Balloon Powered Race Cars

Name________________________________Pd:____

Objectives:

To create a balloon powered race car for maximum speed and

distance
To incorporate Newton's Laws of Motion

Due dates:

Project introduced Thursday, November 12, 2015

FBD and 3 laws due November 18, 2015

Citations, Materials, and Methods due November 21, 2015

Completed car (designed and assembled), Mon, Dec. 7, 2015

(Bonus if ready to race by Dec. 4, 2015) Brought to class for
data collection and stored in labeled shoe box. Full
name/period

Project documentation, Tues, Dec. 8, 2015 (final

documentation can be electronic or paper report; poster, ppt,
prezi)

20 % deduction for late projects

Materials:

9 inch balloon is standard

pen barrel or straw

various materials to construct the racers

Rules:

The car must be powered by no more than 2 balloons.

You can build the car out of anything.
It must have at least three wheels. Wheels are defined as
anything that is round and goes around.

The wheels cannot be wheels from a toy car. They must be

made out of something that was not originally meant to be
used as wheels.
The car may not leave the ground.
The car must be capable of traveling at least 5 meters.
Car must be designed to fit in a shoe box. Example: Nike shoe
box. All projects will be stored in class until all student
projects have been graded. Therefore, students must
properly store projects in order to receive a grade.

Project Documentation:
Final report must include the following sections: (* indicates milestone
grades)

1.Title: Project title, full name, per, date

2.*Materials: Labeled Image(s)/drawing(s) of all materials
used
3.*Building the car (methods): Diagram and explain details
of each step in the process of building your car.
4.*Newtons Laws Explanations: explain how each of
Newtons three laws apply to the design of the car:
-how Newtons 1st law (law of inertia) applies to the car
when it is
in motion or at rest.
-how the acceleration of the car could be increased using
Newtons 2nd law, F=ma.
-how Newtons 3rd law applies to the air escaping the
balloon.
5.*Free Body Diagrams:
Two FBD of the force acting on the car: 1) at rest 2) in motion
6. Data and Calculations: use table format provided below
7.*Resources: List 3 web sites on balloon cars that can used as
a resource in completing the project.

Race Day Procedures:

1. Use the spring scale or electronic balance to find the mass of

your car. Report value in grams and kilograms.
2. Time how long it takes your car to travel 6 tiles (1.8 m) when
starting from rest. Repeat this process two more times and find
the average.
3. Measure the total distance your car can travel on one tank of
gas.

*Show work for calculations in your data table-leave plenty of

space- circle/box your final answers.
Mass of car
(grams and kilograms)
Distance traveled by car in
meters (6 tiles)
Average time in seconds for
balloon to travel 1.8 m
(6 tiles)

kg

1.8 m
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Avg time

s
s
s
s

Calculate the weight of the

car (in Newtons)

N
Calculate the average speed
over 1.8 m

m/s

What is the longest distance

your car can travel?
-5m (16 tiles) for full credit

Name: ______________________________________ Pd: ____

Balloon Powered Race Car Grading Rubric:

CRITERIA
Car powered by no more than two 9
balloons.

Pts
possible
5

Car has at least three wheels and does

not leave the ground.
Data/ Calculations

The car capable of traveling at least 5

meters. (bonus opportunity)
Project documentation/
presentation
Free Body Diagrams and Newtons
Laws
(milestone check)
Materials and Methods and Citations
(milestone check)
final product and presentation

20

15

------25
25
10

Pts
earned