Fuel For Success | Enriching the lives of young ones within the U.S. through education, mentorship, and recreation.
Enriching the lives of young ones within the U.S. through education, mentorship, and recreation.
BALLOON CAR COMPETITION
Middle School students in the Fuel For Success Program participate in a balloon car competition. Students must build cars out of everyday household items and the cars must be powered by a single, air-filled balloon. Students work individually and in small groups to measure the distance and speed of the cars, which ties the activity into the California State Standards for physical science. State standards that are incorporated into this competition include:
Motion-
Students know that average speed is the total distance traveled divided by the total time elapsed and that the speed of an object along the path traveled can vary.
Students know how to solve problems involving distance, time, and average speed.
Students know the greater the mass of an object, the more force is needed to achieve the same rate of change in motion.
Investigation & Experimentation-
Plan and conduct a scientific investigation to test a hypothesis.
Evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of data.
Apply simple mathematic relationships to determine a missing quantity in a mathematic expression, given the two remaining terms (ex. speed = distance/time).
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