alex52791 Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 Alright. I have a physics project due in about 10 days and I'm not quite sure how to go about it. I have to make a "vehicle" move as efficiently as possible. I can only use 1 Joule of potentional gravitational energy per the equation mgh. The only specifications of the vehicle are that it is safe to its surrounding and the people watching and that it has at least 2 wheels on the ground at all times. I can either make it move using an inelastic collision (that way the weight of the car isn't counted into mgh) or I can put the car on a ramp and have its vertical height and mass count into the equation. I think that I should just drop the car because not all the work will be conserved into force during an inelastic collision. The simplest way to do it would be a 100g car and the track 1m high. I dont know what the best way to do it is, with more mass and less height or the other way around. My idea is to use a maglev type of thing with 2 guidewheels to keep it straight. Any help is much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-qu Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 I dont think you will have much chance getting a maglev system working in just 10 days. You should aim to have a very light design because all objects regardless of mass fall at the same rate. That means that you will be able to have it drop (roll) from a higher altitude, thus giving the car more time to accellerate. The biggest challenge you will have is minimising friction so that you car can go the longest distance possible. I am gussing thats why you thought of the maglev idea - but that would be to complicated for this project, and it may be considered cheating to use outside forces (as this would clearly use more than 1J of energy!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex52791 Posted February 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 The biggest challenge you will have is minimising friction so that you car can go the longest distance possible. I am gussing thats why you thought of the maglev idea - but that would be to complicated for this project, and it may be considered cheating to use outside forces (as this would clearly use more than 1J of energy!) that is probably true, i only really have 2 weekends to work on this. I still like the idea of using magnets though because they are the cheapest way to have very small friction, but then there is the problem of a magnet flipping over and sticking. Also there is the 2 wheel rule. I may end up just having something very light with very large, greased wheels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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