Experiment Gone Wrong

So far Dexter and I have tested the car twice in total, and they failed.
First trial run: As I have mentioned in the last blogspot, the balloon had caught onto the back of the wheel as the air ran out of the balloon, we have found a solution and have decided to add "walls" on the sides of the car near the balloon so when the balloon runs out of air, it will not fall off and get caught in the wheel.
Second trial run: After adjusting and improving our balloon car from the first trial run, we have decided to test it out again on the second run. This time instead sudden "brakes" to the car, we have encountered wind resistence. The car (while in motion) had started performing wheelies (front of the car tilted up while the back keeps on rolling). What we believed had created this problem was that the balloon had uplifted the car since the balloon points up.
Third trial run: We've added a few weights (pennies to be specific) at the front of the car to keep it from becoming too light and tilting upwards. Now that Dexter and I have yet again solved our previous dilemma, we are ready to test out third tiral run.
STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT BLOGSPOT OF THE WILDEX PROJECT!

Try Outs!

Kay, so me and Dexter had finally completed our first balloon car with wheels attached, balloon attached, design completed, the works. Dexter had the honour of testing the balloon car and observed it himself. The car at first did quite well with the balloon full of air going straight until the balloon started to run out of oxygen. Which was then that the balloon had caught onto the back of the wheel and started to force the car to stop (the balloon catching onto the wheel acted as a brake for the car). Dexter said that the balloon car had gone passed 5 meters, I did not get the chance to see the balloon car in its experimentation stage so I was unable to determine how far it really went but I will take Dexter's word for it that it had gone according to what he said (or else). We are currently making adjustments to the balloon in general rather than the car, if we can somehow prevent the balloon rom falling to the wheels then there is no need to fix the car.

P.S. There are no pictures of the failed car because me and Dexter have already started making adjustments.

Alrighty, well Dexter and I have continued working on the car and we are running out of time. We are behind schedule as to what we have planned from the beginning of this project. We are hoping that we can meet our goals and finish within time before race day.

So far, the car's outermost shape has been finished and we're attaching the wheels onto the car as well as the balloon. We had difficulties performing the procedure attaching the balloon due to the fact that we almost broke the back of the car in half trying to make the hole. As you can see, these are pictures of the balloon attached to the car with the wheels taken off, the driver's seat in the formula 1 car will act as a ramp so the balloon can be placed ontop of it . Initially, this is to help the balloon keep its place so it will not lose balance and fall on either side. If the balloon falls on either side, then it will start to turn. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO AVOID.

Balloon Car part 2

Materials

• Safety knife
• Carpenters glue
• A bag of balloons
• 4 Wheels
• Ruler
• 100cm x 30cm x 0.5cm Styrofoam

Procedure (Steps) to what we got so far

1. We started off by cutting 4 pieces of styrofoam in the shape of a formula 1 car.




2. We glued the 4 pieces together to adjust the height of the car
   




3. We shaved parts of the car to make it aerodynamic ( front of the car).




4. We added a spoiler to hold the balloon in place.

What we need to do still?

1. Attach the wheels to the car.




2. Make the cockpit (drivers seat) of the car.




3. Make a hole at the back of the spoiler to mount balloon.

Pictures

Balloon Car

We decided to pick the design of a formula 1 car because the car is very aerodynamic. We are going to attach 1 or 2 balloons to the back of the car where the spoiler is located to make the car go forward.

We are going to make this car out of styrofoam so the car is light and can move easily. We are either going to make the tires out of wood or rubber tires. Basically, the wheels are going to give the car weight so the car won't flip or lose control.

Dexter and Willis