Rubber Band Powered Car Project
Race Day: March 4, 2009
For this project, students will work in teams to design a rubber band powered “car,” using only the listed
materials. Upon completion of the project, teams will enter the vehicles in a competition against the other
student teams and turn in a team-written report detailing the project and their design.
Learning Objectives:
1. Students will be able to design a rubber band powered car given a specific set of design specifications
that must be met.
2. The students’ design will optimize performance in speed, distance and power.
3. The students’ cars will enter a competition with other student-designed vehicles.
4. Each team will complete a written report detailing the project.
Team Size: Teams of 2-3 students will be formed. You may work alone. 10% of the grade will be based on
the team’s evaluation of each team member’s performance. Students need to have the ability to cooperate,
communicate, and collaborate with other group members regarding their ideas and concerns.
Materials:
Corrugated cardboard
Wooden skewers
Paper clips (no more than 10)
Rubber bands (no more than 3)
Glue, tape, staples (fastener materials)
Wheels (CDs, toy car wheels, plastic lids, thread spools, etc) [Must be pre-approved.]
No kits or purchased parts may be used.
Design Constraints:
1. Only the materials listed may be used to construct your vehicle.
2. The vehicle must have a minimum of three wheels, all of which must support the total weight of the
vehicle. The wheels can be CDs, made of cardboard, plastic lids or toy wheels.
3. The vehicle must have an “engine” powered by rubber bands, which will be enclosed within the body of
the vehicle.
4. The vehicle must start from a resting position and cannot otherwise be catapulted or slung into motion.
Once released, the vehicle must operate without intervention.
5. The vehicle must have a cargo area capable of carrying an additional 500 g mass that is roughly in the
shape of a coke can (either standing upright or on its side).
6. Geometric constraints (not including the wheels) are :
a. Overall vehicle length is 30 cm maximum.
b. Overall vehicle width is 15 cm maximum.
Performance Measurements:
1. The design creativity will be measured by students’ votes for the “coolest” vehicle. These votes will be
counted as a percent of total votes.
2. Each vehicle will be placed at the starting line and the horizontal distance of travel will be measured.
3. The average speed will be calculated using stopwatches.
Reporting Requirements:
1. Introduction: a statement of the problem you are trying to solve and an explanation of how the rubber
band will power the car. DUE 2/23 LastNamesIntroCar.doc
2. Preliminary design sketches. DUE 2/23 on paper
3. Data section: Include the following data table:
Trial Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Distance Traveled
DUE 3/2
LastNamesData.doc
Time
Average Speed
4. Discussion of design/construction problems and how they were solved DUE 3/3
LastNamesDiscussion.doc
5. RACE DAY!!!!! 3/4
6. Conclusions (what worked well, what you would do differently next time) DUE 3/5
Your report should be well-organized into separate report sections as described above. Submit each section as it
is due.
Rubric:
Vehicle Construction (meets the design criteria)
Creativity
Average Speed
Farthest Travel
Report
Introduction
Design sketches
Data table
Discussion
Conclusions
Team evaluation of member
20 Points
5 Points
10 Points
10 Points
5 Points
5 Points
15 Points
10 Points
10 Points
10 Points
Resources:
http://www.therubberband.info/vehicles.php
http://www.hal-pc.org/~clement/Simulations/Physlets/MOP/MOP%20Activity%20%205%20A%203.html
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index.php?qid=20070923094043AAX6W3f
Other web resources.