Scribd
Upload
260 views2 pages

Project - Spring Powered Car

The document outlines a group project to design and build a spring-powered toy car. Safety is the top priority when working with springs. The objective is for students to apply theoretical concepts like elastic energy, conservation of energy, and moments to build a car powered solely by springs. Creativity is encouraged within design constraints like size, weight limits, and power source. Students will be graded based on a project report discussing their design process, calculations, and prototype, as well as an in-person presentation explaining their design choices. An optional contest will evaluate the cars' acceleration and top speed/range over set distances.

Uploaded by

Ahmed Yasser Bouslalah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
260 views2 pages

Project - Spring Powered Car

The document outlines a group project to design and build a spring-powered toy car. Safety is the top priority when working with springs. The objective is for students to apply theoretical concepts like elastic energy, conservation of energy, and moments to build a car powered solely by springs. Creativity is encouraged within design constraints like size, weight limits, and power source. Students will be graded based on a project report discussing their design process, calculations, and prototype, as well as an in-person presentation explaining their design choices. An optional contest will evaluate the cars' acceleration and top speed/range over set distances.

Uploaded by

Ahmed Yasser Bouslalah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

GROUP PROJECT: SPRING POWERED CAR

SAFETY FIRST

Springs can store a tremendous amount of potential energy. Please, be careful manipulating
them and wear protective glasses whenever you are working in or close to this project.

Objective
In this project, the students, working in small groups (3-4 members), should apply the theoretical
contents covered in course in order to design and build a "spring-powered car": a toy car powered
exclusively by means of an elastic system. At the end of course, the models may participate in a contest
for the best performance.
The fundamental contents are:

 Elastic energy stored in a spring.


 Conservation of mechanical energy.
 Moment of a force about an axis.
Nevertheless, from a practical point of view, the following additional contents will make the difference:
 Frictional forces (static, kinetic and rolling frictions).
 Moment of inertia.

The model
The figure below shows a sketch of the
car. There, you can see that the “engine” of
the model is a spring attached to one of the
car axis by means of a cord. When the
spring is stretched, it accumulates energy
that is released later for propelling the car.
The detailed design, of course, is up to you;
and it will definitely affect the car
performance! You are encouraged to be
creative, provide you respect the following rules:
 The car is powered by just an elastic system composed by one or two springs.
 The model uses at least three wheels.
 The total weight is limited to 1.0 kg.
 The model fits in a rectangle 215x315 mm2 (A4-paper size). There is no height limit.
 All the springs must be attached to the structure supported by the wheels.
 Your car must be always in contact with the floor.
 In other words, the springs move together with the structure of your car.
 The car cannot be divided in different parts during its movement.
Assessment
Your grade in the activity depends on 3 elements:
1- A document (“project report”) containing:
a. Detailed discussion of the physical principles involved (10%).
b. Calculations showing how these principles have been applied (15%).
c. Complete description of your design, including blueprints, choice of materials,
construction steps and testing process. Please provide some evidences as well, such as
photographs or video recordings. I am very interested in your trial and error, so speak
also about your incorrect hypothesis, what did you think that would have worked but
finally didn’t? (20%)
d. References (books, scientific/technical papers, web resources) and conclusions.
(10%)
e. Minutes of each meeting: In a short way, I want to know who come to each meeting
and how do you share the work.
2- An operational, handmade, prototype of your car. (20%)
3- A public dissertation explaining the value of your design, followed by an open discussion with the
instructors and the audience. (25%)

Contest (optional)
If you want, you can take part in a contest among the different groups working in this same project.
Details will be published elsewhere, but there will be a least two categories: 1-meter sprint (assesses the
acceleration) and 5-m sprint (assesses both top speed and range).

You might also like