Our STEM projects are designed with you, the parent or teacher, in mind! Easy to set up, quick to do, most activities will take only 15 to 30 minutes to complete and are heaps of fun! Plus, our supplies lists usually contain only free or cheap materials you can source from home!
Here you will make your own car from a combination of simple household items. Come up with your own rubber band car designs, or try ours below!
The challenge is on… your car must have four wheels and only get its power from the energy stored in the rubber bands. Have you ever stretched a rubber band and let it go? When you stretch a rubber band it stores a type of potential energy. When you release it, all that stored energy has to go somewhere. Note: Rubber bands can only be wound by hand for the record! Lots of different objects can have potential energy, for example, lifting an object off a table creates potential energy.
With the rubber band cars, the rubber used is made up of long polymer chains that in their natural state are all wrinkled up. Winding the rubber bands requires energy, which is supplied by you. Assuming this process was perfectly efficient no energy loss , then the amount of energy required to turn the rear axle and wind the rubber band is exactly the same as the potential energy of the rubber band. Once the rubber band is released, the polymer chains in the rubber band want to return to their natural, wrinkled state.
Kinetic energy is the energy of motion; any moving object is using kinetic energy. Shop 4-H offers university-backed STEM curriculum, educational kits, products and supplies to expand your knowledge of space, rocketry and more. Using LED's and conductive tape, kids learn the ins and outs of electric circuits with this activity.
This activity that takes youth inside energy, mechanical advantage, torque, work, and other scientific concepts. Includes all materials to build a wind lift.
Kids design an electric motorboat. Create unique propellers by changing blade shape, angle and number. Donate Newsletter Sign-Up. Supplies Many of the items in this activity can be swapped out for other similarly shaped household items. Elastic rubber bands Empty mustard bottle or another plastic container Two wooden skewers. Read More. Activity Steps The following steps can be used to make a successful rubber band car, but experiment with different objects for the wheels and the car body to find the design that can go the farthest.
Use the knife to poke four holes in the sides of your car body that will allow your skewers wheel axles to pass through. Insert the copper penny and the zinc nail into the pre-made holes. Depending on your lids, you may need to start this with the knife as well.
Attach the small bottle cap and skewer to the large container top the wheel. Insert the skewer through the hole in the car body and use the wire cutters to cut the skewer down to size. Tip: You want the wheels to be reasonably close to the body. Attach the wheel on the other side just like you did in steps 4 and 5. When you release it all, that stored energy has to go somewhere. If you launch a rubber band across the room, the potential energy is converted to kinetic energy, the energy of motion.
But what about putting all that stored energy to use? You can attach your rubber band to a simple machine—a wheel and axle—to build a simple rubber band—powered car. Your model car will use a rubber band as the source of energy. It will take a little engineering to get your vehicle working—challenge yourself to see how far your car can go!
Materials Note: This is an engineering design project. The following is a suggested list of materials, but you can substitute different ones. When you release it the rubber band starts to unwind, and the potential energy is converted to kinetic energy as the car is propelled forward. The more you stretch the rubber band, the more potential energy is stored, and the farther and faster the car should go.
That all sounds great in theory—but in practice you might have found it difficult. Several things can prevent your car from working well.
If the wheels are not aligned properly, they can wobble or jam and prevent the car from rolling smoothly. The rubber band can slip relative to the wooden axle, preventing the wheels from spinning.
Even if the wheels do spin, there might not be enough friction with the ground, causing them to spin in place without moving the car. These are all challenges you can overcome with a little engineering effort! This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies.
Follow him on Twitter BenFinio. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Discover World-Changing Science. Corrugated cardboard Two drinking straws Two wooden skewers Four CDs that are okay to get scratched Sponge Paper clip Assorted rubber bands Tape Scissors Flat, hard surface for testing your car Hot-glue gun optional Preparation Carefully cut a piece of corrugated cardboard that is slightly longer and wider than the length of one straw.
Tape the two straws to the cardboard, parallel to each other, one at each end.
0コメント