WHAT!? IT'S TODAY?!

It's Eyna & Christine here! YES! Today was the BIG DAY! and we were ready to kick some major BUTT! We had really big competition but was very confident. Unfortunately, we were up first and the first trial was a bust because the balloon popped. Once we got another balloon on our car, it popped again! [Thanks Mr.P for taking quite a while with that picture] BUT IT WAS ALL GOOD!! We finally got to lay down our car for the THIRD time and the balloon finally didn't pop. We were ready for our first trial run!...Unfortunaely, our little fast demon didn't go straight and it needed some adjustments like: putting 2 straws on both sides to make it balance more and to have a bigger balloon. Also, we switched the 2 small straws with one big straw, which made the air go out faster and gave our car some speed. After all those changes, we ended up getting 8 point something metres! Which is great, because it exceeded our expectations. On the other hand we got to see the "car" that beat the 22m record!! CONGRATS TO JOSEPH AND JOEY FOR BEATING IT! All in all the day was great. Thank you Mr.Papadimitriou for giving us the chance to do this project, we had a lot of fun.
WE ALSO WANT TO GIVE A BIG BIG SHOUT OUT TO THOSE THAT DIDN'T GIVE UP ON THEIR CAR!

We also appreciate those who viewed our weekly updates :)


Be sure to watch our first trial run video!
Thanks again to Mr.Papadimitriou....for his tape :)

Our Final Car Design

So we FINALLY stuck to one design. Our design was going for an aerodynamic look. Once we had the idea, we decided to get started and make it happen. Once we completed it, we were happy with it. We decided to test it and once we did it seemed to have quite a few problems. 1. We analyzed the car and realized that the measurements were wrong and that the cardboard wasn't equal. 2. The wheels weren't on straight, causing it to move in different directions.3.One side was taller than the other.

Once we found out the problem, we decided to stick with the design but try it again. This time we were careful with our measurements. The outcome of the car was much better. It went straight and further than we expected. Eyna and I are very excited for evaluation day!
MATERIALS USED/NEEDED:
+ Cardboard
+ Tape
+ 2 straws
+ 1 Balloon
+ Scissors
+ 2 sets of wheels
+ Tape
+ Ruler

STAY TUNED FOR OUR TEST RUN IN THE SCHOOL...BY THE WAY WE ARE FIRST! WISH US GOOD LUCK!:)

Scratch That...

So, our sketch didn't really happen. We decided to keep it simple because our sketch was a little unrealistic. So we made four trial runs with two different designs and we found that our second design went faster and further.
What Went Wrong With The First Car
First car.
1.The card board body made the wheels too stiff for it to go anywhere. 2.The body seemed too heavy. 3.The straw would always hit the ground so it prevented the car to go anywhere. 4.The body was too close to the ground.

What Went Wrong With Our Second Car
Second car.
1.The body was made out of foam, which made the car floppy.

This is our first sketch of our balloon car. Don't be shocked of the ugliness, but its okay:) In this picture there are a lot of things that you can see.
1) wings
2) the balloon is inside the car
3) the roof on top of the car; covering the balloon, holding it in from expanding.
BUT, no worries. We have the solutions.
The wings are put there so that it is aerodynamic. As you see many groups are also putting that, but we all have the same idea; so that the car is able to go the distance. As for the balloon in the car, we put it inside. The reason for that is so the balloon isn't able to move all over the place, making the car do the same. At, this point your probably asking, 'why is there a roof on top and how is the balloon going to get filled with air?' That's what we said, until our friend Aaron gave us a couple suggestions. This got us thinking and we decided to make the roof out of plastic lamenate, so it is able to move and let the balloon expand to the greatest diameter. To support the plastic lamenate so it does not stick to the balloon, we will be using wire ties to keep the shape. The sides will be made of cardboard and same with the wings. The wheels will be used from a previous car. WE HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS !!!

I know you are asking what happened with the wood idea? Well, we both agree it would be easier to use materials we can get, rather than screwing and cutting wood to make our car. It would also be way SAFER!

WAIT!! How could I forget?!..We would also use something heavy, to keep the car down. BUT not to heavy that the car isn't able to move with the one balloon.

Re-thinking

So weve been thinking about alternate ideas, and we are most likely going to use model airplane wheels instead of wooden wheels. Christine will be drawing out an idea and will be posting it later this week...laters

what to do...

Well, my partner and I haven't gotten together to speak about our balloon car. But we have an idea of how we are doing it. We are going to use wood from the tech room to make wheels and use 2 or 1 balloons to power our car. We are not really sure about what other materials we are going to use. As we know now, we want to win and get the marks but also learn more on how this is related to physics. (time, distance etc.)

our idea
to make our car stay on the ground , by using the "wood wheels" to hold down the car.
Then use light materials so that the car won't be has heavy,so that the balloons are able to push the car as far are we want. This is it, so far. we will keep updating..laters

Marking Scheme for Balloon Car

A Car achieves intended result
Car travels 3.00 m
0 35 40 45 50 /50

B Car design
Car constructed well
Car traveled in a straight line
Car was fast (crossed 3m mark in 5s)
Car exceeded distance requirement
/13
Car makes creative use of appropriate materials
Car is aesthetically pleasing
Aerodynamics considered in the design
Car was an original creation and not a frame of a toy car
/7

C Booklet
Booklet was organized
Scientific concept was followed
Well organized and neatly typed
Blueprints were neatly drawn
Observation of previous failed trials were described
Time trials were recorded in table form
/30

the begining of a new project

Well, we have just gotten our first assignment for our balloon car 1)To choose names,2)make sure the car can pass 5 meters and 3)of course pass this thing!! My partner and I are thinking of ideas to make our car the best and the fastest, plus also keeping in mind that if we don't pass the 5 meter line, we are going to get a 0/50. Which we do NOT want. As you see our name is TINE-Na because it represents the ending of our first names. We will keep you updated if anything changes...