Hybrid Car Battery Design
For this project our objective was to create a type of hybrid car, find the energy used to make the car move, make it move 5 meters, and graph the velocity, acceleration, distance, and energies. The first thing our group did was brainstorm on ideas to power the car. We came up with multiple ideas like spring powered, rubber band powered, electromagnetic powered, or battery powered. Then we chose to do electromagnetic and challenge ourselves. We built the frame of the car and got to work on the engine.
We then built the engine which works by a magnet passing by copper wire and making electricity for the motor on the axel. This prototype was very hard to set up and only worked for us once so we had to come up with a plan B. In the end we had the same car frame and the same motor for the axel but this time it was powered by a 9 volt battery instead. In order to get our car to stop at 5 meters we attached fishing line to the back and front axles so when the line went taught the car would stop. Finally we took our data, made our graphs, and presented our car.After taking data and graphing, we found out that our engine was not the best because it had very low kinetic energy and very high thermal energy.
We then built the engine which works by a magnet passing by copper wire and making electricity for the motor on the axel. This prototype was very hard to set up and only worked for us once so we had to come up with a plan B. In the end we had the same car frame and the same motor for the axel but this time it was powered by a 9 volt battery instead. In order to get our car to stop at 5 meters we attached fishing line to the back and front axles so when the line went taught the car would stop. Finally we took our data, made our graphs, and presented our car.After taking data and graphing, we found out that our engine was not the best because it had very low kinetic energy and very high thermal energy.
Physics Concepts
Velocity- Is distance over time. we measured the velocity of our car for our velocity vs. time graph.
Acceleration- Is the change in distance over the change in time. This can be used to see how much something accelerates when it is moving. we used this for our acceleration vs. time graph.
Potential Energy- Is mass times gravity times hight. It can also be measured by spring constant or battery energy. For this project, since we had no hight, we calculated the potential energy in our battery for the amount of time the car moved. We used potential energy for our potential energy vs. time graph.
Kinectic Energy- Is one half times mass times velocity squared. We used the kinectic energy for our kinectic energy vs. time graph.
Thermal Energy- Or Friction, is the loss of energy as heat is formed from two objects rubbing against one another. We used thermal energy for our thermal energy vs. time graph.
Acceleration- Is the change in distance over the change in time. This can be used to see how much something accelerates when it is moving. we used this for our acceleration vs. time graph.
Potential Energy- Is mass times gravity times hight. It can also be measured by spring constant or battery energy. For this project, since we had no hight, we calculated the potential energy in our battery for the amount of time the car moved. We used potential energy for our potential energy vs. time graph.
Kinectic Energy- Is one half times mass times velocity squared. We used the kinectic energy for our kinectic energy vs. time graph.
Thermal Energy- Or Friction, is the loss of energy as heat is formed from two objects rubbing against one another. We used thermal energy for our thermal energy vs. time graph.
Reflection
Overall the project turned out well in the end. I enjoyed this project a lot because I have always had some interest in cars and the way they work. Something I did well in this project was leading our group so we actually finished on time and got the car to work properly. Something important I learned in this project was that simplicity can be the best option and easiest to get to do what is needed. Our group could have done a better job with having equal shares of work. We could have also thought about simplicity sooner and saved more of our time. One thing we could still improve on our car is the accuracy since it went a few inches past the ending point.