CO2 Dragster Project

Julia Rodriguez

UNDERSTAND

• The cars are powered by the CO2 cartridge being punctured. The cars will race on a 20 meter track along a string. F=ma will be taken into account that the lightest car may go the fastest. Drag and friction will also be considered so that it does not slow down the car.

EXPLORE

• To find out what other cars looked like and to see what worked the best I viewed cars from different years from a competition on http://www.science-of-speed.com/showroomlist.asp

DEFINE

• The CO2 car must meet TSA requirements which are pictured below.

IDEATE

• After my research I wanted to do a all shelled car with curves. I sketched several designs on a paper I then turned in. I thought the shells would make the car more aerodynamic and it would cut out wood from the bottom making it lighter.

IDEATE

• With the curves I wanted on my car I found out I could only shell the back wheels which I had to use smaller wheels for.

• The blueprint on the next page is my final sketch.

IDEATE

PROTOTYPE

• I built my car using a band saw, drill press, dremel tool, and sand paper.

REFINE

• After I originally constructed my car I need to shave off more wood from the wheels. I did this using the dremel tool. I then painted my car with lime green wall paint.

SOLUTION

VIDEO OF CAR ROTATING

• This video shows the final solution of my car rotating both horizontally and vertically in Inventor.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jHADQ1CDzA&feature=youtu.be

CAR ABOUT TO RACE

VIDEO OF CAR RACING

• This video shows the car I constructed racing in the school hallway using an electronic raceway.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bW9jRbSMCI&feature=youtu.be

DRAWING

RESULTS AND FLOW DESIGN

• A detailed race result sheet is attached to the button on my website. It shows speed, weight, wheel spin, and wheel alignment.

• Also attached to a button on my website is a flow design of the car and blank that shows how aerodynamic the car is.