High Impact --> Car Race Results

What did we do?

I think it was a fair test because all of the groups were given the same materials, we were given the same car, and we were all given the same amount of time to modify our cars. There were 3 different type of races, the first one was "which car is the fastest", the second one was "which car can get closer to the green line", and the third one was "which car can go further".

Before we started the first race, we were all given 5 minutes to modify our cars. After the time was up, our teacher called up the groups one by one. For the second race, we were also given 5 minutes to modify our car. Again, the groups were called one by one. For the third race, we were again given 5 minutes to modify our cars. For this race, we were to race in groups of 3.

Something I found interesting was that sometimes, the groups first try was better than their second try, or their second try was better than their first try.

The effects of my modification:

The first modification we did on our car was that we added a balloon on top of the car, and we also added a spoiler on the back. We added these two things because we thought that they would help the car gain speed. 

Our team added a balloon because it would lift the car a little, making the car lighter. We added the spoiler because we wanted our car to have a balanced force. We think having a balanced force made us win because our car didn't go sideways, or drifted. If it did drift our car would have taken longer to get to the finish line.

 For the second modification we did, we took the balloon off and added more weight on the back. Adding more weight on the back caused the drag to be more powerful than the thrust. We think that when we added more weigh on the back it increased the chances of us stopping close to the green line.

For the third modification we did, we added both the balloon and the spoiler. The balloon lifts the car a little, which makes it lighter. The spoiler causes the car to have a balanced force.

The results:

On our first try for the first race our car passed the green with 1.01 seconds on the timer, on our second try our car passed the green line with 0.87 milliseconds on the clock. 

The first try on the second race our car was closest to the green out of the 2 other cars, on our second try our car was still close to the green line but we didn't win. Out of all the eleven cars that raced our car wasn't the one that one, instead the number eight car won. 

Our car didn't win on the third race, we didn't really get that far. But the number seven car won with 4.97 metres. 

The cars that won:

First Race (which car can go the fastest): Car number 6

Second Race (which car can stop closest to the green line): Car number 8

Third Race (which car can go the furthest): Car number 7

I was really surprised by car number 7, their car went really far. I think them adding the spoiler helped them a lot, because the spoiler helped their car have a balanced force.

Reflection: 

What were we learning about?

We were learning to explain forces, motion and energy and how these are a part of our daily lives. We were also learning to explain how an understanding of forces, motion and energy have led to technological advances.

How does this show my understanding of my learning?

I think shows my learning because I have used my High Impact vocabulary.

What do I still need to work on?

I think I need to work on understanding more of High Impact vocabulary, and to learn more words for this task.

What am I wondering about?

Are their forces that are the same but named differently?