Rocket Hotwheels Cars

The objective to this project was to find the acceleration, instantaneous speed, velocity and the average speed of the car for five meters. The tracks distance oftwenty feet  is broken up into 5 sections so we can find the speed at each one by getting the times of displacement between each photogate.This project goes over the do's and don'ts of making a rocket car, even though the mistakes were pretty fun to watch.

Pen,
C motor,
Hotwheels,
Hot Glue,
Tape,
2x4,
angle iron,
wire,
drill,
Vernier photogates,
vernier software

First you must acquire a twenty foot long 2 by 4. At each end mount a piece of angle iron, these will be the start and stop points for the car.

Once you have mounted the angle iron put a mark at 10cm, 1meter, 2 meters, 3 meters, 4 meters, and 5 meters. these are the points where the photogates will go to record the time.

Drill two holes in the angle iron centered and about an inch and half apart at each end and run wire from one end to the other keeping it straight.

Find a hotwheels car that is in pretty good shape( will roll well). Depending on your car you may be able to mount the motor in the vehicle or if its a car you can just

glue the C rocket motor to the top with hot glue. Next get a pen and take it apart and cut the tube in half put your hotwheels car on the track in between the two wires.

Judge where you must put the pen tubes on each side of the car by the height of the wire and the width apart that they must be so it doesn't pinch the wire because the force

will keep it from moving. Once everything is glued on and solid wrap a piece of tape around the car and motor to keep the motor on.

-Make sure you make the car wide enough the pen tubes don't get stuck on the wire because the balanced force  and inertia will keep the car from moving
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The track must have two wires or the car will go where it wants and take out photogates
-Make sure pen tubes and motor are secure so they don't become projectiles
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-Use photogates in a shaded area or they won't work
-DON'T LET A DUMBASS HIT THE IGNITION BEFORE THE COMPUTER CAN COLLECT DATA