Thursday, November 15, 2007

Hot Wheels Challenge

For our next major project, we will be examining the motion of an unpowered wheeled object (one made by Mattel). hot wheels logoOur research question for this next investigation (& ongoing report) is given two similar Hot Wheels cars, how do we determine beyond a doubt which one is faster?

As we discussed in class, this will involve designing experiments, writing procedures, trying them out, rewriting them, trying them out again, and so on until we can accurately answer the question.

The second question, of course, is to come up with definite reasons WHY one is faster than the other.

As we investigate these questions, we will encounter many of the following physics concepts:


  • Linear Motion

  • Speed

  • Velocity

  • Acceleration

  • Acceleration due to Gravity

  • Friction

  • Momentum

  • Newton's 1st Law
You can use the links on the side of the blog to clarify your understanding of these concepts. Post any questions you have on the blog using the comments link at the bottom of this entry.



Extra Credit Questions - Due by start of class on Tuesday, November 20 (you must show all calculations for credit on question 3) or you can submit your answers as a response on this blog or via email (you should know the email address - you wrote it into your notebooks on the first day or two of class)
1 - What is the scale of a Hot Wheels car? Cite your source.
2 - Give one example of Scalar vs. Vector quantities that we have recently studied (hint: we've studied two topics that include this, althought we never used "scalar" or "vector" in class)
3 - A car is moving at a constant speed of 88 km/hr when a traffic light ahead traffic light changes to red. It takes 8.0 seconds for the car to slow down and stop at the traffic light:
.. a) What is the car's initial velocity?
.. b) What is the car's final velocity?
.. c) What is the car's acceleration?
.. d) How far away from the traffic light was the car when the light changed?

3 comments:

W Brown said...

This looks fun. I would love to know which car is the fastest.. Can I bring in my fastest Hot Wheel?

Mr. Barkan said...

Of course, but you'll have to come up with a plan (detailed schematic, materials list & procedure) just like everyone else.

We begin this investigation with the engineering part of physics (similar to the egg-drop apparatus you have done so well with in past years) and use it to figure out some of the aspects of motion mentioned in the post above.

Mr. Barkan said...

Here's a question about this assignment that was entered with an older posting:

>Anonymous said...
Am I supposed to say "these are all the procedures we went through" and list the procedures and what went wrong or just a list of steps in the final procedure
(2:27 PM)

Good question Daniel. You are expected to have the most recent procedure that you will be using to test, measure and compare the speeds of several vehicles.

the discussions section of the report is where you mention the things you changed from earlier versions of the procedures and why you changed them.

- Mr. B