Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Any Physicists in the House?

Soooooo, the assignment is to make a balloon powered car, and given that I'm a rediculous over-achiever, I tried to make something cool. Unfortunately, I thought my car was light enough to be powered by a balloon (it's made of bristol board), but it doesn't move at all.

Any suggestions on how to make something similarly awesome while still being able to move?

I guess the question here is: how big is the balloon? And what is the weight (mass) of the car?

BTW, nice model.

malu

Haha thanks :p I used a template I found online, just modified to be bigger/movable etc. It's just a regular-sized balloon. The car is pretty hefty, I guess... maybe half a pound.

I just re-read the assignment instruction though and it says: "The car must move on its own wheels, propelled by a single balloon." So, I'm thinking that TECHNICALLY, I could use the balloon like an elastic and twist it so it propels the car forward rather than inflating the balloon, but how would I go about making the wheels go?

Well, I guess that is the creative solution :p

You'll need to build in some gears to translate the spin from the twisted balloon into the 90° offset axle of the wheel.

Other than that, half a pound's definitely too much for the poor balloon since you'll need to get past the inertia of the car first. *maybe* once it's rolling that the balloon can give it a little kick. If you check google, all the cars have a much higher balloon-to-car ratio

Michael

Can you tell me this in more detail? I *think* I understand, but I'm very much a visual learner, so I find it hard to follow instructions without pictures. lol

Or, if you want a simpler solution (albeit cheating even more), you could fasten the balloon to a Y-shaped branch and use it as a slingshot to propel the car.

Or, to get ridiculous, you could tie one end of the balloon to the front of the car and then use it almost as a leash to pull the car along.

Somehow, I don't think either solution would get you a good grade, though.

Joy,
Lynn

p.s., I love your batmobile, complete with driver.

Haha, at this point, I'm ready to just give it one swift kick across the gym floor.

I've had projects like that.

PS: Love the Batmobile! Maybe you could sell it on Ebay after the "test" and recoup your losses.

[/b]
That you wanted to kick? lol


Haha thanks! Yea, I thought about selling it, but my sister's fiance's son really likes it. I'm thinking of putting it on top of his bday present next month.

Yep! Let's see there was that popcycle bridge in high school physics (only one other person's was weaker than mine)... and well, there was that Titanic display I had to put up when the movie came out on video (Yep, I'm a former video store employee <<cringe>>). My manager said that the security video of me beating up the stand was almost sent to America's Funniest Home videos... This is after I told her it "broke".

Spacial relations isn't for everyone.

lol "broke" ... it was def. faulty manufacturing.