Tag: Cardboard

G9 Engineering Project Energy Transformation Reflect and Share

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One thing I did well in this project is starting to do practical work relatively early. It bought me more time to finalize the car and come up with the back up plan. The backup plan also worked well as it moved the car 30 times more than the balloon.

One thing I had to improve on this project is calculating the weight. I calculated that the sum of the materials should be at most 150grams, but it ended up as 163 grams, severely hindering the movement of the car. Another phenomenon I observed is that sometimes the car goes backwards instead of forwards due to the flaws on the wheel connections. Gravitational potential energy built up and dragger my car back as the heavier part of the wheels, the back parts, start falling down again.

One thing I would consider next time is to use materials that fit the need better, in this case of the car, probably lighter materials. I also need to smoothen up my techniques of measuring and making wheels function without potential energy building up to slow my car down.

G9 Engineering Project Energy Transformation Create and Improve

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Feb 20th: I drafted the plans and the materials for the main body of the car and the wheels. I was not wary of the create and improve blog post so I forgot to take photos of the cardboard materials I selected.

Feb 22nd: I started making the main body of the car and finished my planning for most of the project including sprouting the idea and designing the “door” for easy access of the balloon.

Feb 24th: I attached the wheels onto the car and started working on the marvelous “door” for the easy access of the balloon that is going to be inside the car. I also made the prototype of the balloon and straw bundle that will be powering the car. The sticks were too thick for the plastic wheels so I had to make it a bit pointy to stabilize the wheels.

Fed 27th: I finished making the “door” and attached the balloon onto the car. The car however could not go 3 meters only with the balloons. Robin helped out and blew the balloon big, but it barely moved 20 centimeters due to some miscalculations on the widths of the wheels. The car also ended up weighing 164 grams, more than the 150g I planned for it.

Mar 1st: I finished the car but it was not moving as expected. I eventually used the back up plan I had on Feb 22nd to use a rubber band to power the car along the balloon. It was very successful and the car moved over 3 meters. I had technically completed all of the 3 success criteria, however, a bit flawed.

Video on how the car launched:

Car before decoration

Car after decoration:

G9 Engineering Project Energy Transformation Develop and Plan

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Materials:

 

  1. 1 empty bottle
  2. 5 straws
  3. 2 wooden sticks
  4. 2 light plastic wheels
  5. 4 balls or bottle caps
  6. 1 balloon
  7. Some hot glue
  8. Some tape
  9. Some cardboard

 

Procedure:

 

Step 1: Cut cardboard into 2 of 10cm x 17 cm, 2 of 13cm x 17 cm, and 1 of 10cm x 13cm with the blade.

 

Step 2: Cut another 10 x 13cm cardboard and cut a rectangular hole with the dimensions of 2cm x 3cm at the center of the cardboard with knives.

 

Step 3: Grab a hot glue gun and set it up correctly for use.

 

Step 4: Glue the 5 pieces of cardboard together with hot glue. Hold the cardboard so that the glue could dry and stabilize.

 

Step 5: Grab 2 long straws and hot glue them on the bottom of the car so that they are parallel to each other and are 8 cm away.

Step 6: Grab 2 sticks and sharpen them so that they can support the wheels.

 

Step 7: Put 1 stick inside the straw on the back of the car, then put the wheels on the stick. Repeat this for the front side of the car.

 

Step 8: Cut a 2 of 1cm x 9cm cardboard and label them A, 2 of 2cm x 9cm cardboard and label them B, 2 of 1cm x 4cm cardboard and label them C, and 2 of 2cm x 3cm cardboard and label them D.

 

Step 9: Glue the A cardboards onto the last 10x13cm cardboard so that it is 1cm away from the center hole as for on the diagram.

 

Step 10: Glue the C cardboards onto the last 10x13cm cardboard so that it forms a 4cm x 9cm rectangle at the center of the board.

 

Step 11: Put the D cardboards inside the rectangle.

 

Step 12: Glue the B cardboards onto the A cardboards so that it seals the D cardboards and turns them into sliding doors.

 

 

Step 13: Glue 3 straws together and cut them to different lengths.

 

Step 14: Stick the straws inside the balloon and seal it with hot glue so that it does not let air through.

 

Step 15: Put the balloon and straw bundle inside the door.

 

Step 16: The car is built, clean up.

 

G9 Engineering Project Energy Transformation Define and Inquire

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Define and Inquire

 

Energy Transformation List:

 

M: mechanical

C: chemical

E: electrical

T: thermal

S: sound

 

Horizontal: transformed into

Vertical: Original energy

M C E T S
M x nnd mill friction bell
C Bomb x battery bomb bomb
E motor nnd x Short circuit speaker
T sun nnd steam x nnd
S nnd nnd microphone nnd x

 

dea 1: fan bell (mechanical to sound)

Rating: 5/10 difficulty

Attach a fan with a bell in a way that when wind passes the fan, the bell rings.

 

Idea 2: steam bell engine (heat to sound)

Rating: 9/10 difficulty

Have a pot of water that will boil under heat, triggering a bell.

 

Idea 3: water mill engine (mechanical to electric)

Rating: 6/10 difficulty

Have a water mill that spin magnets to generate electricity, eventually powering up a lightbulb.

 

Idea 4: balloon car (Elastic potential energy to kinetic energy) (choosing this due to nostalgia)

Rating: 6/10 difficulty

Having a car that acquires its power from a balloon.

 

Balloon Car Video (I will modify the recipe and procedure in my D&P section):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RStgV8mA-gA&ab_channel=ScienceBuddies

 

Target Audience:

The balloon car is made for everyone with passion to hand-powered vehicles and are fond of balloons. The car could also be used to learn physics, therefore, is suitable for every student.

 

Success Criteria:

  1. Finish the product by the last 2 lessons of the unit.
  2. Have the car go at least 3 meters without pushing it.
  3. Have a simplistic design that is visually appealing.

 

 

Design Food Prototype Reflection Andrew L

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(1): My biggest success in the building process was getting the idea of how to save my cardboard. My prototype is 2 35cm*25cm*15cm boxes together, so a lot of big cardboard pieces were necessary. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of large pieces. Most cardboards available were small or thin pieces. However, there are some pieces that looked like triangles, so I glued the 2 triangles together to make a rectangle that fits my design.

(2): Something I’d like to change on my prototype is adding a handle and a slide bar. With a handle, I can lift up the wall easier without the concept “automatic”. I would like to add the slide bar between the two boxes so the inner wall doesn’t fall when I lift it up. I didn’t add these because I hadn’t figured out a way to insert the slider and there’s no time left. I think I’ll use my time more efficiently next class.

(3): Something I learned about myself during this project us that I often think things are easy while they are not, such as finding materials for my box. I underestimated the time for me to glue and find materials, so I ran out of time to create handles. Next time I should make a plan and look into the material boxes first to estimate my time I needed for the project. I should not just go in and start working.

(4): Overall, I think my project is successful because I finished everything on time and didn’t make any major mistakes. I followed my plan and procedures, but I rearranged the measurements a little to make the boxes fit. I did get distracted but I went back on task in less than a minute. I cleaned up my space every time and helped others, too. Therefor, I think I did a fair job at creating my prototype.