5. Discussion and Conclusion

5.1 Key findings
We found out that if an object has too little or too much frictional force, the object will not be able to move. Another thing we discovered was that by reducing the surface area of the styrofoam back wheels that come into contact with the ground by adding 2 rubber bands on each wheel made the car move as the weight of the car and the wheels was now concentrated on the small surface area of the rubber band, increase the frictional force between the back wheels and the ground. We also found out that our design is actually very efficient as it can travel long distances for its size.

5.2 Comparisons with other designs based on research
We have compared our design with other designs online and found that our designs are somewhat similar to those we found on the internet. They were similar in the pulley system used to drive the back wheels and the placement of the mousetrap on the car chassis. However, we also found differences between our design and those on the Internet. One different is the materials that we use for our car. We may have used a lighter materials for our can than what we saw on other mousetrap cars. Another difference is the dimensions of the car. Our car is smaller compared to some of the ones we found on the Internet as we have a length, breadth and height restriction to the car which made out car design different but the principles of how the design work still remained similar.
5.3 Evaluation of engineering goals
One of our goals was that the car has to pass the 10m mark which we succeeded in all of the 3 runs. Another goal of ours was for the car to stay on the track throughout the entire run until it ran across the end of the track. We were unable to fulfill this challenge as our front wheels were not 100% secured in place so that it will turn smoothly, resulting in the car leaning towards the right.
5.4 Areas for improvement
Some areas for improvement we could have on this project was the materials chosen, for example, the back drive wheel was unable to move the car at first before we added the rubber bands. Another area of improvement is we could have used more accurate euqipment when recording the results of the runs. We could have used stopwatched instead of the video length to measure the time taken for the car to come to a stop. We also could have used a meter ruler to measure the distance the car went over the edge of the test track.
5.5 Practical Applications
We can apply this way in cars and find ways to make it auto wind up so that it can go constantly and this could save the earth and cheap cars everybody.

5.6 Areas for further study
Some areas for further study could include on how using different materials could affect our results. This is a possible area as there are a lot of other different materials in the world that we can use to build the car, all with different effects on the results.

5.7 Acknowledgement

We thank Mr Lim Ming Yang for his guidance throughout the project as he helped us go through the requirements of the project and constantly reminding us of the due date for both the group and individual components of the project. We would also like to thank Mr Tan Hoe Teck for setting up the test track for our cars. We also sincerely thank Mr Sheng for assisting us in the production of our prototype, while providing some valuable advice that we have applied in the process of brainstorming for our excellent design. We also would like to thank Mrs Koh for helping us to purchase the items needed, while providing needed funding to help us make our project a success.

No comments:

Post a Comment