Have you ever blown up a balloon and let it go? The air rapidly escapes the balloon making it fly away.<\/p>\n
Students were challenged to harness this energy and design their very own car that could be propelled forward using a single balloon.<\/p>\n
Engineering Design Constraints<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. The car must be propelled forward by the air escaping the balloon.<\/p>\n 2. The car must be sturdy and not fall apart when in use.<\/p>\n 3. The car must travel at least five feet.<\/p>\n 4. The car must travel in approximately a straight line.<\/p>\n Materials Suggested<\/strong><\/p>\n \uf071 <\/span>Power: <\/b>One latex balloon<\/p>\n \uf071 <\/span>Car body<\/b>: Plastic bottle, plastic cup, or cardboard<\/p>\n \uf071 <\/span>Wheels<\/b>: CDs, bottle caps, empty rolls of tape<\/p>\n \uf071 <\/span>Axles<\/b>: Wooden dowels, wooden skewers, plastic straws<\/p>\n \uf071 <\/span>Other materials<\/b>: plastic straws, hot glue, tape, paper clips, scissors, rubber bands<\/p>\n Math Connection<\/strong><\/p>\n 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<\/p>\n was:<\/p>\n \ud835\udc4e\ud835\udc63\ud835\udc52\ud835\udc5f\ud835\udc4e\ud835\udc54\ud835\udc52 \ud835\udc60\ud835\udc5d\ud835\udc52\ud835\udc52\ud835\udc51 = \ud835\udc61\ud835\udc5c\ud835\udc61\ud835\udc4e\ud835\udc59 \ud835\udc51\ud835\udc56\ud835\udc60\ud835\udc61\ud835\udc4e\ud835\udc5b\ud835\udc50\ud835\udc52\/\ud835\udc61\ud835\udc5c\ud835\udc61\ud835\udc4e\ud835\udc59 \ud835\udc61\ud835\udc56\ud835\udc5a\ud835\udc52<\/p>\n