Hybrid Car Project
THE OSIRIS
Our car, named the Osiris, is a rubber-band powered, zero-emissions car developed for Hyundai. It is a fast, low weight car, and is unique in that it actually passes its mark before the rubber band wraps around again, and it bounces back. It i also well known for its several seemingly random nails driven through the chassis, which in fact serve a variety of purposes, as outlined in our presentation.
Our car, named the Osiris, is a rubber-band powered, zero-emissions car developed for Hyundai. It is a fast, low weight car, and is unique in that it actually passes its mark before the rubber band wraps around again, and it bounces back. It i also well known for its several seemingly random nails driven through the chassis, which in fact serve a variety of purposes, as outlined in our presentation.
PHYSICS CONCEPTS:
There were several physics concepts that we learned, but the two main ones (at least, in relation to our project) were the Spring Constant and Elastic Potential Energy.
A SPRING CONSTANT is a measure of the elasticity of a spring. Basically, it is how flexible the spring is. We used this to determine how many times we needed to wind our rubber band around our axle.
ELASTIC POTENTIAL ENERGY is energy due to the compression or expansion of elastic material. Our car only moved because of elastic PE; It used no other energy source.
There were several physics concepts that we learned, but the two main ones (at least, in relation to our project) were the Spring Constant and Elastic Potential Energy.
A SPRING CONSTANT is a measure of the elasticity of a spring. Basically, it is how flexible the spring is. We used this to determine how many times we needed to wind our rubber band around our axle.
ELASTIC POTENTIAL ENERGY is energy due to the compression or expansion of elastic material. Our car only moved because of elastic PE; It used no other energy source.
PITS AND PEAKS
Lots of things were difficult or went wrong throughout our project. Firstly, our car was rebuilt from scratch about 3 or 4 times, which is the main reason it ended up being called "The Osiris" (Osiris is the Egyptian god of rebirth). Next, we didn't have nearly enough time to work on our car in class, so Ryan Clark and I ended up working on it outside of class, completely redesigning it.
However, it was all worth it when our car finally ran consistently. We were one of the few groups that didn't immediately work off an internet tutorial, and while it may have cost us a bit of time, it was nice that it added a little bit of diversity to the spring-powered cars.