to do well this time. My next peak was that we had very good time management. My group was able to finish the car three days before the due date so we had three days to perfect our presentation. There were a few peaks along the way. My first peak was that the first few days, my group was not able to think of an idea so were kind of in a bad mood in the beginning. That obviously changed later in the project. My second peak was that I didn't play that big of a leadership role but I think that is okay because I was able to be doing something productive the entire time. I enjoyed this project just lie the others. I had a lot of fun this year and I am sad that it has ended.
This project was definitely one of the most fun projects we did this year especially because there wasn't a set of guidelines to follow. I think many things went well during this project. My first peak was that I was on task the entire time. Usually I am not always on task because I am easily distracted but I was able to do well this time. My next peak was that we had very good time management. My group was able to finish the car three days before the due date so we had three days to perfect our presentation. There were a few peaks along the way. My first peak was that the first few days, my group was not able to think of an idea so were kind of in a bad mood in the beginning. That obviously changed later in the project. My second peak was that I didn't play that big of a leadership role but I think that is okay because I was able to be doing something productive the entire time. I enjoyed this project just lie the others. I had a lot of fun this year and I am sad that it has ended.