Checkpoint: Balloon Drag

Racers

In this Assignment, you are going to construct a drag racer that is balloon powered, and then race your designs in a
class drag race! You will be working individually to complete your drag racer due to the current restrictions

Stage 1: Design
The design of your racer is up to you, however, you will be restricted in the materials you can use. Below is a list of
some common household items that you may already have at home, or can ask Mum or Dad to buy at the
supermarket.

 Bottle Caps (either 4 caps of the same size or two pairs of caps in different
sizes) *These can be things like milk bottle tops and soft drink tops that you
can collect as you finish them at home.
 Plastic cup
 Either icypole sticks or cardboard boxes to make the base/body of the racer.
 Balloon (limit 1 balloon)
 Straws and toothpicks for the axels
 Sticky tape or glue to hold everything together.

Step 2: Create
You will have to construct your drag racer at home to the best of your ability. You can use materials from the list
above. The base of your racer should not be bigger than 15cm long and 8cm wide. Have a think about what shape
might help you achieve the best velocity.

Step 3: Race!
Once constructed you can RACE your cars!

You will need to set up and video your racer in action at home. *Note the video you submit should be no more than
5 minutes long and will need to include some narration from you about your set up and the data you are collecting
as well as the safety precautions that you had to take. (This is detailed in the rubric)

You will need to measure:

How far your car travels before stopping using a tape measure (or string then a ruler)

What time it took your car to stop moving (You can use a stop watch app on your phone for this)

You will then need to calculate the average velocity of your drag racer. The drag racer with the fastest velocity WINS!
Step 4: Analyse
You will need to submit all your raw data from your racer. *This should included example of any calculations you
needed to make.

You will write a discussion analysing those results obtained from your drag race. Remember a good discussion will
include most of these characteristics

 A summary of your calculations and results obtained from your race

 An interpretation of those results based on scientific theory
o Did you see a trend in your data? Remember the topics covered in the physics unit, you might want
to use forces or one of newtons three laws to help give evidence/explanation for your results
 Were there any shortcomings to your study? Or any valid improvements that could be made to your
experiment to further your understanding of forces and motion

Submit your discussion to the Compass Assignment task by the due date set by your teacher!

ENJOY THE DRAG RACING 