Invention and Trial of an Air-Propelled Car

Overview

Objectives/Goals My project was to determine whether my air-propelled car would have the highest velocity and acceleration using a 4 inch 3 bladed propeller, a 6-inch 2 bladed propeller, or a 4-inch 2 bladed propeller. I think the three bladed propeller will have the highest velocity and acceleration, the 6-inch 2-blade propeller will be next, and the 4-inch 2-blade propeller will have the least velocity and acceleration. Methods/Materials I constructed a car that was propelled by a model airplane propeller that was run by an electric motor. I then ran the car on a straight 26 foot course, starting from a standstill, and measured the time it took it to get to the various points using different propellers. I ran the different propellers over the course 5 times, sometimes more if there was a "no time" on one of the trials, and used the average times to calculate the velocity and acceleration at each point. Results The 3-blade propeller was the fastest and had the most acceleration, the 4-inch 2 bladed propeller was slowest and had the least acceleration, and the 6-inch 2 bladed propeller was in the middle. There was very little difference between the 3-blade and the long 2-blade propellers, but there was a lot of difference between those two and the short 2-blade. Conclusions/Discussion My conclusion is that the three bladed propeller and the long two bladed propeller performed the best and were very close in speed and acceleration and the short two bladed propeller was far behind.

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Aerodynamics/ Hydrodynamics · Entry J0135

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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