Chemical Car
Project
Michael Helbock
Rocco Nguyen Preston Pallante
Reaction Chemistry
3 lemons in series as
well as 3 lemons in
parallel
Produced over 3 and a half volts but only 0.8 amps. The motor needed at least
1 amp to run.
Reaction Chemistry
This demonstrates the Carbon Dioxide gas propelling the propel bottle
which was strapped to the car, in the form of thrust.
Reaction Chemistry
1.
Double Replacement Reaction
2NaHCO3+H2SO4→2H2O+Na2SO4+2CO2
•Builds
2.
Carbon Dioxide pressure in propel bottle used to produce thrust as the gas is released.
Oxidation Reduction Reaction
Anode- Zinc is oxidized, which gives off two Zn→Zn2++2eCathode- Copper, where Hydrogen from the lemon acid is reduced
to form molecular Hydrogen. 2H++2e-→H2
•Produces
electricity, which can be used to power a small motor.
Test Results
Trial
1
Distance
48 feet
Chemical Car Results
Atmospheres
60
3.7
50
3
28 feet 5 inches
20 feet 10 inches
3.3
3.3
4
15 feet
3.2
5
15 feet
3.2
Distance (Feet)
2
40
30
Distance
Atmospheres
20
10
0
1
2
3
Trials
4
5
Example of Calculation
Balanced Equation
2NaHCO3+H2SO4  2CO2 + 2H2O + Na2SO4
The Limiting Reactant
Using Density to Find Grams of H2SO4
Volume H2SO4 = 7 mL
Density H2SO4 = 1.84
Mass = (1.84)(7 ml) = 12.8 grams H2SO4
Amount of CO2 Produced
Using Ideal Gas Law to determine how much ATP produced in a 700 mL (0.7L)
pv = nRT
R = Gas Constant @ 20°C (293K)
R= 0.08205
p=
Conclusion
The car was composed of 4 wheels across a long but narrow wheel base. Our goal
was to find something light, yet stable. After a couple of experiments, this design seemed
to produce successful results. The Propel bottle was strapped completely level but
sideways to the car with a rubber band.
We used the Double Replacement reaction of Sulfuric Acid and Baking Soda to
produce Carbon Dioxide. This product then built up in the 700 ml propel bottle to
nearly 4 atmospheres. This was too much pressure as our first run went nearly 48 feet.
We then toned town the pressure to 3.3 atmospheres and seemed to find our mark as
we went 40 inches over 25 feet. The next run was 50 inches short of 25 feet.
Earlier in the experiment we decided to try producing electricity from lemons. We
used Zinc as our Anode and Copper as our Cathode. It was worth a shot but couldn’t
quite come up successful as it only produced 3.5 volts and 0.8 amps. This was just short
of the 1 amp, which was needed to power the motor. We hooked 3 lemons up in series
along with 3 more lemons in parallel off of the lemons in series. The 4 hours we spent
on the Lemon experiment as frustrating but it taught us a lot.
Re-Design Ideas
Due to the large portion of time spent trying to make a successful Lemon
powered car, we were not able to run enough practice trials to get precise
reactant measurements. If the experiment could be ran again, more time
would be put into improving the precision of the car. This means more
practice trials would be ran in order to collect enough data to come up
with better measurements, to yield the 25 foot goal.
Also, the valve, which was integrated into the lid, seemed to be ineffective.
Sometimes pressure would leak out when the person holding it was trying
to set it on the starting line. Using something such as a material that
would break under a certain amount of pressure would have been a good
consideration.