i need to know how to make a toy car that is mechanically powered for physics. he doesn't want the rubberband and coffee can car he wants new ideas. i am struggling but i want to do the best car. we aren't aloud using sloar, steam, electric, and a few other things. any help would be great!
2007-02-08 04:19:31 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
Two very simple options.
First affix a flywheel to the axle of your car. When you push the car forward the energy you impart will be stored as momentum in the flywheel (bigger and heavier is better). Then when you put the car down the flywheels momentum will drive the axle forward.
A variation on the flywheel would use a attached tower and weight to store power as potential energy which you could transfer using line wrapped around a spool on the axle.
Second place a spring around the axle and attach one end to a wheel the other to the car chassis. Now when you pull the car back the energy will be stored as torsion in the spring. Let go of the car and the torsion will propel the car forward.
2007-02-08 05:52:20 · answer #1 · answered by Brian K² 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1
2017-01-22 06:00:07 · answer #2 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Flywheel Toy Car
2016-10-31 07:08:27 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The flywheel example might work nicely. There are already plenty of toy cars on the market using this principle. I'm sure you've played with a toy car that you hold onto, push quickly along the floor a few times to "rev it up" and then you let it go to watch it drive away. That type of toy uses an internal flywheel which is "revved up" to store kinetic energy that is used to propel the car once you put the toy on the ground and let it go.
There are also examples on the market of using compressed air or other "catapult" method where the propulsion of the toy car is NOT carried with the car. You put the car in a launcher, stomp on the launcher, and air or a solid object imparts the stomping energy to the toy car, sending forward along the ground.
2007-02-15 04:35:17 · answer #4 · answered by Jay-Dawg 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My favorite has always been the mousetrap car:
1) Buy a mousetrap, the large rat traps are easiest to work with
2) Drill a hole through the wooden base across the width of the "car" where the bar would be if the trap were set for an axle
3) Cut a slot below where the bar would be on the set trap; the slot must intersect the drilled axle hole
4) Buy a shaft slightly smaller than the hole you drilled and a pulley wheel that fits on the shaft and can be held in place (e.g. with a set screw)
5) Place the pulley wheel into the slot and skewer it with the shaft threaded through the drilled axle hole
6) Attach wheels to the wooden base in the front of the car
7) Attach wheels to the shaft for rear wheels
8) Tie a string to the mousetrap bar
9) Wind the other end of the string around the pulley wheel
10) Release the trap bar (carefully) and the stored energy in the trap spring will turn the pulley wheel, shaft and drive wheels and voila! you've got a car
Getting the right gear ratio with the pulley will be a learning opportunity and specific to your car's setup.
2007-02-09 18:04:59 · answer #5 · answered by OG 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why not use weights? I am envisioning a weight on a belt suspended above the car. For simplicity, I'd take an already available toy electric car and leave everything intact except remove the battery. Now build a post on top of the car with a flat wheel on top of the post able to turn freely. Now take a flat rubber band and place it around the drive gear of the electric motor then over the wheel on top of the post just tight enough such that when you turn the top wheel it turns the the drive motor. Now by attaching a weight to one side of the rubber band at the top, the weight pulling down on the rubber band will turn the drive gear of the electric motor. By adjusting the height of the post with the flat wheel on it you will adjust the distance that the car will travel
2007-02-12 11:56:41 · answer #6 · answered by H.C.Will 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What is allowed?
Can't you use any rubber bands at all?
What about compressed air or springs?
You could also use the heat of a flame to power the car. Steam is not the only way to convert heat into motion.
2007-02-08 04:40:10 · answer #7 · answered by Voice of Insanity 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to accumulate some kind of energy, then release it some way.
You could use: a flywheel, springs, weights (gravity), cpmpressed air...
2007-02-08 04:32:42 · answer #8 · answered by frigon_p 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋