The Great Race

Whew! That was one complicated project - I tried so many ideas that all failed. In the end, I've reduced it to a simple design using wheels and axels of two different sizes from different toy cars, and a thin platform of cardboard connecting them together. The car represent Newton's Second Law of Motion, which states that mass and acceleration directly affect the force of an object, or mass × acceleration = force. In my car, the wheels add extra mass to the vehicle (they are very heavy). When the car goes down the ramp, the acceleration that it gains and the mass it already has combine to make more force. That force will sustain the car and keep it going, at least until friction slows it to a stop. The one problem with my car is that the wheels don't always go in a straight line, and the car ends up veering slightly off direction. I tried to tape the cardboard to the axel to stop the wheels from turning, but that created resistance which slowed my car down. That wasn't going to work out! Still, my car can keep running for a considerable amount of time, and that's the main point. And after all the trouble it took to make the car, I've decided to name it. So, let's all hope for the best for my car, The Blue Trouble Maker!