Have you ever blown up a balloon and let it go? The air rapidly escapes the balloon making it fly away.

Students were challenged to harness this energy and design their very own car that could be propelled forward using a single balloon.

Engineering Design Constraints

1. The car must be propelled forward by the air escaping the balloon.

2. The car must be sturdy and not fall apart when in use.

3. The car must travel at least five feet.

4. The car must travel in approximately a straight line.

Materials Suggested

 Power: One latex balloon

 Car body: Plastic bottle, plastic cup, or cardboard

 Wheels: CDs, bottle caps, empty rolls of tape

 Axles: Wooden dowels, wooden skewers, plastic straws

 Other materials: plastic straws, hot glue, tape, paper clips, scissors, rubber bands

Math Connection

During the testing phase students were asked to calculate the average speed of their balloon cars. The equation they used to calculate the average speed of their car

was:

𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒/𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒