INVESTIGATION THREE GO CARTS

Technology  Technology is the enterprise of using science to develop objects, machines, and materials that are of use to society.

DESIGN  The way something is put together.  Uses scientific knowledge to make something that improves our way of life.

ENGINEER  A person who uses scientific knowledge to design useful things.

WHEEL  It is the disk that turns on a central axis.  Wheels fixed on an axle turn as one unit.

AXLE  The rod that connects to wheels, so that they turn together.

BEARING  Allows the axle to turn.  The bearing could be paper,a binder clip, a piece of cardboard with holes, or a number of other things.  Other parts of a device revolve or rotate on the bearing.

FRICTION  The resistance to movement on surfaces that touch.  When an axle does not turn freely in bearings, it has too much friction.

HUB  The center part of the wheel that is fastened to the axle.

TRACTION  A kind of friction that allows wheels to turn without slipping on a surface.

CONTENT/INQUIRY  How does the wheel size affect the distance a rubber-band-powered go-cart can travel?  Bigger wheels make carts go farther with each rotation of the axle. The size of the wheel, circumference, will create the greater distance.

C/I CONT.  How does the length of the rubber band affect the distance a rubber- band-powered go-cart can travel?  Longer rubber bands hold more energy, so the cart will go farther.

 Do not need remaining slides for tests or quizzes, but need for understanding and application of projects in the first marking period.

C/I CONT.  The design process includes planning a design based on scientific knowledge, constructing, testing, evaluating the performance after the test, changing the design, testing and redesigning until the device works as well as possible.

Design Process  Design- plan how to build the product  Construction- build a prototype, or first model of the product  Testing- try it out to see if it does what it is supposed to  Evaluation- decide if the product is good enough  Redesign- change the product to make it better

C/I CONT.  THE BASIC STAGES OF DESIGN ARE: design, construct, test, evaluate, redesign, and test.  The design process requires decisions at each step.  Scientist create models to learn more about how something works.  The goal is to increase scientific knowledge.

Go Cart Formula  To find how far a go cart travels you use the following formula:  C (circumference) = (3.14) x D(diameter)  You will be given the Diameter. So first find the circumference (using the formula above) then take circumference times number of rotations.

Go Cart Formula Example  A go cart with 3 cm wheels rotates 5 times. How far does it go?  C = 3.14 x 3  C = 9.42 (round to nearest tenth so 9.4)  9.4 x 5 (number of rotations) = 47cm