Hybrid Cars
This project was based around building an alternative energy car that would go exactly 5 meters. What made this project difficult, however, were the restrictions. Our car couldn't run off of gas, electrical, chemical, or nuclear energy. We couldn't remotely control our car, and we couldn't interfere with it, other than maybe holding it before starting it. At first, my group tried to use a rat trap, but the bar shot down too fast, so we couldn't get the car to really go anywhere. We quickly acknowledged this, and decided to instead go for a much simpler design that used rubber bands. This design immediately started working much better and this ended up being the car we used as our final product. Our car worked by wrapping a fully stretched string of tied rubber bands around the back axle until it was completely taut, and then the car would actually move because the rubber bands would contract, causing the axle to spin, which would make the wheels spin, which moves the car forward. It then gradually loses its energy to heat, which would stop it at about 5 meters.