Speed Racer PowerPoint Irene Olivera Mrs. Falk

Objective Build fan-powered car and use mathematical methods and physics to understand its motion and acceleration Learn how to present graphs from calculators on computers and explain their meaning Learn appropriate kinematics vocab to describe the findings effectively

Problem We needed to study functions we normally see on a calculator in real life. We wanted to examine how acceleration increases in drag race cars. To do this, we had to build miniature cars and use motion detectors that would reveal various information about how the cars moved, such as their velocity, and whether it was constant or changing. Also, we had to find a way to convert the numeric values given to us by the calculator into terms and figures that would make sense when read.

Design & Use of Tools Our design was to build wooden, fan-powered cars (I made no modifications). We would then hook up a graphing calculator with the necessary software to a motion detector and run the car positioned in front of it in a straight line to gather lists of acceleration data. We then put the lists into scatter plots so we had a visual representation of what happened when it ran. We were able to see linear and quadratic representations of the acceleration, i.e.: The slope in the VT graph revealed acceleration, as did the AT graph’s average acceleration #.

Design! The fabulous motorized vehicle! And the other equipment…

Distance-Time Acceleration:.794 x 2 = 1.588m/s/s Or mi/hr/s R² value = – great Model: D( F ) =.794 T ² T Source of error ¾ way through the graph

Velocity-Time Acceleration: 1.48m/s/s Or mi/hr/s R value: – somewhat weaker Model: V ( T ) = T – Source of error in last 5 points– too far

Average Acceleration-Time Acceleration: 1.274m/s/s Or mi/hr/s No model (1 list), number of points used: 25 Source of error: last 7 points

Points of Error In the distance graph, the only questionable points were enclosed in the graph and could have been a natural spike at that point where the acceleration increased more, causing a greater curve. In the velocity and average acceleration graphs, the outlying points were at the end of the graph, probably when the car had gone too far from the detector. There were even more to begin with, I deleted some but clearly did not get them all.

What is the acceleration? How do the 3 accelerations compare? All very close, esp. AT and VT graphs What is it really? I averaged them because it seemed most fitting: 1.353m/s/s What is it in mi/hr? mi/hr Is it fast? Reasonably, perhaps not relatively

1 minute math: How far would the car travel in a minute? If the car goes 3.031mi/hr, then it would travel 0.051mi/min. In more tangible terms, this equals ft/min How fast is it going at the end of the minute? mi/hr by the end of the minute

Conclusions My conclusions clearly reflected the problem I needed to solve regarding how quickly cars accelerate. They were basically what I expected…but a whole lot faster. The math I did supports the physics in that when we did it on a larger scale with a regular truck, we found that proportionately, my car’s acceleration made a lot of sense (seconds, minutes, and hours used for reference). Every method I used to calculate acceleration resulted in very close numbers (doubling for the quadratic, using the slope for the VT, and reading the average from the single acceleration list).

Self-Assessment Overall, I am very pleased with my work and there’s hardly anything I would change. I could have done little things like made sure my car went a little straighter, and I would have tried to work out a better way to solve and represent the minute math questions because my method involved a lot of confusing conversions. My accelerations alol made sense and turned out accurate. I was able to easily get the data and transform it int something workable and understandable. If I had to make one goal to improve something, it would simply be to make more modifications to my car and see how it changed things!