Designing Vehicles with Common Products

Students will work in teams to design solar powered vehicles that use common products. Examples of common products the students use for their solar vehicle include wheel assemblies and/or chassis. The purpose of the vehicle is to investigate collisions. The design needs to take speed, mass and momentum into account. The vehicle is pointed toward stationary blocks of a variety of sizes. For each block, students will make three trials measuring the mass, distance and time of approach while observing which blocks are knocked over or moved by the vehicle and which are not displaced. Students will calculate momentum in order to demonstrate conservation of momentum. Students will understand the importance of saving time and money in order to streamline the design process through use of common products.