Help With Physics Project Please?

Question

Ok, we have a physics project we need some good ideas for. It has to be a self propelled car or airplane using no kits or chemical reactions. These are the specifications:
Max Height: 1.0 m
Max Width 1.0 m
Max Length 1.0 m
Max Mass 4.5 kg

No explosives, hazardous or dangerous materials can be used. No chemical storage of energy may be used. No biologically active components (no animal power).

Also, we cannot built a launcher it must be SELF PROPELLED,

If you answer this thank you so much. And please only serious answers, we aren't looking for any funny guys.

Compressed air could be used, but what I really need is a simple design that could be remade using essentially anything that fits the criteria listed above. Thank you all so much for your help!

The car or airplane needs to go AT LEAST 10 meters to get an "A." But I'd like it to go farther to get extra credit.

Also, the experiment will be done indoors in a long narrow hallway which cannot be altered. SO therefore, wind power cannot be used.

Answer 1

You need to find a way to store mechanical energy which can be transferred to kinetic energy at will.
A spring is a great, simple way to do this. A torsional spring (the kind you twist, not squeeze from end to end) can be wound up and "set." If you used this concept and mounted a torsional spring on the axle of your cars' rear (or front) wheels you can have the spring directly drive the car.

Set the spring by tensioning up the torsional spring (twisting it in the direction to make the spring wind tighter) and then using a stop of some sort to keep the thing from unwinding immediately. (An example would be to put a small pin through the axle that will hit against the body of your car & keep it from unwindin until you remove the.) Then when you are ready for your car to move you can pull the stop that has set your spring and let the unrolling action of the spring turn the shaft your wheels are on.
woooosh... there goes your car.

Answer 2

Well the only way i can thnk of getting your vehicle to move is by using MECHANICALLY stored energy. This isn't in your prohibition list.

Use a big clockwork spring that you can wind up first or elastic bands etc?

How long does it have to be propelled for?

EDIT: OR use some kind of gravity power... I.e. have a big weight at the top of a column and as it falls (slowly hopefully) it will pull a rope connected to gears that would power the wheels

Answer 3

OK this is my read on the project. He has pretty well limited you to wind or mechanical power. Wind is pretty well self explantory. Mechanical can be as simple as a big rubber band or main spring, like a wind up watch. Hope this gives you a starting point. Good luck. . Is compressed air a chemical storage?

Answer 4

I had to do something like that for a class, if you want to go WAY farther then 10 feet, you can make a mouse trap car.

I just googled it and grabbed the first instructions

http://users.bigpond.net.au/mechtoys/mouse.html

Ours went like 30 feets.

Answer 5

You can use a wind propeller.