Balloon Car

This week Ethan had to design and build a car that was powered by a balloon. We talked through his design last week and gathered the materials. The other night we stayed up late putting it together. It was made of styrofoam and had an aerodynamic shape. When things weren't working perfectly Uncle Scott (who happened to be over) did some adjusting and helped get it fixed.  It needed to go at least 5 yards for an A. We thought it would do okay. On the test runs it went pretty close to 5 yards. He took it to school for the big race the next day. When Ethan walked through the door I asked how the race went. He said that his car went a couple of inches. WHAT??? When we looked at the car that evening we realized that the wheels were getting stuck in the styrofoam. Not sure shat happened but the car was a dud. I figured it wasn't a big deal if he didn't get an A on this one assignment but he was not satisfied. They could redesign and try again the next day if they wanted. I did not want another late night so I told him that we could only do it if we could get it done before normal bedtime. So, last night we threw together his new design. A square of cardboard with straws taped to the bottom. Skewers through the straws for axles and water bottle caps hot glued onto the skewers for wheels.

It took 15 minutes to put together and man it fly. He took it back to school today and ended up in second place for distance. I guess when it is time for Zach to do this project in a couple of years we will know just what to do!