Balloon Powered Car

Maria Chriscia Y. Andres
10- SCA

Title:
The Balloon Powered Car Racer

Background of the Study: Sir Isaac Newton developed three laws of motion in 1665 when he was only 23 years old. These laws revolutionized how science explained movement by describing how the forces acting on an object are responsible for the object’s motion.
Balloon powered car racer is driven by air coming from a deflating balloon. As an alternative of using electricity, these cars make use of the Law of Action and Reaction (Newton’s Third Law of Motion). The car is propelled forward, as a result of the air coming from an inflated balloon. The escaping air is the action, a force that acts towards the opposite direction. And this is the reason why the balloon powered car racer is being pushed forward. The movement of the car in the opposite direction is what we called the reaction.

Statement of the Problem: * The size of the balloon affects the speed of the car. * The structure of the car affects its speed. * The weight of the car affects its speed.

Formulation of Hypothesis:
I hypothesize that the size of balloon, structure and weight of the car has a direct relation with the speed. In other words the movement of the car is dependent on the size of the balloon, while the structure and weight of the car is another factor to acquire a fast and furious speed.

Significance of the Study: In this day and age of constant threat to our environment, there are various ways of reducing air pollution and energy consumption is being explored. Cars whose emissions are part of the factors that contribute to air pollution, are being modified to be more environment-friendly. However, these cars are expensive to produce. Majority of the population, especially here in the Philippines, cannot afford a highly energy efficient and environment friendly vehicle. Also, problems like the disposal of tons of electric car batteries will arise.
This research aims to address this problem by investigating the parameters that affect the efficiency of balloon powered car racers.

Definition’s term: * Efficient - productive of desired effects; especially : productive without waste

* Emissions - putting into circulation.

* Deflating - to release air or gas from. - to reduce in size, importance, or effectiveness. * Inflated - distended with air or gas. - expanded to an abnormal or unjustifiable volume or level. - being hollow and enlarged or distended.

* Propelled - to drive forward or onward by or as if by means of a force that imparts motion.

* Parameters - any of a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. - an arbitrary constant whose value characterizes a member of a system (as a family of curves); also : a quantity (as a mean or variance) that describes a statistical population.

* Revolutionized - to change fundamentally or completely.